Concluding Remarks
As a child, Jackie's family was embedded within a Syrian community, both in the proximity of her large family and the local demographic. The Family dynamic was essential to Jackie's life growing up as the only Arab friends she had access to were her siblings or cousins. This meant that she often felt different from the other immigrant children and relied on her family for socialisation.
Jackie was never taught Arabic in the home and so her connection to an Arab identity has mainly stemmed from food and the relationship she had with it as a child. This continues to be an important cultural tie for Jackie and her adult interactions with food reflect such importance. Jackie's fondest memories of childhood are tied to the delicious foods that her family created. However, the grandeur that the food reflected has not been translated into Jackie’s own family with her children having achieved the Americanisation that her parents strived for. It is clear that Syrian foods are still important to her and remain as both a reminder and representation of her Arab identity.