2.2. Public Diplomacy
2.3.2. Gastrodiplomacy Practices by Other Countries
Globalization has opened a diversity of food culture and allows people from around the world to experience and learn about foreign food culture much more easily.
Gastrodiplomacy is one alternative strategy a country can use to be better known and receive more sympathy from the international community. Several countries have practiced cultural diplomacy by sharing their national cuisine with the world. The following are some examples of countries that practice gastrodiplomacy.
Thailand
The official practice of gastrodiplomacy can be traced back to when the Thai government launched the ‘Global Thai’ program in 2002. This was seen as a form of Thailand’s attempt to expand their cultural diplomacy by using soft power, food. The program aimed to increase global awareness of Thailand by boosting the number of Thai restaurants around the world from 5,500 in 2002 to 8,000 restaurants by 2003.
The program continues with an additional campaign, namely ‘Thailand: Kitchen of the World’ to educate the foreign public about Thai delicacies and sustain competitiveness in food industries. One of the primary programs is chef training and sending chefs from Thailand abroad to promote the authenticity of their cuisine. As a result, the number of Thai restaurants overseas had expanded to 13,000 in 2008. The government believed that the increased number of restaurants abroad can be a contact space where foreign customers can learn and appreciate Thai culture better through cuisine (Suntikul, 2017). Furthermore, according to a survey of brand recognition and brand perception conducted by the Kellogg School of Management and Sasin Institute, Thai food was ranked fourth in the ethnic cuisines category (after Italian, French, and Chinese) and sixth in favorite food category (after Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Indian) (Solleh, 2015). By considering the successful case of Thailand, the trend of using food as a cultural ambassador has become increasingly popular among neighbouring countries.
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Malaysia
In 2008, Malaysia officially launched its gastrodiplomacy program. With the slogan ‘Malaysia Kitchen for the World’ or Malaysia Kitchen Program (MKP), Malaysian gastrodiplomacy aims to improve Malaysian restaurants overseas and increase the interest of foreign customers toward Malaysian dishes, food products, and tourism.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry cooperated with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) to achieve these goals. MKP’s main programs help Malaysian restaurateurs open and improve their restaurants abroad with financial support provided by the Ministry of Finance (Nahar, 2016). The number of Malaysian restaurants overseas increased from 465 in 2010 to 647 in 2012 (Ibid).
Malaysia has also been eagerly promoting Malaysian food in several activities such as opening ‘Malaysian Night Market’ in the United Kingdom, providing food trucks across the United States, inviting chefs from abroad to Malaysia to learn Malaysian cooking methods and recipes, as well as sending Malaysian chefs overseas to promote authentic Malaysian food abroad (Rockower, 2012). Through this, Malaysia eagerly advertises peranakan cuisine which represents Malay and Chinese flavors to showcase the diversity of the country.
Awareness of Malaysian food is increasing. Malaysian restaurants have received Michelin awards in New York, and acknowledgement as well as the number of corporate collaboration projects with Asian countries are increasing (Nahar, 2016). Malaysia’s gastrodiplomacy program is a continuous program and has been implemented primarily to raise brand awareness of the country.
Japan
The transnational spread of Japanese cuisine abroad has been ongoing for decades; however, state-based promotion activities started in 2005 (Zhang, 2015).
Japanese gastrodiplomacy does not have an official slogan or a campaign name, but the
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Japanese government created the nonprofit Organization to Promote Japanese Restaurant Abroad (JRO) associated with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) to promote Japanese restaurants abroad with the mission of raising the interest of foreign customers in Japanese restaurants, the use of Japanese ingredients, and Japanese cooking methods (Ibid). As such, restaurants have been considered to be vital culinary contact zones to disseminate Japanese food culture overseas (Farrer, 2015).
Sushi has been the main representation of Japanese food culture that was once exotic and has become a trendy food currently. The global popularity of sushi is undeniable. Another food that the Japanese government utilized as a national cuisine is washoku, a full-course traditional Japanese meal, to promote Japanese dietary culture abroad. The Japanese government highlighted the image of healthiness, simplicity, and exoticism of sushi and washoku that are appealing to global dietary trends. This raises the acceptance of Japanese culture and lifestyle abroad. In December 2013, washoku was ranked 4th in the world on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a food culture following French, Mediterranean, and Mexican cuisine. This particular achievement of Japan’s gastrodiplomacy has been widely used for its nation branding since then (Cwiertka, 2017) and resonates to other sectors, such as the promotion of its soft power and its content industries including manga, anime, and fashion. This also benefits other industries such as agriculture, exports, and tourism.
Peru
Peru has been a representative of South American countries in gastrodiplomacy activities since 2006. The Peruvian Ministry of Cultures and Foreign Relations has collaborated with the Peruvian Society of Gastronomy (APEGA) and several private agencies to create gastrodiplomacy projects. Peru’s gastrodiplomacy campaign, Cocina Peruana Para El Mundo (Peruvian Cuisine for the World) is aimed to increase ‘global reputation and the familiarity with Peruvian cuisine’ abroad (Wilson, 2013). In fact, the campaign emphasized the goal of placing Peruvian cuisine on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage to establish Peruvian cultural and
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historical heritage as the identity of Peruvians. The gastrodiplomacy projects are diverse, including the creation of Cocina Peruana Para El Mundo as a web-based campaign, directing the documentary film De Ollas y Sueños or Cooking Dreams, and employing celebrity chef Gastón Acurio as the gastronomic ambassador of the Peruvian people.
Wilson noted that Peru’s gastrodiplomacy is an effort to not only promote Peruvian cuisine globally but also increase Peru’s national brand (2013).
Although Peru has not made it far enough to be included on UNESCO’s list, awareness toward Peruvian cuisine has increased in regard to interest in Peruvian culinary tourism, which also offers opportunities to other sectors such as trade and exchange in food products and restaurants. In 2016, 3 of the world’s top 30 restaurants was awarded in Lima, the capital of Peru. In the same year, Peru was also named as the World’s Leading Culinary Destination for the past five years by the World Travel Award and has been entrusted to host a United Nations World Tourism Association (UNWTO) Gastronomy and Tourism Forum (Suntikul, 2017).
Taiwan
Gastrodiplomacy for Taiwan is believed to expand Taiwan’s cultural diplomacy that plays as a voice to promote identity amidst the current political constraints by highlighting culinary attractiveness (Rockower, 2011). The increasing popularity of Xiaolongbao, pearl bubble milk tea or boba, and Taiwan’s coffee store 85°C has encouraged the Ministry of Economic Affairs to invest NT $1,1 billion (US $35,8 million) in gastrodiplomacy activities to ‘internationalize local and localize international Taiwanese food’ (Lipscomb, 2019). Taiwan’s gastrodiplomacy is used as another strategy to distinguish its culinary identity from mainland China and to brand Taiwan cuisine ‘as a healthy, light alternative to heavy Westem versions of Chinese food’ (Rockower, 2011).
In addition, this gastrodiplomacy plan is aimed to boost Taiwanese tourism, attract foreign investment to Taiwan, and expand other market opportunities.
The programs include hosting international gourmet festivals overseas, establishing Taiwanese food foundations at home to consult food chains abroad, and
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sending local chefs to join international competitions. The Taiwanese Tourism Bureau has also been actively sponsoring the plan by promoting Taiwanese night markets. In addition, similar to Malaysia and Peru, Taiwan has employed the entertainment industries to execute gastrodiplomacy. The government agreed to support Taiwan film and TV industries by providing ‘subsidies, giv[ing] credit guarantees, and establish[ing] an investment framework for public-private sector investment’ (Lipscomb, 2019). This strategy is seen to be impactful in promoting Taiwanese culinary reputation among local and foreign audiences (Ibid).
As a result, Taiwan’s gastrodiplomacy has drawn global awareness to the extent that it is frequently addressed as ‘dumpling diplomacy’. In 2017, the Survey Report on Visitors Expenditure and Trends in Taiwan by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau stated that Taiwanese cuisine as well as night markets were voted as part of the main reasons for tourists to visit Taiwan (Lipscomb, 2019).
The examples of countries reveals that the attempt to spread cultural awareness as well as establish positive images or nation brands can be performed through the exercise of gastrodiplomacy, the impact of which resonates with other sectors mainly in trade and exports, investments, and tourism. These examples also reveal a pattern which indicates that a successful gastrodiplomacy begins with a particular major factor: the increased awareness of national cuisines, or to larger extent, global popularity.
In sum, gastrodiplomacy is concluded in the following points:
First, gastrodiplomacy begins with food promotion programs and activities.
Efforts to globalize national culinary products and culture is a significant factor of gastrodiplomacy implementation. Second, gastrodiplomacy derived from the practice of wielding soft power resource namely food culture, to achieve cultural diplomatic gains that is exercised through the practice of public diplomacy. Third, gastrodiplomacy and public relations converge in terms of strategic communication. Every gastrodiplomacy campaign employs elements such as branding themes and message appeal as well as strategies and tactics. Considering globalization effects toward public communication
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strategies, a national food culture and promotion activities can encompass state actors, nonstate actors, or both simultaneously.
Fourth, as a form of public diplomacy, as gastrodiplomacy helps a country spread cultural influence, it enhances its national brand (Rockower, 2014). Finding any food promotion activities without a history or cultural background introduction of the food is unlikely. Activities such as events, digital content, TV programs and shows, chef training, cooking competitions, and other activities as a means of food promotion act as culinary contact zones within which the knowledge transmitted through such activities can help consumers or foreigners learn about a country’s food culture (Farrer, 2015). In the case of food, the referred knowledge comes in the form of national culinary identity, which represents a tied relation between a nation and their dietary history, culture, and habits.
Fifth, apart from the function of achieving cultural diplomatic gains, the implications of gastrodiplomacy activities can also resonate to other related sectors such as tourism, advocation of healthy and clean dietary culture, agricultural exports, foreign investment, and other market opportunities (Rockower, 2012; Reynolds, 2012; Pham, 2013; Lee, 2016).
By building on those notions, this thesis analyses gastrodiplomacy with South Korea as the case. The official food promotional activities of South Korea occur through the Global Hansik Campaign. In addition to the governmental strategy, nonstate actors have also greatly contributed to this matter through media and live activities, especially following the rise of Hallyu globally. In addition, the globalization of Korean food can potentially create positive effects on the country, such as enhancing South Korea’s national brand, increasing the number of cross-cultural collaboration activities, and spurring growth in tourism.
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