You know what’s great?
Thai food.
It’s become one of the most common ethnic cuisines in countries like the United States,
but why Thai food in particular?
I mean countries like China, Mexico, and Italy have long histories of immigration to the
United States, but the Thai-American population is only about 300,000, compared to over 15
million Americans of Italian ancestry.
And it’s not just because Thailand’s food tastes so good, it also has to do with programs
taken by the Thai government to increase the number of Thai restaurants worldwide.
So, why would a country’s government be so motivated to do that?
Different cultures have numerous unique properties: language, fashion, philosophy, religion, customs,
architecture, and many more, but perhaps one of the most important and consequential would
be cuisine.
Of course, since different cultures often develop in different regions with drastically
different climates and thus different special ingredients, as well as the prevalence of
meals often being a communal event, this has allowed many to argue that a region’s food
can serve as a window to learn about its culture.
Thus, with foreign restaurants becoming more common all around the world, a culture’s
cuisine has the potential to boost its country’s image in the citizenry of other countries.
With that in mind, my friends, allow me to introduce you to gastro-/culinary diplomacy,
diplomacy with food.
Gastrodiplomacy is essentially what happens when a country expands its influence, not
with military might or trade deals, but with their own national dishes.
Thailand is probably the most notable example of this relatively new phenomenon, having
embarked on an ambitious mission around the turn of the century to increase the number
of Thai restaurants abroad, and by 2011 had increased the number of Thai restaurants from
around 5,500 to over 10,000.
It’s not just Thailand however, many other countries have also taken hold of this interesting
new practice, but… why?
To explain why a country might do this, perhaps I should introduce those of you less familiar
to the concept of soft power.
Military power, diplomatic influence, economic power, these are all examples of regular old
hard power, how a country might exert its influence overtly.
Soft power meanwhile is more about a country’s popular opinion amongst other countries, like
a country’s brand image.
So while hard power is about coercion, soft power focuses on attractiveness.
Culinary diplomacy falls under the umbrella of cultural diplomacy (itself a subset of
public diplomacy), where a country uses its own culture to influence the hearts and minds
of those outside.
In a sense, it helps form what one could consider a country’s brand, but in a way that foreigners
are most likely to be able to reach.
Now although the two terms can be used somewhat interchangeably, there is a slight difference
between gastrodiplomacy and culinary diplomacy.
Gastrodiplomacy is more what we’re talking about in this video, with countries using
their food to influence the opinions of foreign publics, whereas culinary diplomacy is more
between two different governments, like holding a dinner during negotiations.
If there’s an example of a country that has excelled in public diplomacy in recent
decades, it has got to be the Republic of Korea.
South Korea is another country pioneering gastrodiplomacy, but their influence isn’t
just in how many places one can get kimchi in Berlin or Boston or Brisbane, but also
the prevalence of K-Pop and K-Dramas on the world’s screens, [K-Pop!] having first spread
through a phenomenon dubbed the Korean Wave, or Hallyu.
South Korea has also worked to increase the number of Korean restaurants worldwide, along
with promoting foods aside from just kimchi, as well as slightly altering various dishes
to make them friendlier to foreign palates.
North Korea even tried to open a few restaurants around East and Southeast Asia… although
13 of their employees took the opportunity to defect, so maybe not the greatest success
in improving their image abroad.
Gastrodiplomacy can also allow more diplomatically challenged countries, like for instance Taiwan,
to find their way onto the diplomatic stage.
As well as helping boost its tourism sector, the island sort-of-nation of Taiwan launched
a more than $25 million program to promote foods and drinks like bubble tea and oyster
omelettes abroad, in an effort both to boost diplomatic ties and try to distinguish itself
in the minds of foreigners from the People’s Republic nextdoor.
Even countries as powerful as the United States have gotten on board with the idea, as the
US launched a culinary diplomacy initiative in 2012 to promote American food abroad and
among other world leaders.
In a way however, this has also kind of been happening in reverse in American society for
all its history.
After all when I said “American food”, you were probably going down to the comments
to say “American food?
America doesn’t have a food, they just stole it from different cultures because Americans
suck at making their own food!”, and while it is true that American cuisine isn’t necessarily
native to the Americas, it is a mish-mash of different food brought over by different
immigrant groups, not all of whom were always welcome in the United States at first.
One example of this are Chinese-Americans, who at first largely stayed together in small
towns and in ghettos called “Chinatowns”, establishing local restaurants using essentially
whatever ingredients they could get their hands on, largely catering to miners and railroad
workers-- having immigrated precisely for the Gold Rush-- and adapting to local tastes.
These restaurants essentially formed a kind of bridge between America and its Chinese
immigrants, and also explains why Chinese food is so different from Chinese-American
food.
So what does this all mean?
After all with countries going out of their way to promote their food and their entertainment
in your country, it can be easy to get a little… conspiratorial.
I mean it can give one the feeling that a country’s restaurants are just there to
influence their opinion on them, but just as a preemptive cautionary measure, don’t
let all this keep you from your favorite restaurants.
And besides, if a country is going to try to exert its influence over another country,
better food and movies than guns and politics right?
Thanks as always for watching.
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