ABSTRACT
This chapter explores multiple layers of identity belonging to Japanese Indigenous-Australian mixed-descent people in Broome, Western Australia, though the lens of food. From the 1870s to the 1960s, Japanese workers flowed into northern Australia, and particularly Broome, for industries such as pearl shelling. Despite the White Australia Policy and internment and deportation by the Second World War some, mostly men, had various relationships with local Indigenous people, resulting in mixed heritage descendants who identify as ‘mix’ or ‘Broome mix’ and acknowledge their multiple ancestries. This chapter examines two types of food practices: Japanese first-generation ancestors’ dish, and ‘Broome fusion food’, developed through cross-cultural exchanges among Asian and Indigenous communities. While the former reflects familial intimacy and heritage preservation, the latter signifies adaptability, creativity and community belonging. Through detailed narratives and recipes, this chapter highlights how ingredients, preparation methods and naming choices vary depending on familial and cultural contexts. These culinary practices not only express personal and collective memory but also reveal how heritage is negotiated and lived in everyday life. Broome fusion food, in particular, demonstrates how shared dishes can carry multiple, sometimes contested, meanings while reinforcing local identity. Together, these two categories of food serve as dynamic sites where Japanese-Indigenous Australian descendants sustain a sense of rootedness amid historical change and social complexity.
