By Hend Alhinnawi
LOS ANGELES – Food has always been the epicenter of celebrations in my family. In Arabic, iftar is much more than a proverbial breaking of bread, it’s a chance to connect with the community, an opportunity to bury the hatchet, and an excuse to eat until you sweat, my personal favorite. Growing up in California, and in a diverse community, I enjoyed home-cooked Indian dishes, courtesy of my mother’s friends. I remember learning about India’s history and subsequently falling in love with its diverse culture and folklore, all over dinner. In retrospect, that was gastrodiplomacy at work.
Blogger Paul Rockower describes gastrodiplomacy as a way to use “culinary delights to appeal to global appetites, and thus helps raise a nation’s brand awareness and reputation.” The Indian dishes served all around Los Angeles are a large part of India’s public diplomacy because they are closely related to India’s rich history, diverse regions and religions. A single bite, robust with the different spices and flavors, captivates the essence of India’s spirit and culture.
Food is a catalyst not only for families to come together, but sharing a meal often creates an environment for business partners, co-workers, community leaders and educators to exchange ideas for a purpose far greater than basic nutrition. It is an important tool in building cultural understanding, and in turn, breaking down traditional barriers by providing insight into a culture that might otherwise be unknown to a person. While many Americans may never experience the joys, sights and sounds of Incredible India, they can taste the culture through a culinary sampling at their local Indian market or restaurant. By bringing the food to their local communities, these outlets are great for engaging audiences through gastrodiplomacy, one palate at a time.
The India Times reported a story in March 2011 how Indian students living in Melbourne, Australia began to use gastrodiplomacy to build “amicable relations and cultural understanding between Indians and Australians.” [See a previous post on Indian-Australian tensions]
After numerous incidents were reported of violence against Indian students in Australia, the civil society in Australia decided to take their fight to the kitchen, and tried breaking cultural and social barriers armed with delicious traditional Indian cuisine. In this instance, members of the Uniting Church in Australia used food as part of a larger public diplomacy campaign aimed at creating an environment for dialogue of cross-cultural issues.
“Uniting Church in Melbourne has started hosting monthly dinners for Indian students so they could talk about their fear and hardships in an attempt to make them feel welcome in Australia, said the visiting educator of Uniting Church in Australia, Robert Bos, while talking to TOI on Saturday. “We are a multi cultural society and initiatives like hosting dinners will help build cordial relations,” Bos said.”
‘Vindaloo Against Violence’ was another initiative launched by a local Australian named Mia Northrop. The Facebook page she created became viral, with more than 17 thousand people signing on to be part of the campaign where Australians are invited to have dinner at Indian restaurants on particular days. The campaign was designed to curb hostility against Indians by exposing people to Indian cuisine.
The Indian students, in cooperation with local government, religious organizations and citizens in Australia used traditional Indian dishes to communicate a powerful message of friendship, understanding and diplomacy. The overwhelmingly positive response by Australian officials and local citizens to the ‘Vindaloo Against Violence’ campaign was a good sign that there was an environment ready to welcome the Indian students into the Australian communities in which they lived.
Through the India: Inside Out trip, I am looking forward to speaking with Indian government officials in the Public Diplomacy Division on how food diplomacy will ease Indo-Australian relations. Has gastrodiplomacy been tried in other countries by Indian students, and if so, what were the results? Finally, I am looking forward to exploring India’s street food, as part of my own immersion in Indian culture.
This post was originally published on the CPD Blog.
Hend, it is great to see there is a word for food when it plays the role of diplomat. Gastrodiplomacy is brilliant! I wrote my graduate thesis on the way Italian foods in the US went from being shunned to almost universally loved, starting with the en masse migration of Europeans, many of whom were Italian, to North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At first, Italian foods were seen by mainstream North American society in the same way the people who ate the food: suspicious, foreign and unpalatable. The historical trajectory of the cuisine is remarkable, as Italian pizza and pasta are foods consumed worldwide, in part due to the energies of the Italian diaspora and the success they had as entrepreneurs, restaurant owners and purveyors of food in general. In the thesis, I linked the increasingly saturated Italian food industry to the Italian community’s integration into US society, and how the food built awareness for non-Italians of their values, traditions, etc. It’s great to see gastrodiplomacy at work around the world. I’m truly stuck on the idea that food unites all. Thanks for this post!
Sean, THANK YOU for sharing! I would love to read your thesis and learn more about the Italian case study :) Gastrodiplomacy is definitely a great tool to communicate values and traditions…maybe a future blog can compare the Italian/Indian diasporas and their approach to gastrodiplomacy…what do you think?
Hend this is a very interesting look at the wonders of food! I especially appreciated the Indo-Australian anecdote. I’m looking forward to reading about “gastrodiplomacy” and the magic of India in your blog. Have a fabulous trip.
Shukran, Misty! When I was writing this blog, I thought back on how your love for lentil soup stems from a covert gastrodiplomacy campaign. Please look forward to an update on Indo-Australian relations, and great new food related discoveries from India!
Pretty insightful look at an informal process that bridges cultures. I’d like to see more about food diplomacy vis a vis India and Pakistan. Also, what role do games like soccer and cricket play in informal diplomacy?
Hi Mohammad. Thank you for your comment! Sports play a big role in social and diplomatic relations, and especially when it comes to cricket and soccer! How much of that “diplomacy” is translated off the field would be a great topic to explore :)
Hend,
This is a great article that brings together a very unique perspective in understanding a different culture. I recently had the same experience with Ethiopian food and it is amazing how subtly it led me to discovering more about their recipes, in realizing how similar their food is to Indian food and the unique history that the Ethiopians have had in the past.
Keep up the great work and good luck on your travels to India. Say hello to my friends and family in Mumbai !
Zoheb, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences! I would love to learn more about how you were first introduced to Ethiopian food…was it through invitation or did you seek it out on your own? Thanks for the well wishes…I’m very excited to experience Incredible India!!
Great article! Sometimes I wonder why Chinese food is so prominent in the US whereas Indian food is still considered more “exotic”. I’m guessing it has something to do with Chinese emigration to the US dating back to the 1800′s and the role it played in the construction of the railroad system. This has allowed Chinese food to blend into American culture. East Indian emigration to the US must have started later and is therefore playing catch up from a culinary standpoint. I’ve been to some remote towns in Wyoming and I was amazed to see that each and every one of these towns had a Chinese restaurant. This got me to thinking about how African cuisine never made an impact on the US despite (or perhaps due to) slavery dating back to the 17th century, 200 years before the Chinese immigration took of. Did Chinese food have a bigger impact because the immigrants were free and the Africans were not? How does global perception impact ethnic cuisine? In smaller, grass root towns, Indian restaurants are scarce because potential clientele haven’t “mingled” enough with Indians and resentfully equate the culture with abrasive/aggressive tech customer service and job outsourcing. Also, please consider taking Immodium before exploring Indian street food.
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