Food is something essential that we encounter in our daily basis. in every country, food can represent their nationality. For instance, if we heard a food named “sushi” we can always know that sushi is from Japan or when we heard ‘tom yam’ we will acknowledge the food is from Thailand.
So what are the correlations between food and Gastro Diplomacy?
Gastro Diplomacy is actually diplomacy with food as the media to spread information about a country or in short to make one country known better globally
The idea of Gastro Diplomacy is to use food to communicate and engage with global public and attempting to create emotional connections by winning the hearts and minds through culinary pleasures
James Beard, a famous American cook and author ever said “Food is our common ground, a universal experience”.
The history of Gastro Diplomacy up until now is still debatable. Though, Hillary Clinton claimed that food as ‘the oldest form of diplomacy’.
There are many names of Gastro Diplomacy such as Dim Sum diplomacy in 2005, Global Thai Program in 2002 which successfully increased the number of Thai restaurant worldwide (from 5.500 restaurants in 2002 to more than 10.000 restaurants in 2012), Kimchi Diplomacy, Rendang Diplomacy (2010), Shoku Bunka Kenkyu Suishin Kondankai by Japan (2005), Malaysia Kitchen for the World (2010) and others.
In 2009, South Korea launched a multi-million dollar campaign ‘Korean Cuisine to the World’ to increase the number of Korean Restaurant around the world.
In 2017, CNN published a polling result about which food is the most delicious food in the world, Rendang and Nasi Goreng gained the first and second rank. Additionally, Indomie as a noodle brand is now spreading the wings. We can find it everywhere. In Nigeria, people considered it as a primary food.
Ever tasted Thai Tea ? yes, after Tom Yum and others Thai cuisine, Thai Tea is now become popular especially in Indonesia because of the unique taste. We can see many people post it in Instagram.
Actually, diplomacy can use many instruments. For example, we all know about cultural diplomacy, the diplomacy through culture exchange or sport diplomacy, the diplomacy using sport to make one or more country relations’ stronger. Gastro Diplomacy as a form of diplomacy can boost a country’s image and in international relations, the image of a country is very important.
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