The Kitchen as an Embassy: A Proposed Model for Gastrodiplomacy
- Sarah Anderson
- Oct 2
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 16
Author: Francesco Giurdanella
Reviewed and Edited by: Sarah Anderson and Prof Sumantra Ray
The concept of gastrodiplomacy was defined in the early 2010s by Paul Rockower, in an article published in the Taiwanese journal Issues & Studies, where Rockower wrote: “Gastrodiplomacy is predicated on the notion that the easiest way to win hearts and minds is through the stomach.” Gastrodiplomacy has implications for multiple aspects of economies and international relations. Like many emerging concepts, gastrodiplomacy can be defined in various ways, but it is gaining global recognition.
In a practical sense, gastrodiplomacy is not only an effective negotiating tool but also a means of representing a country's heritage. Countries such as France, Thailand, Japan, Korea, India, and Italy have leveraged their cuisine as a tool of soft power, promoting their culture while supporting economic growth. Food can also facilitate decision-making, act as a gateway to cultural understanding, and foster deeper integration between peoples.
As expressed in a recent article by Johanna Mendelson Forman on the Foreign Policy website: “Dinners, and food in general, are used to celebrate complex diplomatic feats like the 1979 state dinner that Jimmy Carter hosted for Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, marking the peace deal between their two countries. Ronald Reagan holds the record for hosting 59 state dinners. He used these occasions to showcase the power of American cuisine. A recent memoir by Tom Loftus, the U.S. ambassador to Norway during the Clinton administration, features a chapter discussing how important dinners and wine promotion were to his diplomatic work.”
Sharing a plate is both a political and a promotional gesture; ultimately, eating together carries political meaning. A great example of gastrodiplomacy is the Mobile Teaching Kitchen Initiative (MTK), developed and curated by the NNEdPro Global Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health. The initiative reflects the very foundation of gastrodiplomacy: winning hearts and minds through the stomach.
Currently, the MTK features a diverse range of culturally tailored menu templates, organised to cover the largest possible number of regions represented. This model is embodied in the concept of gastrodiplomacy but enhanced by the representation of diverse menus and cultures, as well as the social, nutritional, and gender impacts of food.
The concept of the MTK initiative ultimately represents what we might define as a “kitchen embassy,” where the kitchen is transformed from a laboratory, where food is prepared and reworked, into a true embassy, where food not only represents a means of subsistence, but also a means of promoting and representing cultures that foster communion and the sharing of ideas, starting in the kitchen and ending at the table. The MTK team supported the 10th International Summit on Food, Nutrition, and Health, held in Kolkata, India, in December 2024, serving in-person delegates representing 35 countries.
This year, the Scottish MTK initiative will continue the tradition by serving as the catering team for the 11th International Summit’s Gala Dinner, taking place in Dundee, Scotland, on 11th December 2025. The MTK model will showcase its nutritious foundations through menus specifically designed to connect cultures often considered worlds apart.
The MTK initiative is a great model of bottom-up gastrodiplomacy, in which the protagonists —namely, chefs— become ambassadors themselves, creating and facilitating relationships built around food. With this logic, the MTK case aims to inspire the concept of food, even as a grassroots political tool, to be more widespread and consolidated.
Food and nutrition straddle both the humanities and sciences. From a scientific perspective, eating with others can trigger the release of endorphins2. Additionally, the very act of chewing can trigger the release of serotonin, potentially improving mood. There are also social benefits to the camaraderie of eating and drinking with others, which contribute to the creation and promotion of a more harmonious intercultural understanding that links both science and society through food and culture.
Ultimately, gastrodiplomacy highlights the power of food as both a cultural bridge and a diplomatic tool. The Mobile Teaching Kitchen initiative demonstrates how cuisine can transcend borders, foster mutual understanding, and promote both health and harmony. As food continues to shape our social and political landscapes, models such as the MTK remind us that the kitchen can truly serve as an embassy that connects people through the universal language of food.
Method
ChatGPT was used for sectioning the topics in this blog and to clean up grammar.
References:
Spence, Charles, 2016, Gastrodiplomacy: Assessing the role of food in decision-making. Flavour, Vol. 5, BioMed Central, London, United Kingdom https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13411-016-0050-8#Fn37
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