Gastrodiplomacy in tourism

This conceptual paper articulates gastrodiplomacy in tourism as an area of study and policy. Gastrodiplomacy, the strategic use of cuisine in influencing perceptions of a nation, is positioned within the public diplomacy spectrum, and the intersections among food, tourism and diplomacy – in theory and practice – are investigated. The roles of food and tourism in nation branding are explored, leading to a detailed exposition on the multiple ways in which tourism is implicated in national gastrodiplomacy campaigns, as well as in grassroots “citizen diplomacy” involving food. The “ambassadorial” roles performed by people and the various “zones of contact” at which gastrodiplomacy in tourism is played out are identified as aspects of particular relevance for study. The paper calls for more integrated and holistic approaches to gastrodiplomacy in tourism, both in research and in policy, that address the tourism “foodscape” of a nation as a whole, as a realm of diplomatic potential.