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Somali Women's Experiences of
Cooking and Meals after Immigration to
Sweden
Jenny Aronsen Torp a , Vanja Berggren a & Lena-Karin Erlandsson
PhD b
a School of Health and Society, Kristianstad University, Sweden
b Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Version of record first published: 19 Oct 2012.
To cite this article: Jenny Aronsen Torp , Vanja Berggren & Lena-Karin Erlandsson PhD (2012):
Somali Women's Experiences of Cooking and Meals after Immigration to Sweden, Journal of
Occupational Science, DOI:10.1080/14427591.2012.734426
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2012.734426
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Somali Women’s Experiences of Cooking
and Meals after Immigration to Sweden
Jenny Aronsen Torp,
Vanja Berggren &
Lena-Karin
Erlandsson
This article elucidates Somali women’s experiences of cooking and meals after
immigration to Sweden. Six Somali women participated in repeated focus
group interviews. Content analysis of the interviews resulted in four themes:
change in routines and content of the daily meals, changed experiences related
to cooking and shopping for groceries, the social dimensions in food-related
occupations, and change of identity and roles. According to the women,
variety of factors related to their life in Sweden had led to changes in their
food occupations and meals: environmental changes, societal factors and the
fact that the women secured employment. Although their new focus on
employment led to altered responsibility and time for the cooking, food-
related occupations remained important for the creation of identity and the
maintenance of the family. This study may inform the development of
strategies to restrict the negative impacts of immigration on Somali women’s
health. Future research will increase understandings of the relationships
between food-related occupations and women’s roles, identity and health.
Keywords: Immigration, Food occupations, Identity, Gender roles, Focus
groups
Over the past few decades, Sweden
has rapidly changed from a homo-
geneous society to one comprising
many different cultures, languages,
religions and traditions. In response
to that cultural milieu and aspects of
the physical environment, immi-
grants to Sweden are likely to ex-
perience changes in their daily
occupations. This qualitative study
sought to increase understanding of
the daily occupations, habits and
routines in the context of migration
by exploring Somali immigrant
women’s experiences of planning,
purchasing, preparing and eating
food and how those experiences
reflect specific socioculturally im-
printed aspects of food-related
occupations.
Somali Immigrants
Approximately 14% of the Swedish
population are immigrants (Statis-
tics Sweden, 2009). Because of the
civil war in Somalia, which started
in 1990, more than 40,000 Somali
immigrants live in Sweden the
largest immigrant group from Africa.
More Somali immigrants are ex-
pected because of the ongoing war
and immigration of relatives. In
Somalia, the population is divided
into different clan systems that con-
trol, among other matters, family
norms and lifestyles. The household
and family is the centre of social,
economic and political life. A Somali
family includes several generations,
both productive and non-productive
jJenny Aronsen Torp, School
of Health and Society,
Kristianstad University,
Sweden
jVanja Berggren, School of
Health and Society,
Kristianstad University,
Sweden
jLena-Karin Erlandsson,
PhD, Department of Health
Sciences, Lund University,
Lund, Sweden
jCorrespondence to:
jenny.aronsen@hkr.se
Lena-Karin.Erlandsson@
med.lu.se
–2012 The Journal of
Occupational Science
Incorporated
Journal of Occupational Science
2012, iFirst, pp 114.
ISSN 1442-7591 print/
ISSN 2158-1576 online
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/
14427591.2012.734426
JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL SCIENCE, iFirst article, 2012 1
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members, ensuring that everyone is taken care of.
In Somalia, the man manages the relationships
outside the home and the woman is in charge of
the home and children (Gundel, 2006). This
pattern can change after immigration, depending
on the reasons for immigrating and the new
environment in which immigrants settle (Lee,
1966). This may affect, among other things, daily
occupations, such as food preparation, cooking
and eating. Thus, changes in routines and habits
related to food can be assumed to change and
challenge several aspects of the immigrants’ daily
occupations.
Daily Occupations in Immigration
According to Wilcock (2006), daily occupations
are a central element of the human being, and the
means of survival and achieving health. Indivi-
duals can achieve satisfaction and develop inter-
personal and social skills through daily
occupations. However changes associated with
immigration may result in new practices and
traditions. Nayar, Hocking and Giddings (2012)
interviewed eight women from India after immi-
gration to New Zealand. They showed that
occupational patterns gradually change over
time in order to enhance self-esteem. In the
beginning, the women deliberately chose to do
familiar occupations in order to sustain their
health. After a while, familiar occupations were
used as a means of discovering the New Zealand
culture. As the women started to be more
comfortable in New Zealand, they could rely on
their Indian culture and ways of doing but had
also accepted performing occupations in the
New Zealand way. Nayar et al. (2012) emphasised
the importance of having the possibility to
choose. As long as people are able to choose
occupations in accordance with their own knowl-
edge and values they have the ability to maintain
their well-being.
The importance of occupational choice can be
explained in part using the occupation related
conceptual model ValMO (Persson, Erlandsson,
Eklund, & Iwarsson, 2001), which aims to
explain the different experiences of values
inherent in occupations. According to the
ValMO-model there are three dimensions of
occupational value: concrete value,symbolic value
and self-reward value. The value experienced in
daily occupations builds up an overall meaning
that can be experienced differently, depending
upon the individual mixture of experienced
occupational value. The concrete value regards
the product that is the result of the performed
occupation, for example; a reward or salary. The
symbolic value is characterized by personal or
cultural values, and depends on the person’s age,
social context, childhood etc. For example, by
performing occupations with symbolic value, a
person might communicate his or her cultural or
religious affiliation. The third occupational value
is self-rewarding, which is the dominant value in
occupations performed for the person’s own
pleasure, for play or recreational purposes. How
occupational value is affected by immigration has
scarcely been explored but it can be assumed that
both performing occupations in new contexts and
new occupations that are adopted may alter
immigrants’ everyday experiences. This would
be especially significant for food-related occupa-
tions since these are loaded with traditions,
rituals, feelings, memories and relate to indivi-
dual, family and societal contexts (Beagan &
D’Sylva, 2011).
Food Occupations in Immigration
Food is a biological need that is essential to
human survival. Consequently, over the whole of
human history, daily occupations have been
highly related to food (Wilcock, 2006). Food-
related occupations include the purchase of
groceries, preparation and eating. Based on
studies carried out in different parts of the world,
Seymour (1987) established that the factors that
influence food-related habits include contact with
the home country’s culture as well as the social
context of migration, new social networks, and
the immigrant’s age. The food habits developed in
a new country are also affected by the new society
through health care services and children’s ex-
periences at school (Koctu¨ rk, 1995). For exam-
ple, women who migrated from developing
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countries to Europe or the USA tried to hold on
to their culture by cooking and serving food
consistent with the health beliefs, traditions and
culture of their home country. That became a
source of conflict with their children, who wanted
food from the new country (Perreira, 2008).
Some of the complexity of food-related occupa-
tions is that ‘‘the idea of eating is likely to conjure
up a series of images and thoughts, all involving
foods; sensations; actions; maybe a commercial
image; associated eating places; common utensils;
and perhaps some slightly off-topic images of
cooking’’ (Pierce, 2001, p. 139). Eating is related
to various aspects of the physical environment,
including the type of food that is available, and
family, friends, and other people in the commu-
nity who may affect the choice of food through
social norms and rules (Story, Kaphingst,
Robinson-O’Brien, & Glanz, 2008). Furthermore,
the meal is a social phenomenon and a means of
communication and interaction, as it links the
past, present and future mealtimes.
Food is a key ingredient in the sense of collective
belonging. It is important for the cultural and
ethnic identity that certain food, ingredients and
cooking traditions survive within minority
groups, even long after their original language
has been forgotten (Calvo, 1982). For instance,
a participant in one study who identified as
half-Lebanese stated that even though she was
born and raised in New Zealand, she always
cooked both Lebanese and New Zealand food for
Christmas (Wright-St Clair, Hocking, Bunrayong,
Vittayakorn, & Rattakorn, 2005). At such sig-
nificant occasions, it was important to maintain
traditions, a sense of family and cultural heritage
and through the food they prepared, the partici-
pants were able to bring together the past and the
present.
Cultural minority groups in Sweden are intro-
duced to Swedish food habits in various ways.
The Swedish Ministry of Health’s advice, tradi-
tions and reasoning about food is conveyed in a
variety of encounters such as maternity health
care, children’s health care and school health care,
which is accessible to all inhabitants, no matter
what their language or background may be. For
many immigrant families, however, it might be
difficult to maintain their traditional food habits,
resulting in mixing elements of their traditional
diet with the less healthy parts of Western dietary
intake. Studies in New Zealand and the USA have
shown that a large percentage of Somali women
gain weight due to physical inactivity and dietary
change after immigration (Gardner, Salah, Leavey,
& Porcellato, 2010; Guerin, Diiriye, Corrigan, &
Guerin, 2003; Guerin, Elmi, & Corrigan, 2007).
Despite the large number of people from Somalia
now residing in Sweden and observations made in
Europe and elsewhere regarding obesity in this
group, there seems to be limited research in
Sweden about food and eating habits among
Somali women. More studies are needed about
their experiences of daily occupations related to
planning, purchasing, preparing and eating food
that may reflect specific socioculturally imprinted
aspects of food-related occupations research
that may increase the understanding of daily
occupations, habits and routines in the context
of migration.
The aim of this study was to elucidate experiences
related to cooking and meals among Somali
women after immigration to Sweden. The district
where the study was conducted was located in a
municipality in the south of Sweden with 79,543
residents, including over 15 different immigrant
groups. Approximately 75% of the residents in
the district have an immigrant background. The
majority of these immigrants originate from
former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Somalia (Statistics
Sweden, 2009).
Method
The choice of an explorative qualitative design
was considered appropriate based on the intent to
capture Somali women’s experiences of cooking
and meals after immigration to Sweden. Data
were gathered through focus groups interviews,
which have been recommended as suitable for the
exploration of human experiences, perceptions
and difficulties (Barbour & Kitzinger, 1999).
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It was anticipated that the dialogue between
participants would increase the richness of the
data. The study was conducted in accordance
with the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical
Association, 2008), and the regional ethical re-
view board, Lund, Sweden, approved the study
(Dnr2011/739).
Participants
The selection criterion was women from Somalia
who had immigrated to Sweden, based on the
knowledge that in Somalia, the women normally
take care of the household. Since we wanted
similarities and differences in experiences we
sought participants who had different experiences
of the topic. Therefore, the participants were
recruited via a purposeful sampling strategy
(Patton, 1999). Ten women were identified for
the study and each of them received an informa-
tion letter and an invitation to a local community
centre. Out of the ten, four never showed up and
never participated.
The participants were homogenous regarding
their country of origin, having children and being
Muslims. In other aspects they were heteroge-
neous. They were between 2536 years old and
had lived in Sweden between 3 months and
19 years. Four of them were employed, one was
on maternity leave and one was unemployed. The
women had between one and five children aged
between 218 years. After discussion, the authors
decided not to use an interpreter because of the
expected loss of discussion and interaction within
the group.
Planning and implementation of focus group
interviews
The first author (JAT) and the co-author (VB) met
the women before the first focus group session
to give them oral and written information and to
obtain written consent. They were all invited to
participate in three focus group sessions. Six
participated in the first interview, five in the
second and three in the final group interview. The
women who did not attend session 2 and 3 stated
that they did not have the time to participate.
A moderator and one of the co-authors (VB)
conducted the focus groups. The moderator’s role
was to facilitate the discussions and to support
the group members to interact with each other
during the interviews (Barbour & Kitzinger,
1999). The co-author’s role was to support to
the moderator, follow the discussion and take
notes about key themes (Tillgren & Wallin,
1999). The aim of the repeated discussions was
to generate data on Somali women’s experiences
and views. Following Kaden (1977), the initial
focus group session is limited by the fact that the
participants are strangers. In the second group
session the discussion flows more openly, with
more control by the participants and less influ-
ence from the moderator. In the final session,
trust might develop between the group members
and the group may be more prepared to explore
issues as a unit (Barbour & Kitzinger, 1995).
When a certain level of trust has been established,
the moderator can concentrate on the discussion
and the group members are allowed to question
each other. Conducting several focus groups
sessions with same participants also allows the
participants to clarify things they have said in
earlier sessions (Kaden, 1977).
An interview guide covered food-related routines
in their new country, the women’s perceptions of
what influenced their cooking and eating habits,
and other experiences that impact their daily
occupations related to food. The focus of session
one was similarities and differences between
eating habits in general between Somalia and
Sweden. At the end of this session it was decided
that the Somali women should bring food for
session two. The second session probed differ-
ences and similarities regarding grocery shop-
ping, food storage, cooking, and how those things
affect the taste and experiences of food. At this
meeting Somali food was shared. At the third
session, the social aspects of food occupations
were discussed. All sessions began with an
introduction in order to facilitate secure and
comfortable atmosphere in the group. They
were conducted in a location agreed upon in
advance and in consultation with the participants.
They were planned to last between 30 minutes
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and 2 hours per group, and the actual time ranged
from 30 to 57 minutes.
Data analysis
The interviews were tape recorded and tran-
scribed verbatim and the various speakers, pauses
and laughs were marked where possible. Addi-
tional data to support the analysis included the
notes that the co-author made during the first
focus group interview. As recommended by
Barbour and Kitzinger (1999), the data analysis
began at the collection stage as the interview
leader, after each interview, summarised its main
features. The interviews were analysed using
manifest and latent content analysis (Graneheim
& Lundman, 2004). All the authors read through
the transcribed focus group interviews several
times to get a sense of the whole. Meaning units,
comprising sentences and phrases that contained
information relevant to the aim of the study, were
extracted. The surrounding text was included so
the context remained. The meaning units were
condensed, close to the text, in order to shorten
the text whilst retaining the entire content
(Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). See Table 1.
Subthemes were then constructed to show the
manifest content. Finally, themes were formu-
lated. The quotes were translated into English
after the interviews. As far as possible, this was a
direct translation from Swedish to English but for
linguistic reasons a translation that conveyed the
participant’s meaning had to be used in a few
cases. One of the participants was English speak-
ing and in order to ensure trustworthiness, her
quotes were re-translated in a peer-review process
from English to Swedish and back.
Results
The analysis of the focus group interviews
resulted in four themes, with related subthemes,
some of which were interlinked (Table 2).
Change in Routines and Content of the Daily Meals
The women described several differences after
immigration to Sweden related to cooking rou-
tines, meal content and regularities.
Table 1: Examples of Meaning Units, Condensed Meaning Units, Subthemes and Themes
Meaning units Condensed meaning units
Close to the text
Condensed meaning units
Interpretation of the
underlying meaning
Subthemes Theme
‘‘Yes, yes you have little time. In Somalia, most women are
at home and prepare food, but here women are working
and you do not have time to cook’’
Women do not have time to
cook due to their new role as a
breadwinner
Missing a major role of being
a Somali woman
Loss of a part of identity
‘‘Here indeed he cooks ...he helps ...if mum is not home.
And dad is home he cooks ...the children they get
home ...what should he do? He must cook’’
The father must help in the
household as the mother is in
employment
Recognising a change of the
husband’s role in the kitchen
Accepting the
rearrangement
Loss of identity
and change of
roles
‘‘In Somalia, the girls start to help her mother taking care
of the family and cook when they are ten ...but here in
Sweden they do not want, they are tired after school"
The girls start to help their
mother in the household from
early years
Girls are reluctant to carry
on the tradition
Children are reluctant to
carry on the food
tradition
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Regularities of the main daily meal
Most women mentioned that when they lived
in Somalia they had three meals per day and in
between they had snacks. In Somalia, breakfast
was eaten between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., lunch
between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and dinner between
8 p.m. and 9 p.m. The women went on to
describe that in Somalia their lunch, Qado, had
the most social importance children came home
from school and workers had a long break so that
they could have lunch together with the family
and enjoy the main meal of the day. Once in
Sweden, the women experienced difficulties main-
taining this lunchtime tradition, as most of the
women work outside of the home and the children
have their lunch at school. Thus, in Sweden, lunch
had been replaced by the evening meal as the
major meal which involves all the family.
Content of the main daily meals
In Somalia, breakfast commonly consisted of
Anjello (pancake-like bread) that was eaten with
butter and sugar. Anjello and Malawax (a sweeter
and oilier kind of Anjello) were frequently served
at all meals. Malawax was also eaten after the
main dish, and this was sometimes served with
honey. The two main meals, at noon and in the
evening, usually consisted of meat, rice and
vegetables. The women explained that the rice
was prepared in various ways. Rice was often
served with local spices, mixed with vegetables
and boiled with a small amount of water in the
oven. Sambuusa, a kind of pastry stuffed with
boiled meat and vegetables, and then deep-fried,
is also a common lunch dish, also commonly
eaten at Ramadan, the fasting period. Lamb is
preferred in Somalia, but beef and chicken are
also common both for lunch and dinner, and
sometimes fish is served. Cambuulo, another
common dish in Somalia, is more often served
for dinner. It is made of beans, well-cooked with
butter and sugar. It takes several hours to cook
the beans. The women also stated that the local
breads, Anjello and Malawax, are flat and are used
as a tool to eat the dishes. A summary of the
content of breakfast, lunch and dinner in Somalia
and Sweden, as reported by the women, is
presented in Table 3.
The participants explained that in Sweden they
commonly ate a mixture of Somali food and
Swedish food (Table 3). Fast food, such as pizza
and hamburgers was eaten more frequently than
they might have wished, and it was on the
children’s request: ‘‘If we cook rice, they do not
want rice; ‘No, I do not want rice, I want potato
chips, hamburgers’ and so on’’. Overall, the descrip-
tion of the food routines and meal content before
immigration was positive and a sense of missing
that food could be heard in the women’s voices.
When they talked about the content of their daily
meals before immigration their stories were
influenced by memories from their country of
origin: How the families gathered, how they
socialized and laughed together. The women
described the food and meal habits of their
childhood or youth. In contrast, their descrip-
tions of eating fast food in Sweden were expressed
with embarrassment.
Table 2: Themes and Subthemes after the Analysis
Themes Subthemes
Change in routines and content of the daily meals Regularities of the main daily meal
Content of the main daily meal
Changed experiences related to cooking and shopping
for groceries
Different cooking, different taste
Missing the more relaxed pace of cooking and shopping
The social dimensions in food-related occupations Missing the interaction with family and neighbours
through food
Loss of identity and change of roles Loss of a part of identity
Children are reluctant to carry on the food traditions
Accepting the rearrangement
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Changed experiences related to cooking and
shopping for groceries
In the interviews it became evident that there
were several aspects of the occupations related to
food and eating that had changed.
Different cooking, different taste
The women described that they perceived several
changes related to the taste of food, more
specifically the Somali dishes, compared to the
taste they remembered from Somalia. Those
differences were both in the smell and taste of
the food. Even if they could find special Somali
groceries and spices in Sweden, the food tasted
different both before and after it had been
cooked; something was missing. A theory several
of the women mentioned was that all food
products in Somalia were fresh but in Sweden
much of the food is frozen, and they reflected that
the difference in how the food was kept might
also affect its taste. ‘‘In Sweden, the food is stored in
the freezer.’’ An additional aspect concerned the
different cooking methods: in Somalia they used
traditional clay stoves fuelled by charcoal while in
Sweden they use electric ovens. This meant
completely different cooking times and routines
in Sweden compared with Somalia: ‘‘Maybe
1.5 hours in Somalia, here in Sweden it takes
20 minutes. It’s easier here because there is a stove
with four burners, so you can cook it all at once. In
Somalia, we have only one burner.’’
In relation to preparing proper Somali dishes, the
participants experienced a lack of supplies of
spices in Sweden, which was mainly due to living
in a smaller town. They described that they often
experienced the Swedish food as sweet, compared
with their stronger flavoured Somali dishes. ‘‘We
want food to taste very much, we love spicy food and
not very sweet!’’ The women also mentioned that
Table 3: Summary of the Content of Meals in Somalia and Sweden
Breakfast Lunch Dinner
Somalia Main meal
Shaah (tea) Lamb stew Canbuulo (beans)
Coffee Kabaab (kebab) Sabayad (flatbread)
Canjeero (pancake-like bread) Milk
Baalbaaloow (sweet)
Shaah (tea)
Gelato (ice cream) Malawax (oily and sweeter type of canjeero)
Bariis (rice) Muufo (bread/bun)
Buskeeti (steak)
Baasto (pasta)
Soor (porridge made of corn)
Muufo (bread/bun)
Suugo (pasta sauce with meat)
Inzalato (salads)
Sweden Main meal
Bread/sandwiches Fried potatoes Lamb stew and rice
Cornflakes Pasta Pasta
Semolina porridge Pizza Beans
Milk Meatballs
Pancakes (weekends) Children*
Pasta
Pizza
Meatballs
Hamburger
Kebab
* Children were reported as having different food from their parents at dinner in Sweden
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fruits and vegetables in Sweden tasted different
from Somalia. One woman said: ‘‘The bananas here
have no taste.’’ Another woman remembered the
tomatoes in Somalia.
The tomatoes in Somalia are big ...in
Sweden tomatoes are not fresh and they
are sprayed with pesticides ...In Somalia
they are not sprayed with pesticides ...they
are good ...if you eat tomatoes in Somalia
you do not need to wash them, you are just
taking some salt.
Missing the more relaxed pace of cooking and
shopping
The women explained differences related to the
pace of life in Sweden, where food for the family
is purchased on a weekly basis. They mentioned
this because they do not enjoy shopping and
cooking in Sweden. The women described that in
their country of origin, cooking is a main ritual
during the day where women get up early in the
morning, go to the market and purchase fresh
vegetables, fruit, meat and special Somali spices.
Afterwards, Somali women would go home and
cook Somali dishes, like stews, that often simmer
for hours. They made Anjello to accompany every
meal and prepared meat and vegetables with
various seasonings. In Somalia, cooking was
something important, a daily ritual for which
women were responsible. It was a recurrent
theme that purchasing products and cooking
implied a process that, in the Somali context,
took time and dominated the pattern of daily
occupations. Since they recalled that most women
in Somalia worked at home and took care of the
home, this time span was not perceived as a
problem.
It was expressed in all the focus groups that in
Sweden the participants do not have time to cook
Somali food during the week because it is too
time-consuming for their new lives. The women’s
stories sometimes seemed contradictory. They felt
that it has become easier to cook, because they do
not need to buy groceries every day and had
freezers and stoves that made cooking quicker,
but they also felt more stressed because they were
still responsible for the home as well as being
employed outside the home. Looking at working
life in Somalia, the minority of women who
worked outside the home had help with the
household.
Time goes fast, always stress and you know
if you wake up, it goes so quickly, there is no
time, stress all the time ...yes. You know, if
you work, you have more stress. I just go
home and cook.
The social dimensions in food-related occupations
The social context of food-related occupations
was described as comprising more people in
Somalia than in Sweden.
Missing interaction with family and neighbours
through food
It emerged from the discussions that the women,
after immigration to Sweden, missed purchasing
food items at the traditional markets in Somalia.
It was not only a matter of shopping; they also
met and interacted with other women. It was
emphasised that, in Somalia, women feel a strong
community between family and their neighbours.
A loss of community was also expressed in the
common interaction with neighbours in Somalia.
The women frequently mentioned food when
describing relations with their neighbours. For
example, new neighbours cooked and came over
and food was exchanged between neighbours.
After immigration to Sweden, the women ex-
plained, it was only at the weekends it was
possible to cook Somali food and the children
had time to eat Somali breakfast. During the
weekends other Somali people are invited over
and lunch, once again, becomes the most im-
portant meal of the day: ‘‘In Somalia all the
neighbours knew each other, and when there were
new neighbours, they cooked and left food and said
hello.’’
Another emerging difference related to Muslim
food traditions. Every Friday Muslims celebrate
Yawm al-juma’a, which means ‘‘the day of con-
gregation’’. People had the day off work, children
were free from school and they all went to the
mosque for a common prayer. Afterwards they
gathered with families and friends and ate:
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‘‘Fridays, then there were no jobs or school ....
Thursday’s special food was prepared for Friday
when all the family, friends and everybody met.’’
Another woman added:
Sometimes when I talk with people living in
Somalia, they might say: ‘Oh, today it is
Friday!’ And I say: ‘So what?’ and they
respond ‘But it is Friday!’ And I think; ‘Yes,
tomorrow is Saturday and then Sunday.
Friday is nothing special anymore.’
Loss of identity and change of roles
The Somali women described changes in their
own roles as well as in their husbands’ and
children’s roles after immigrating to Sweden.
Loss of a part of identity
When the women described their daily food-
related routines and the expectations on them as
Somali women in relation to food, before and
after immigration to Sweden, there was a sense of
loss in their voices and in their words. After
explaining the lack of community in relation to
purchasing food and preparing food, they stated
that they now feel that some of their Somalia
origin has been lost: ‘‘Part of our origin has
disappeared because of the lack of time spent for
food.’’ With a certain sadness and sorrow they had
accepted the new life and the new routines in
Sweden. It did not only mean a loss of recipes and
certain food, it was a lot bigger: ‘‘Yes ...the more
you live here and the smaller and smaller Somali...
the Somali culture disappears .. .Our lives ...Yes,
our lives disappear.’’
Children are reluctant to carry on the food tradition
The women expressed worry when they talked
about their children’s perception of Somali food.
With sadness in their voices, they stated that their
children rejected the Somali food on a daily basis,
instead preferring Swedish food and fast food. In
Somalia, the women explained, it was customary
for girls to help their mothers in the home,
including cooking. In the interviews, they stated
that their daughters were not interested in learn-
ing how to cook Somali food, with its particular
spices, ingredients, herbs and rituals: ‘‘In Somalia,
the girls start to help their mothers taking care of the
family and cook when they are 10 ...but here in
Sweden they do not want, they are tired after school.’’
Accepting the rearrangement
The women explained that, traditionally, in
Somalia men were employed and provided the
household with money while women were the
ones who made decisions at home, implying
planning, purchasing and cooking. It was also
mentioned that there was often a certain level of
supervision by the grandmother. It emerged that
gender roles could shift after immigration to
Sweden. In Sweden, women take part in con-
tributing to the family’s income by working
outside the home and the men had to cook if
they came home from work earlier than the
women and the children were hungry. The Somali
women had learned to accept this new order but
they explained that in Somalia men were not
allowed to cook. Men were not even supposed to
enter the kitchen, and they were not considered a
real man if they helped in the kitchen: ‘‘When I
was back home in Somalia in 2005 my husband
prepared food as he used to do in Sweden, but the
Somali people said: ‘How can a man be in the
kitchen?’’’
Discussion
There are two major findings of this study. First
it supports finding from other studies, highlight-
ing the importance of food-related occupations
for women’s identity and sense of cultural belong-
ing, especially in the context of immigration.
Secondly, for Somalia women, gaining new em-
ployment roles outside home impacted their
food-related occupations.
How you cook, what you eat and whom you eat
with shows who you are and which social group
you want to belong to. Fischler (1988) termed the
action when food is taken from outside the body
to inside the body ‘‘the principles of incorpora-
tion’’. According to Fischler, the incorporation,
eating, is one of the bases of identity creation. As
we incorporate the food we also incorporate its
characteristics, thus, we are what we eat, and
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through food we are incorporated into a culture.
Fischler argued that, through the process of
eating food, humans are both biologically and
symbolically directed in what and how they eat.
There are several examples of how food may
signal identity and belonging especially in the
context of immigration. In a case study from a
Kosovo refugee camp, Steindl, Winding and
Runge (2008) described a mother’s desire, despite
being in a new country with a new language and
different selection of groceries, to find the right
ingredients for the biscuits she used to bake at
home. She thought it would give her children
a feeling of home, if she could make them as
before. That cooking and eating can represent
the concept of ‘home’, where home means a
state of normality in contrast to the unfamiliar
life in a new country, was further described by
Rabikowska (2010) in a study among Polish
immigrants in London and their rituals of
food, home and identity. Thus, food and eating
strengthen the sense of family and cultural belong-
ing, and opportunities to cook and use familiar
groceries are areas that seem important to integrate
when there is a transition between countries.
According to the three dimensions of occupa-
tional value in the ValMO model; concrete-,
symbolic- and self-rewarding value (Persson
et al., 2001), the women’s descriptions of cooking
and giving food to friends and neighbours may be
interpreted as an indication of belonging to a
social context. Thus, when these occupations
were performed in Somalia, they seemed enriched
by symbolic occupational value. Such symbolic
meaning related to food occupations was exem-
plified in a study of drinking tea in the United
Kingdom (Hannam, 1997) which found that
drinking tea was an occupation with social and
relational values that was also imprinted with
personal memories and sensations. Similarly, the
idea that food may be infused with both indivi-
dual and culturally meanings was shown in a
qualitative study among Goan women from
Canada (Beagan & D’Sylva, 2011). To experience
a variety of occupational values in daily occupa-
tions is considered to be important to maintain
health (Erlandsson, Eklund, & Persson, 2011),
and the ability to choose occupations imprinted
with symbolic occupational values that confirm
who you are and which cultural context you
relate and belong to, may be even more important
when living in a new different cultural setting.
Traditions are adaptable landmarks in time and
space. Most often, tradition is about ceremonies
or rituals since childhood that are handed on
from one generation to the next generation. The
older generation wants to pass on the stability
they have been given to the next generation.
Rituals may also be important in signifying
cultural belonging. For instance, in African
American family reunions the greater meaning
behind the traditional roasting of a pig for the
older generation was about preserving the past
and reinforcing positive traditions for coming
generations (McCoy, 2011).The younger genera-
tion may seek renewal, but for the older ones
traditions are important reference points in an
otherwise uncertain life schedule. If they know
what to expect at any given point, they may have
the tranquillity in a turbulent life in a new
country. Maintaining culturally based food tradi-
tions has also been shown to express reverence
not only for ones ancestors and culture (Wright-
St Clair, Bunrayong, Vittayakorn, Rattakorn, &
Hocking, 2004). Traditions are to hold on to but
also to challenge, and the Somali women in this
study indicated that their traditions where not
always sustained. For example they reported that
their families ate both Somali and Swedish food.
The women strove to cook Somali food, while
their children wanted, and preferred, fast food
such as pizza and hamburgers. Their daughters
did not want to learn how to cook Somali food
and the women felt sad that their children had
abandoned the Somali food traditions and feared
that their culture would disappear with their
children. The challenge to keep food-related
traditions over generations in new cultures and
societies is also restricted by differences in social,
socioeconomic and political systems. The Somali
women in this study had to surrender main parts
of their food practices because of the new lifestyle
with work, school, different culture and religion.
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In Somalia, shopping for food, cooking and
preparing meals is the woman’s responsibility
and they also have the cooking skills. Food-
related occupations constitute one aspect of their
cultural identity and were an important aspect of
women’s gender role. The meals were not only
important to keep the family together but food
related occupations also helped to structure
everyday life. Those occupations often involved
other members of the family and neighbours. In
the context of immigration, decreased time for
food related occupations and the women’s new
work roles meant that it was no longer necessarily
the women who were responsible for putting food
on the table. When their husbands also became
responsible for the food-related occupations the
gender roles and cultural identity were chal-
lenged (Beagan, Chapman, D’Sylva, & Basssett,
2008). In addition, because children had lunch
at school, and activities after school and work,
meals were no longer the natural family gather-
ings as they used to be in Somalia.
A focus group study should include sufficient
group sessions that no more new material about
the subject being discussed emerges. According to
Wibeck (2000) that requires at least three focus
group sessions, but Kaden (1977) argued that it
was time to conclude the focus groups when
participants got more involved in personal mat-
ters than the research question. In this study, a
sense of saturation was reached after two group
sessions regarding food patterns and preparing
food but the meaning of food-related occupations
for their identity needed more exploration. It is
also recommended that the number of partici-
pants per focus group is between four and eight
people (Barbour & Kitzinger, 1999). However,
groups as small as 3 participants and as large as
20 participants have been reported (Morgan,
1996). In this study, the number of participants
in each session ranged from three to six, and
although that did not seem to have had a crucial
effect on the conduct of the interviews, it is likely
that the data would have been richer with more
participants. Another limitation was its cultural
and gender specificity. It was conducted with a
small group of Somali women in a municipality in
the south of Sweden who had experience of
immigration from Somalia to Sweden. Similar
studies are required with larger groups and with
men.
In order to obtain as much knowledge about the
studied topic as possible, a purposeful sampling
method was used. Recruitment of women was
done using a gatekeeper approach (Tillgren &
Wallin, 1999), which meant that a Somali woman
from the local Somali association asked women to
participate in the study. The fact that the pro-
spective participants were familiar with the
recruiter and trusted her made the recruitment
easier. It might be a limitation of the study that
the participants’ experiences of living in Sweden
differed between 3 months and 19 years. One
might argue that 3 months is a too short period,
but, on the other hand, this woman had recent
memories of Somalia, compared with the women
who had lived in Sweden for a longer time. In this
way, the women complemented each other’s
narratives.
Because the participants were not native Swedish
speakers, some of the women occasionally had
difficulty explaining their routines and the im-
portance of food-related occupations. Despite this
risk, an interpreter was not used in order to catch
the women’s narratives in their own words.
Moreover it was assumed that the discussion
and interaction within the group would be
negatively influenced by interruptions from an
interpreter. The participants were, however, to
varying extents fluent in Swedish or English and
the choice not to use an interpreter meant that
when the women had difficulty expressing them-
selves they helped each other interpret. Thus
despite the lack of a contracted interpreter, an
interpreting situation was present within the
participants in the focus group, a strategy that
might have enriched the data of this study and
supported the decision to use focus groups rather
than individual interviews.
Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) criteria of credibility,
transferability dependability and confirmability
were employed as measures for this study.
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Credibility can be addressed by ‘member checks’.
In this study the participants had the opportunity
to either confirm that the summaries from earlier
sessions reflected their views and experiences, or
not. Dependability was addressed by the pro-
longed engagement of meeting the same women
several times and also sharing Somali food with
them. The first author also has insight into east
African food traditions as she originates from
Ethiopia. Another way of ensuring validity is
through describing the setting, the documenta-
tion of data, methods and decisions about the
research (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). The
author had the opportunity to listen to recordings
in order to verify that the transcripts were correct,
which increases the reliability of the work (Kvale
& Brinkmann, 1997).
Conclusion
Cooking is an occupation strongly linked to
identity. The women in this study described
how cooking and eating have an occupational
value for their gender identity (being a woman)
and their ethnic and cultural belonging (being a
Somali woman). When their gender and cultural
identity are put to test, in relation to immigration
and development of new roles and routines, there
is a risk for decreased participation in occupa-
tions loaded with important symbolic values,
such as a loss of community, a sense of home
and relationships i.e. belonging. Usually changes
in cooking and meals are an outcome of changes
in the environment and social life. Together with
development and absence of policies in areas as
health, urban planning, and education, changes
in food patterns may constitute a risk factor for
health. There are also examples of how changes in
food habits increase obesity (Satia, 2010; WHO,
2011) and other health-related problems (Beagan
et al., 2008)
Previous research with the Somali population in
Sweden has examined changes in eating patterns.
Future research needs to focus on the factors
affecting these changes and how acculturation
interacts with food-related occupations, to sup-
port efforts to promote health. Broader under-
standings of the meaning of food-related
occupations for health promotion purposes have
been highlighted, for example among the African
American population in the USA (McCoy, 2011)
and a better understanding of occupations related
to food and eating may contribute to the devel-
opment of strategies to ameliorate the negative
impacts on immigrant Somali women’s roles,
identity and health.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the study
participants for making this study possible. Also
thanks to Professor Albert Westergren for his
support during the work.
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