De-communalising the hot pot: Chinese cuisine in Australia during COVID-19

Abstract

This article examines the individualisation of communal hot pot restaurants using a ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) model of self-service that has been popularised internationally and allows patrons to eat alone. Using restaurant reviews from three Australian cities, it shows how the reception of this new style of dining is discussed as an aspect of loneliness, migration, nostalgia and belonging. Drawing on a sample primarily of migrants and Asian Australians, it demonstrates how restaurants became more fraught spaces during the coronavirus pandemic for epidemiological as well as geopolitical reasons. It ends by discussing the constant need for restaurants to innovate and seek out market niches while also providing spaces for nostalgia and tradition for migrant communities.