Вакула А. О.

студентка Університету митної справи та фінансів

(науковий керівник – Стирнік Н. С.)

Food represents not only our personal preferences, but also our nationality,
traditions, culture, history as well. Many people know Switzerland for their delicious
cheese, the USA for apple pie, Ukraine for tasty borsch or Belgium for qualitative
chocolate, so every nation can represent itself through national cuisine. By using food
in more official way and showing your respect and honour for foreign culture through
food we can either build some good relationships with other country or ruin them
accidentally. That is why there is a term called “culinary diplomacy” or
“gastrodiplomacy”.
According to Sam Chapple-Sokol, “culinary diplomacy is the use of food and
cuisine as an instrument to create cross-cultural understanding in the hope of
improving interactions and cooperation” [1]. Even though this field of public
diplomacy is still not deeply explored, some of the historical and present examples
might help us understand it deeper. In the abovementioned work by Sam Chapple-
Sokol, it is described that ancient Greek brought the topic of commensality
importance in order to keep a sense of community among public citizens. In
Aristotle’s «Politics», the author stresses on the importance of collective meals
during meetings between ambassadors of rival cities to establish a bond of solidarity
and proximity, which imitated those of a family environment.
Well-known French cuisine also has its history as one of the most memorable
actors of “culinary play”. For instance, Antonin Carême is the first person who
revealed the connection between French diplomacy and cuisine. He knew how to
impress Russian representatives at the Congress in Vienna while serving some
desserts. After dinner each member of this «after congress meal» showed their love to
national cheese, but the moment the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles
Maurice de Talleyrand served the Brie de Meaux, this competition and the status of
France as the country with one of the greatest cheeses in Europe was decided.
Nowadays everyone mostly knows this country for its pastry, roasted chestnuts and
variety of cheese, so it is obviously how gastrodiplomacy works. In addition,
UNESCO included French gastronomic meal to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage
of Humanity. [1].
The Thai government points out that people were quite interested in their
national cuisine, which led to launching the program named “Global Thai” to
increase the amount of Thai restaurants worldwide, maintaining a high level of
international recognition. In 2002 there were about 5,500 places all over the world
where you could try national Thai food. This number was increased up to 10 000
restaurants by 2011. This plan was more than successful because of an undeniable
appreciation of Thai cuisine in most countries and even now it looks like a non-stop
factory of opening new Asian restaurants overseas [3].
Taking into consideration other Asian cuisines, we should mention South
Korea and its unbelievable success in promoting their national food. It was in 2009
when Korean government launched the “Korean Cuisine to the World” campaign to
increase the number of South Korean restaurants abroad and spread its national
cuisine to other countries. But unlike Thailand, South Korea also wanted appreciation
from the world-known culinary schools, such as the Culinary Institute of America in
New York or Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. In 2010 with the Ministry for Food,
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries supported the project which gave life to the
Korean Food Promotion Institution and the World Institute of Kimchi to promote
research, development and innovation of South Korean’s typical dishes to be easily
recognized all over the world [3].
One of the best examples of the promotion of one’s culinary, related to sphere
of international politics is Taiwan. “All in Good Taste: Savour the Flavours of
Taiwan”, launched in 2010 is aimed to expand the number of Taiwanese restaurant
activities around the world, organize culinary events with a focus on national
gastronomy and help local chefs to take part in prestigious international competitions
with some financial support [2].
Asian countries are not the only representatives in successful promotion of
their politics with the help of gastrodiplomacy. In 2006 there was a tourism campaign
called “Perú Mucho Gusto” and in 2011 an official Peruvian culinary diplomacy
program started. The result of this campaign was funding of national culinary books,
high-profile food festivals, and the establishment of Peruvian restaurants all over the
world. The official campaign was aimed to have Peruvian cuisine to be included in
UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. But even multicultural national
identity did not help Peruvian gastronomy to be added to this list. However, Peru has
attained greater prestige for its cuisine among international food communities and
win the World’s Leading Culinary Destination award every eight years in a row from
2012 to 2019.
Since early 2000s, many countries have started incorporating gastronomy as a
part of cultural diplomacy to improve their image in international sphere and show
the world not only their food but their history as well. Gastrodiplomacy is in its
shining light, even if one does not trace it, it affects greatly. If you try cuisine of a
country, then you may be interested in its history, why it looks like this or why it is
called exactly this way. And then you are fully engaged in a country itself.

References
1. Chapple-Sokol S. Culinary Diplomacy: Breaking Bread to Win Hearts and
Minds. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy. 2013. Vol. 8. P. 161-183. URL:
http://culinarydiplomacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/breaking-bread-
to-win-hearts-and-minds.pdf
2. Eight great gastrodiplomacy nations. USC Center on Public Diplomacy.
URL: https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/story/eight-great-gastrodiplomacy-
nations
3. Gastrodiplomacy – Soft Power With Good Flavour. CorD. URL:
https://cordmagazine.com/diplomacy/gastrodiplomacy-soft-power-with-
good-flavour/