Cultural Representation in Food Consumption: A Study on Bangladeshi Students Living in Munich, Germany

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the food consumption behaviour of Bangladeshi students living in Munich, Germany in the context of the reflection of the Bangladeshi culture. The qualitative research methodology was followed to do this research and in-depth interview was conducted to collect primary data from Bangladeshi students living in Munich, Germany. The collected data was further analysed with thematic analysis methods to derive the codes and themes. The codes from the data are categorized into five different categories under the theme called “food consumption behaviour”. The five categorizations of the codes are “food consumption habit”, “style of cooking and preparing foods”, “foods available at home”, “representation of culture in food consumption” and, budget constraint”. The results indicate that the Bangladeshi students living in Munich, Germany, follow their cultures. However, because of the limited income and time they can’t taste all types of Bangladeshi foods as they want. The outcome of this research will help to the local businessperson and community businessperson to understand the food consumption choices of international students.