Gastronationalism

Gastronationalism or culinary nationalism is the use of food and its history, production, control, preparation and consumption as a way of promoting nationalism and national identity. It may involve arguments between two or more regions or countries about whether a particular dish or preparation is claimed by one of those regions or countries and has been appropriated or co-opted by the others.

Origins

Atsuko Ichijo and Ronald Ranta have called food "fundamentally political" and "one of the essential commodities with which political powers at various levels are concerned".[1]:1–2 Food historian Michelle T. King suggests that cuisine is a natural focus for studies of nationalism, pointing out dozens of such treatments over the first decades of the 21st century.[2]:1 She also argues Asia's culinary nationalism has been particularly intense.[2]:1 Examples of gastronationalism include efforts by state bodies, nongovernmental bodies, businesses and business groups, and individuals.[1]:121–124

New York University professor Fabio Parasecoli has defined food as an expression of identity.[3] Conflict between two or more regions or countries about whether a particular dish or preparation is claimed by one of those regions or countries and has been appropriated or co-opted by the others is not uncommon, especially in areas where there has been violent conflict. Dishes affected by these culinary wars tend to be those with "a clearly symbolic ethnic significance".[4] They also tend to be dishes that "represent territorial aspirations" and can be developed and prepared only by settled – and therefore indigenous – peoples.[4] Lavash and harissa are wheat-based, therefore cannot have been developed by nomads but only by an agricultural society.[4] Many of the debates center around the idea that a "settled" society – that is, an agricultural rather than nomadic one – is somehow superior, and that claiming a dish only achievable in an agricultural society helps prove the area was agricultural at a certain point.[4] This idea was official policy in the Soviet Union.[4] According to OpenDemocracy, "evidence of ancient agricultural development is cherished by nationalists on both sides."[4]

Mary Douglas said "national food cultures become a blinding fetish which, if disregarded, may be as dangerous as an explosion”.[4]

In 2006 researcher Liora Gvion argued that cuisines of poverty – typically, traditional foods – "reveal the inter-connection between the culinary discourse and the political one" and that the issue was tied up with those of access to land and national identity.[5]

Sociologist Michaela DeSoucey in 2010 described the concept of gastronationalism as the use of food and its history, production, control, and consumption as a way of promoting nationalism.[6][7][3] According to DeSoucey, gastronationalism uses food to promote a sense of national identity[6][7][3] and affects how members of the national community develop "national sentiments and taste preferences for certain foods."[8] She argues that the issues go beyond simple nationalism and involve livelihoods and a "struggle for markets" as the identification of a certain food with a certain area means the ability to sell a food product is affected for those inside or outside the area.[9] She also points out that such arguments are often not intended to reach agreement but instead to raise awareness of the food product and generate interest in obtaining it.[9]

In 2013 Al Jazeera noted that gastronationalism had been an ongoing issue in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as each country "vie[d] for the recognition of certain dishes as their own" and was causing tension among neighboring countries with already-troubled relationships.[9]

In 2020 an article published by the Cambridge University Press found that while the concept of gastronationalism had not been fully developed in academia, the scholarship was developing quickly.[10]

National cuisine

Food historian King differentiates between gastronationalism, or culinary nationalism, and national cuisine, saying that culinary nationalism "suggests a dynamic process of creation and contestation" while national cuisine "calls to mind a specific and static product".[2]:3

Governmental and non-governmental bodies

Codex Alimentarius Commission

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a project of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization which creates advice regarding food handling, labeling, and ethical standards, including those around marketing a food as originating in a certain place.[1]:122–124

Intangible Cultural Heritage designation

In some cases United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has made statements favoring one side or the other of such an argument, sometimes after being asked to name a food to a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list for a country, which has increased passions on either side.[4][1]:147–157 In 1972 UNESCO adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage or World Heritage Convention.[1]:147

Protected Geographical Status

In Europe, mandatory origin labeling is "one of the most prickly topics" in European Union (EU) policy discussions.[11] In December 2019 France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain asked the EU to strengthen food origin labeling; Politico called the request a "bombshell", as it weakens the idea of a single market.[11] The Protected Geographical Status as of 2016 had been applied to over a thousand food items.[1]:14

Examples

Azerbaijan's National Culinary Centre, a non-governmental organization (NGO) publishes information discussing Azerbaijan’s national cuisine and accusing Armenian cuisine of imitating Azerbaijan.[4] The NGO's CEO said, "“Since 1989, the issue of Armenian pretentions towards Azerbaijan’s culinary traditions has been discussed at the highest level, by specialists and academics, many times. Every pan-Turkish, Islamic dish, including those from Azerbaijan, is claimed as Armenian – they are trying to prove that an Armenian culinary tradition exists."[4] Armenia's Society for the Preservation and Development of Armenian Culinary Traditions, an academic body, has discussed the Armenian culinary tradition.[4]

During the hummus wars, multiple corporations and business groups became involved as part of their marketing campaigns.[1]:121–123

Notable examples

Borscht

Borscht is believed to have originated in Kievan Rus' and specifically in the area of modern-day Ukraine,[12] but according to historian Alison K. Smith, the dish's "Ukrainian origins have been largely obscured" as it became ubiquitous in Russian cuisine.[13]:30,33,45–47

The dish was described in Sergei Drukovtsov's Cooking Notes (1779),[13]:45 but is believed to have entered popular Russian cuisine from the popular 1939 Soviet cookbook Book of Tasty and Healthy Food that included dishes from various cuisines of the USSR. In 2019, the official Twitter account of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation referred to borscht as "one of Russia’s most famous & beloved #dishes & a symbol of traditional cuisine" in one of their tweets, sparking outrage in Ukraine, where it was widely seen as an attempt at cultural appropriation.[14]

In response, Ukraine applied for the inclusion of borscht in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List[15][16] and launched a five-year culinary diplomacy strategy dubbed 'borscht diplomacy' where borscht plays a central role.[17]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the fact that the Ukrainians "didn’t want to share borscht" was an example of alleged "xenophobia, Nazism, extremism in all forms" that led to the invasion.[18][19]

Chinese cuisine

Taiwan has presented Taiwanese cuisine as the only remnant of traditional Chinese culture and cuisine, which the Nationalist Party argued had "been destroyed on the Chinese Mainland after the Communist takeover".[2]:56–72 On the other hand, some Taiwanese object to the politically fraught inclusion of Taiwanese cuisine under the banner of regional Chinese cuisine and argue that it is "inaccurate".[20]

In 2011, the Michelin Green Guide to Taiwan attributed the origins of minced pork rice to Shandong. This led to a fierce debate in Taiwan with many people insisting that minced pork rice originated in Taiwan,[21] while others viewed it as a Shandong dish that simply caught on in Taiwan.[22]

Shanghainese people have criticized the Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung of misrepresenting the xiao long bao as a Taiwanese dish.[23]

In October 2020, a Japanese bakery c'est très fou launched the product "Taiwanese pineapple bun", which received criticism from Hong Kongers for suggesting the product originated in Taiwan.[24]

Dolma

Dolma or tolma is claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan.[4] Armenia holds an annual tolma festival, always at a site that has historical significance in its conflicts with Azerbaijan.[4]

Feta

Until 1999, feta was used only by Greek producers. During the 1990s, Denmark and Germany challenged the labelling, arguing that the word 'feta' was Italian and that other EU countries shared climate and geography with parts of Greece and should be permitted to label their feta-style cheeses as Feta.[3][9] In 2002 the European Union granted the sole rights to use the name to Greece.[1]:122

Foie gras

Foie gras has been protected as a name and signifier of traditional identity by France; conflict is common with animal rights activists.[25]

Hainanese chicken rice

Hainanese chicken rice is a dish that is often associated with Singapore, being one of its national dishes. During the 19th and 20th century, a significant amount of Hainanese people decided to move south, particularly to Singapore. Many also brought along their culinary expertise, creating numerous dishes that are a fusion of both their cuisine back in Hainan along with local ingredients available, or inventing a new dish entirely. It is often considered "one of the most beloved culinary exports of Singapore".[26][27]

The dish came into fruition around the 1920s by a Hainanese chef named Wang Yiyuan who was living in Singapore.[28] It then started to gain popularity in the mid 20th century by a chef named Moh Lee Twee, another Singaporean of Hainanese descent, whose Swee Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant operated at Middle Road for five decades.[29]

Nevertheless, this has been sporadically disputed by Malaysia, with no substantiated counter-claims. This dispute dates back to 1965, when the two countries split; specifically when Malaysia kicked Singapore out.[30][31] As the two countries were briefly formerly one, there are often disputing claims of its origin and accusations of national cuisines being misappropriated.[32][33][34][35]

Harissa

Harissa is claimed by both Armenia and Turkey, where it is called keshkek.[4] Keshkek was recognized by UNESCO on its intangible cultural heritage list, which has caused passionate debate, with Armenians arguing that the dish's main ingredient, wheat, indicates it could not have been developed in Turkey, where the tradition was nomadic.[4][9]

Hummus

Hummus is argued over by Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon.[36][9] The disagreement is sometimes referred to as the "hummus wars".[2]:3[1]:121–123 The hummus wars also refers to the creation by Sabra, a US food company, of "the world's largest hummus plate" as a marketing event.[1]:121–123 Israeli company Osem responded with a larger hummus plate, and soon was followed by a group of Lebanese chefs working with the Association of Lebanese Industrialists's campaign "Hands Off Our Dishes", which claimed hummus as Lebanese and objected to the marketing of the dish as Israeli.[1]:121–123 Fadi Abboud, then president of ALI and later tourism minister for the country, threatened legal action against Israel for marketing hummus and other commercial food products as Israeli.[1]:121–123 A series of record-breaking hummus plates followed from various middle eastern countries.[1]:121–123 Abboud characterized the hummus wars as being not about just hummus but about "the organized theft carried out by Israel" in connection to the culture of the entire Arab region.[1]:121–123

Jollof rice

West African countries typically have at least one variant form of jollof rice, with Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cameroon particularly competitive as to which country makes the best jollof.[37] In the mid-2010s this expanded into the "Jollof Wars".[38]

The rivalry is especially prominent between Nigeria and Ghana.[39][40][41] In 2016 Sister Deborah released "Ghana Jollof", which denigrated the Nigerian version and Nigerians for being proud of their version.[42] Soon after, a physical fight over insufficient jollof supplies at a Ghanaian political rally sparked delighted mockings of Ghanaians by Nigerians.[42]

Of particular sensitivity in jollof-making communities is the inclusion of non-traditional ingredients, which are defined country to country and are seen as making the jollof inauthentic.[42][37] In 2014 a recipe released by Jamie Oliver that included cherry tomatoes, coriander, lemon, and parsley, none of which are used in any traditional recipe, caused outraged reactions to the point Oliver's team had to issue a statement.[42]

Kimchi

Both South Korea and North Korea claim kimchi.[2]:xii North Korea argues that South Korea's decreasing consumption (and increasing commercialization of production) is proof that the dish is more strongly associated with North Korea.[2]:xii Traditional kimchi-making in South Korea in 2013 was given Intangible Cultural Heritage status by UNESCO[2]:xii[1]:123 and in 2015 in North Korea.[43]

Japan also has interested itself in kimchi, arguing with South Korea over the Codex Alimentarius Commission's (CAC) international standardization of the dish, a disagreement often called the kimchi war.[2]:81–82[1]:123 Japan produced and exported an instant version of kimchi, which South Korea argued should not be called kimchi due to the lack of fermentation.[2]:81–82 During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Japan proposed making kimuchi, the Japanese name of the dish, an official food of the Olympics.[2]:81–82 In 2001 the CAC adopted an international standard which requires fermentation in order for a product to be exported as kimchi.[2]:81–82 China has also marketed kimchi; South Korea has called out as appropriation both the Japanese and Chinese marketing of the dish.[1]:123

Lavash

Lavash is claimed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey; the Armenians argue that lavash is traditionally prepared in a tonir, which indicates development in a non-nomadic society such as Armenia.[4] Accusations in Armenian media centered around Turkey and Azerbaijan claiming the dish because they wanted to conceal their early nomadic lifestyle.[4]

Tortillas

During Mexico's tortilla riots, protesters chanted, "tortillas si, pan no!", expressing their nationalistic objection to replacing tortillas, with which they identified on a nationalistic level, with bread, which they saw as a colonialist introduction.[1]:2[44]

Turkish coffee

UNESCO has included Turkish coffee in its list of items of Intangible Cultural Heritage.[1]:14 The style of coffee is also claimed by Greece.[45][46][47][48]

Washoku

Washoku, a "traditional food culture of the Japanese, was in 2013 added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List and in 2017 described by Leiden University's Katarzyna J. Cwiertka as "a myth fabricated for the purpose of Japanese nation-branding".[49][1]:151 According to Ichijo and Ranta, Japan's efforts to promote Japanese cuisine in other countries is "regarded as a way of increasing export of Japanese agricultural produce and attracting more tourists".[1]:151

See also

References

  1. Ichijo, Atsuko; Ranta, Ronald (2016). Food, national identity and nationalism : from everyday to global politics. Basingstoke, Hampshire. ISBN 978-1-137-48313-3. OCLC 928396294.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. Culinary nationalism in Asia. Michelle Tien King. London, UK. 2019. ISBN 978-1-350-07869-7. OCLC 1100471127.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. "Gastronationalism: Poverty Reduction and Cultural Solidarity". Borgen Magazine. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  4. Tsaturyan, Ruzanna (23 June 2017). "A culinary conflict in the South Caucasus". OpenDemocracy. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  5. Gvion, Liora (30 October 2006). "Cuisines of poverty as means of empowerment: Arab food in Israel". Agriculture and Human Values. 23 (3): 299–312. doi:10.1007/s10460-006-9003-7. ISSN 0889-048X. S2CID 153765925.
  6. DeSoucey, Michaela (29 February 2012), "Gastronationalism", in Ritzer, George (ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. wbeog226, doi:10.1002/9780470670590.wbeog226, ISBN 978-0-470-67059-0, retrieved 24 August 2021
  7. DeSoucey, Michaela (2010). "Gastronationalism: Food Traditions and Authenticity Politics in the European Union". American Sociological Review. 75 (3): 432–455. doi:10.1177/0003122410372226. ISSN 0003-1224. S2CID 220292410.
  8. Eskine, Kendall J. (2016). Metaphoric Determinants of Food and Identity in The Routledge handbook of food ethics. Mary Rawlinson, Caleb Ward. Basingstoke: Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-317-59550-2. OCLC 953031956.
  9. Parameswaran, Felix Gaedtke,Gayatri. "Food feuds simmer". Aljazeera.com. Retrieved 24 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. Ichijo, Atsuko (2020). "Food and Nationalism: Gastronationalism Revisited". Nationalities Papers. Cambridge University Press. 48 (2): 215–223. doi:10.1017/nps.2019.104. ISSN 0090-5992. S2CID 213431725.
  11. Wanat, Zosia; Hanke Vela, Jakob (23 December 2019). "The rise of the gastronationalists". Politico. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  12. Harris, Jenn (9 March 2022). "Are certain dishes Ukrainian or Russian? It's complicated". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  13. Smith, Alison Karen (2021). Cabbage and Caviar : a History of Food in Russia. London. ISBN 978-1-78914-365-2. OCLC 1238089971.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. Evans, Andrew (15 October 2019). "Who really owns borsch?". BBC. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  15. Raczkiewycz, Mark (11 November 2020). "Not Just Soup: Ukraine Seeks 'Cultural Heritage' Listing For Borscht". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  16. Dartford, Katy (1 April 2021). "Borscht soup could become official Ukrainian cultural heritage". Euronews. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  17. Mendelson Forman, Johanna (23 December 2021). "Ukraine's Borsch Diplomacy". Inkstick Media. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  18. Quinn, Allison (8 April 2022). "Russia Claims Ukraine's Refusal to Share Borscht Proves 'Nazism'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  19. Anderson, Claire (8 April 2022). "'You couldn't share borscht' Lavrov's mouthpiece offers baffling excuse for Ukraine war". Daily Express. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  20. Tsai, Luke. "The Bay Area's Taiwanese Food Scene Comes Into Its Own". www.kqed.org. kqed. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
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  24. 子萱, 楊 (19 January 2021). "Japan wrongly called the inventor of Hong Kong pineapple buns". The China Post, Taiwan. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
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  26. Kugiya, Hugo. "Singapore's national dish: Hainan chicken rice". Crosscut. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  27. Pang, Kevin (28 March 2016). "THE WORLD'S BEST CHICKEN COMES FROM HAINAN". Saveur. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
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  29. Wang Zhenchun (王振春). Hua Shuo Hainan Ren (话说海南人): Mo Lu Rui Created The Mini Hainanese Chicken Rice Empire (莫履瑞创下海南鸡饭小王国). The Youth Book Co. Singapore. 2008. ISBN 978-981-08-1095-5. pp 82
  30. Tan, Dylan. "Chicken rice war reignited as Lim Guan Eng urged Malaysia to give Singapore a run for its money". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  31. Loh, Lainey. "Malaysia vs Singapore: Who has better food?". Asian Correspondent. Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  32. Sukmaran, Tashny; Jaipragas, Bhavan (9 September 2018). "FOOD FIGHT, LAH: WHO WILL EAT THEIR WORDS IN SINGAPORE-MALAYSIA HAWKER BATTLE?". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  33. Celjo, Farah. "Dipping sauce and a little controversy: who knew chicken rice had such 'wow' factor". SBS. Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
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  35. ENG HOCK, TEH (23 September 2009). "No intention to patent local food, Dr Ng says". The Star Online. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016. Dr Ng said a study on the origins of foods in the country would be conducted and an apology conveyed if it was wrongly claimed.
  36. "Gastronationalism". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  37. Sloley, Patti (7 June 2021). "Jollof Wars: Who does West Africa's iconic rice dish best?". BBC Travel. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  38. "West Africa steams over jollof rice war". BBC News. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  39. Oderinde, Busayo (5 July 2015). "Busayo Oderinde: The Nigerian Versus Ghanaian Jollof Rice Debate". Bella Naija. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  40. "Know the Differences Between Nigerian and Ghanaian Jollof Rice". Demand Africa. 4 July 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  41. Adam, Hakeem (20 January 2017). "A Brief History of Jollof Rice, a West African Favourite". Culture Trip. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  42. Egbejule, Eromo (22 August 2016). "World Jollof Day: Jamie Oliver's #ricegate and other scandals". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  43. "Tradition of kimchi-making in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea". Culture Sector, UNESCO. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  44. "75,000 protest tortilla prices in Mexico". NBC News. February 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  45. Leonidas Karakatsanis, Turkish-Greek Relations: Rapprochement, Civil Society and the Politics of Friendship, Routledge, 2014, ISBN 0415730457, p. 111 and footnote 26: "The eradication of symbolic relations with the 'Turk' was another sign of this reactivation: the success of an initiative to abolish the word 'Turkish' in one of the most widely consumed drinks in Greece, i.e. 'Turkish coffee', is indicative. In the aftermath of the Turkish intervention in Cyprus, the Greek coffee company Bravo introduced a widespread advertising campaign titled 'We Call It Greek' (Emeis ton leme Elliniko), which succeeded in shifting the relatively neutral 'name' of a product, used in the vernacular for more than a century, into a reactivated symbol of identity. 'Turkish coffee' became 'Greek coffee' and the use of one name or the other became a source of dispute separating 'traitors' from 'patriots'."
  46. Mikes, George (1965). Eureka!: Rummaging in Greece. p. 29. Their chauvinism may sometimes take you a little aback. Now that they are quarrelling with the Turks over Cyprus, Turkish coffee has been renamed Greek coffee; ...
  47. Browning, Robert (1983). Medieval and Modern Greek. Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-521-29978-0.
  48. Joanna Kakissis, "Don't Call It 'Turkish' Coffee, Unless, Of Course, It Is", The Salt, National Public Radio 27 April 2013: '"It wasn't always this way," says Albert Arouh, a Greek food scholar who writes under a pen name, Epicurus. "When I was a kid in the 1960s, everyone in Greece called it Turkish coffee." Arouh says he began noticing a name change after 1974, when the Greek military junta pushed for a coup in Cyprus that provoked Turkey to invade the island.' "The invasion sparked a lot of nationalism and anti-Turkish feelings," he says. "Some people tried to erase the Turks entirely from the coffee's history, and re-baptized it Greek coffee. Some even took to calling it Byzantine coffee, even though it was introduced to this part of the world in the sixteenth century, long after the Byzantine Empire's demise." By the 1980s, Arouh noticed it was no longer politically correct to order a "Turkish coffee" in Greek cafes. By the early 1990s, Greek coffee companies like Bravo (now owned by DE Master Blenders 1753 of the Netherlands) were producing commercials of sea, sun and nostalgic village scenes and declaring "in the most beautiful country in the world, we drink Greek coffee."'
  49. "Washoku and Kimjang: Japanese Gastronationalism | Portland State University". www.pdx.edu. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
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