Food fight: gastrodiplomacy and nation branding in Singapore’s UNESCO bid to recognize Hawker culture

Seow Ting Lee () and Hun Shik Kim ()
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Seow Ting Lee: University of Colorado at Boulder
Hun Shik Kim: University of Colorado at Boulder

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2021, vol. 17, issue 2, No 7, 205-217

Abstract: Abstract We applied a conceptual lens of gastrodiplomacy, or how countries conduct cultural diplomacy through the strategic use of cuisine in influencing perceptions of a nation, to examine middle power Singapore’s national and international campaigns to inscribe its hawker culture through UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. With a rather robust nation brand and established programs in gastrodiplomacy, Singapore is the first among Southeast Asian nations to take the first step to seek international and formal food-based recognition. Above everything else, Singapore’s UNESCO bid is motivated by a desire, in collaboration with non-state actors, to further increase the value and standing of its nation brand through food. As self-making, Singapore’s bid builds not only upon national identity creation within its national borders but also othering, a process of shaping the country’s unique dissimilarities to differentiate from other nation states especially its neighbors to reap the expected perceptible benefits of a tangible and emotional transnational connection with its foreign publics through food.

Keywords: Gastrodiplomacy; Food; Nation branding; Cultural diplomacy; Public diplomacy; Singapore (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1057/s41254-020-00166-3

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