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.
Gastronationalism has been criticized as an example of banal nationalism.
Origins and development
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". 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. She also argues Asia's culinary nationalism has been particularly intense. Examples of gastronationalism include efforts by state bodies, nongovernmental bodies, businesses and business groups, and individuals.New York University professor Fabio Parasecoli has defined food as an expression of identity. 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". They also tend to be dishes that "represent territorial aspirations" and can be developed and prepared only by settled – and therefore indigenous – peoples. Lavash and harissa are wheat-based, therefore cannot have been developed by nomads but only by an agricultural society. 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. This idea was official policy in the Soviet Union. According to OpenDemocracy, "evidence of ancient agricultural development is cherished by nationalists on both sides."
Mary Douglas said "national food cultures become a blinding fetish which, if disregarded, may be as dangerous as an explosion".
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.
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. According to DeSoucey, gastronationalism uses food to promote a sense of national identity and affects how members of the national community develop "national sentiments and taste preferences for certain foods." 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. 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.
Kingston University's Ranta in 2018 said a group's claims to a particular food become important when a "cause or agenda is behind the claim".
In 2013 Al Jazeera noted that gastronationalism had been an ongoing issue in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as each country "vie for the recognition of certain dishes as their own" and was causing tension among neighboring countries with already-troubled relationships.
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. In 2024 journalist Francesca Barca, writing in Voxeurop, called gastronationalism ' "neither neutral nor harmless, but is an aspect of what is called "banal nationalism",' quoting Gastronationalizmo author Michael Antonio Fino as saying "Gastronationalism is one of the most insidious forms of this 'banal nationalism' because it is met with a certain indulgence, and mistaken for patriotic pride."
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".Political usage
According to Barca, gastronationalism is used as a political symbol for a party or movement's values, and in particular traditional or populist values. She argues "The passage from fork to defence of traditional values is short", quoting Matteo Salvini saying the "defence of our products is a battle of civilisation: in politics everything can be negotiated, but here Made in Italy either is or is not" and called tortellini made without pork an erasure of "our history". According to Fino, "national gastronomic identity becomes an occasion for belonging, opposition to others, a claim to superiority".When the Czech Republic entered the European Union, controversies developed over traditional Czech foods, such as the Czech style of goulash, which traditionally is allowed to rest unchilled overnight before serving, a step forbidden in commercial production by European Union food-handling rules; pomazánkové máslo, which in Czech is "spread butter" but which by EU standards has a fat content too low to be called butter; and the Czech style of rum, which because it is potato-based cannot be called rum under EU rules; conservative politicians objected that entering the EU was removing these foods from traditional cuisine.
According to Boróka Parászka, writing in Hvg, Hungarian politicians regularly use food to "invoke identity", citing as an example Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's frequent discussion and images of cooking and food in his communications.
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.Intangible Cultural Heritage designation
In some cases United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 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. In 1972 UNESCO adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage or World Heritage Convention.Protected Geographical Status
In Europe, mandatory origin labeling is "one of the most prickly topics" in European Union policy discussions. 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. The Protected Geographical Status as of 2016 had been applied to over a thousand food items. Fino calls such protections "a powerful tool in the hands of member countries to feed nationalism".Examples
Azerbaijan's National Culinary Centre, a non-governmental organization publishes information discussing Azerbaijan's national cuisine and accusing Armenian cuisine of imitating Azerbaijan. 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." Armenia's Society for the Preservation and Development of Armenian Culinary Traditions, an academic body, has discussed the Armenian culinary tradition.During the [|hummus wars], multiple corporations and business groups became involved as part of their marketing campaigns.
Notable examples
Arepas
and Venezuela have a "heated and longstanding rivalry" over the origins of the arepa. The dish is a staple of both cuisines. Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro "has tried to use arepas as a nationalist rallying point, if not a political tool, claiming the food is from his country alone", according to the New York Times. According to food anthropologist Ocarina Castillo of the Central University of Venezuela, the dish is likely thousands of years old and originated in the region now occupied by the two countries before colonizers of the area drew borders.Borscht
is believed to have originated in Kievan Rus' and specifically in the area of modern-day Ukraine, but according to historian Alison K. Smith, the dish's "Ukrainian origins have been largely obscured" as it became ubiquitous in Russian cuisine.The dish was described in Sergei Drukovtsov's Cooking Notes, 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's member states. The state-sponsored cookbook was created by Commissar of Food Anastas Mikoyan in a conscious attempt at creating a Soviet national cuisine for nation-building purposes.
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.
In response, Ukraine applied for the inclusion of borscht in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List and launched a five-year culinary diplomacy strategy dubbed 'borsch diplomacy' where borscht plays a central role. UNESCO added the soup to the organization's list for Ukraine in 2020.
Shortly after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the fact Ukrainians "didn't want to share borscht" was an example of alleged "xenophobia, Nazism, extremism in all forms" that led to the invasion. Shortly after, UNESCO added "Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking" to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, citing the invasion. According to The Smithsonian, "The designation by the international cultural authority was widely seen as a landmark decision in the ongoing cultural dispute between the two countries on borshch’s true country of origin."