Can Sociology Make a better World?

Panel Abstract

This panel focuses on food and religions as everyday strategies that help adapt to rapidly changing social and political conditions in societies. The panellists make comparisons of the role food plays in two major Abrahamic religions, namely Islam and Christianity. They address the relationship between food and faith in Hong Kong, a hyper-capitalist society. With the freest economy in the world and a reputation as the centre of capitalist enterprise for its former colonial overlord, the UK, and current administrative government, China, one may expect religion to take a back seat here. The research conducted by the panellists tell a slightly different story. They show how Christian restaurants peddle Christian values while peddling food. At the same time, religious guanxi or connections amongst Christian restaurateurs and between Christian restaurateurs and Christian diners helps in sustaining these food businesses and ensures survival in hard economic times. The panellists shows how eating faith in Christianity, which, unlike the related Abrahamic faiths of Judaism and Islam, has hardly any food taboos, shows great adherence to both religious and capitalist values in hyper-capitalist Hong Kong.

Moderator: Dr. Gigi Lam, Associate Professor, Sociology Department, Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Discussant: Dr. Weishan Huang, Associate Professor, Sociology Department, Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Presenters

Professor Saroja Dorairajoo, Yunnan University; founder of Asian Living Institution of Future Food

Dr. Veronica Sau-Wa Mak, Associate Professor, Sociology Department, Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Dr. Mark Inigo M. Tallara, Assistant Professor, Department of International Studies, Southeast Asia Studies Program, De La Salle University