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Melissa Ortega
Diana Watkins
TR 10:30
16 February 2016
A Different Type Of Art
Earth without art is just eh. (unknown) Food can portray art that touches almost all
senses. Gastro Diplomacy is when a government funds money to another country to build more
restaurants and expand their culture and be seen as an independent culture. This concept is
essential for history and nation identification to preserve culture in culinary form. Some reasons I
am personally attached to the Gastro Diplomacy idea may be because I am Mexican and would
be immensely hurt to see my culture be hidden or forgotten. I am proud of being Mexican but I
am also proud to live in America. I have often heard the term melting pot to describe America
because of the variety of cultures. When I was first introduced to that term in eighth grade, I
couldnt help but think of a big cooking pot and many different cultural meals tossed into it. Now
that I know the actual connotation for this saying, I still see America as a group of culturally
diverse people with very different histories and traditions sharing a big area of land. All of the
restaurants Ive been to have a different memory with a different friend and I cant help but be
eternally grateful for the effects of the Taiwan campaign that started Gastro Diplomacy.
In 2010 Gastro-Diplomacy received exposure once thanks to a Taiwan campaign
promoting their national meal. Taiwan funded restaurants in America and other countries to have
their culture widely known. Because of Taiwans movement many more countries have started
campaigns to expand their culture like North Korea, India, and Malaysia. I think its very

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important for these countries to prove that there is more history to their country than the
landmarks that their countries may be known for. From the articles I have read, Gastrodiplomacy
was not an easy process to get started. Noor Nirwandy and Ahmad Awang are authors of an
article titled Conceptualizing Public Diplomacy Social Convention Culinary and studied at the
center for media and information warfare studies at University Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
They did an exceptional job describing Gastrodiplomacy in terms any reader could start reading
anywhere and still understand. I agree with Nirwandy and Awang when they argue that
Gastrodiplomacy is fairly unrecognized. When a nation-state decides to combine food with its
Public Diplomacy strategy, the outcome is Gastro Diplomacy. The concept is ancient, but the
terminology is relatively new. I have sincere gratitude for the governments of countries like
Mexico and japan and all of the other governments that have allowed me to broaden the use of
my taste buds that I might not have been able to exercise as easily as choosing where to eat lunch
in my current town, if they had not fought the battle to expand their culture beyond their
borderlines.
My food choices have varied from Mexican food to American, to Chinese, to Saudi, and
finally to Japanese where I was introduced to the wonderful world of sushi. I would have a big
hole in my friendships and dinner dates if the Japanese culinary culture hadnt reached Stillwater,
OK. My friends and I go out to eat at least every week to catch up or relieve stress while
exchanging each others rolls of sushi and rice. I would eat sushi every day if I couldnt get raw
food poisoning. However, I know people that go to these culturally rich restaurants just for rice
and chicken. Out of all of the foods, I think my favorite to look at would have to be sushi.
Although my Hispanic, is known for a different kind of fried rice and sauces; I enjoy other
cultures sometimes more than my own and that might be due to the fact that my mom will serve

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any dish with rice and beans. I dont mind this tradition that my mom has kept in our family for
eighteen years however, because these same foods that my mom has available through
Gastrodiplomacy, have started endless stories for my mom to tell about when she was a kid. The
traditional foods my mom makes for my Mexican family also make me appreciate the food I
have that much more. I have a different form of respect and admiration for my mom and
grandma because of the stories she has shared with me either while cooking or while eating. She
has told me about her growing up with eleven other siblings and only getting a portion of what
she serves to us now.
Dinner time is a very important part of the day for my family, since almost everyone has
to spend the day with their teacher or boss more than together. Eating together is another
important tradition that my mom has passed to my siblings and I. Other countries like Germany
have a similar tradition but with the minor difference of dinner time together for the quiet
time/curfew being 10:00 PM. A classmate of mine that lived in Germany for a year told me that
during the quiet time people only left their house for emergencies so everyone could have a
peaceful night spent with their families. I wouldnt say all countries value dinner time like
Mexico but one that is very similar would be Peru.
Rachel Wilson, the author of Gastrodiplomacy, the Culinary Nation Brand and Context of
National Cuisine in Peru, wrote this informative yet pathologically filled article about why Peru
made sure they are identified by their food. Wilson also makes sense of why I can remember
certain memories better if said memory happened while I was eating. Because we experience
food through our senses (touch and sight, but especially taste and smell), it possesses certain
visceral, intimate, and emotional qualities, and as a result we remember the food we eat and the
sensations we felt while eating it. The senses create a strong link between place and memory, and

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food serves as the material representation of this experience. Thanks to this culinary diplomacy
I can go eat at Arabian style restaurants like Sultans on main street here in Stillwater, OK. After
my friends from Saudi Arabia have gone back to their home country.
Some memories I have created with my friends at a restaurant or eating style of food, can
be brought up again when I go to eat. I think that convenience and prices play a role in our
decisions to choose authentic meals over fast foods in America but I also think there is a lot more
to learn and take to heart about a culture than what you will ever read on the back of a kids meal
box. I am thankful for the variety of culinary cultures that I have available close to me thanks to
the Gastro Diplomacy project.