˝Taste of Home˝: Integration of Asyless Intertwined with Transnational Processes and the Promotion of Culinary Traditions

Sažetak

The integration of immigrants in the EU member states is one of the key social issues today. The aim of this paper is to, on the example of the Taste of Home collective case study, provide an overview of the attempts at the socio-economic, cultural and interactive integration of refugees and seekers of international protection into Croatian society and the extent to which they succeed at this. The research is based on ethnological and cultural-anthropological qualitative methodology: on interviews with asylees and asylum seekers, on the observation of participants in cooking workshops and food presentations and on media discourse analysis. In addition to the integration process, which is of exceptional importance for asylees and asylum seekers, the authors describe the extent to which participation, i.e.  the preparation of food as part of the Taste of Home project, enables refugees to exist in a transnational field. Finally, they indicate the two diametrically opposed ways in which Croatian citizens accept asylees involved in this initiative (from friendliness to distance), other asylees, protection seekers and refugees in Croatia in general.