Gastrodiplomacy

Gastro-diplomacy [title] "P W who …?" Mr William Clark is reputed to have said when he was being quizzed for the job of American Assistant Secretary of State. Well, whatever political reminders he might now have, he will never forget our prime minister [P. W. Botha] after being given so memorable a dish as biltong souffle for breakfast yesterday, backed up by straight biltong and maroela jelly.

Emperor; King of all Spain, of Castile, of Aragon, and of Granada; ruler of half Italy; heir to the Burgundian tradition of courtly chivalry; the Prince of Christendom who, in his gastro-diplomacy of public overeating and prodigious drinking, […]

The phenomenon of modern "gastrodiplomacy" got its start in Thailand. Thai cooking and restaurants had been on the rise around the world since the 1980s. But in 2002, the Government of Thailand decided to use these kitchens and restaurants as new cultural outposts to promote brand Thailand and encourage tourism and business investment. […] One example of how gastrodiplomacy can work on the ground is the Kogi Taco Truck, which serves up Korean-Mexican fusion food in Los Angeles, California.

It is important to note at this stage that the supposed success of the 'Global Thai' initiative and the Taiwanese case has motivated many other governments to go down the gastrodiplomacy route, and not all of them are Asian. For example, Peru has been one of the more recent converts to gastrodiplomacy.

In gastrodiplomacy, nations use food as part of their efforts to promote their cultures, build their images, globalise their food industries, attract foreign tourists and build relations with citizens of foreign countries[…]. Employers of gastrodiplomacy may include food corporations, celebrity chefs, tourist agencies, public relations firms, public diplomacy practitioners, television cooking shows and social media networks.