The Role of Food in Diplomacy: Communicating and “Winning Hearts and Minds” Through Food

Abstract

Food as an essential ingredient of human existence, has always played an important role in interstate relations and diplomatic practice. It has been used as a medium for projecting influence, communicating one’s culture, identity and messages that express friendship or enmity. Its role is becoming increasingly prominent in the public diplomacy practices of various countries, while academic accounts on gastro diplomacy, food diplomacy or culinary diplomacy within the International Relations (IR) discipline have so far been limited. The aim of this article is to introduce different aspects of this new, developing field of interdisciplinary research to the wider academic community, building on the hypothesis that food is becoming more recognized as an official soft power or public diplomacy tool. The article contains an analysis based on an initial survey conducted among the diplomats accredited in the Republic of Croatia as well as among the students of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb.