PD Magazine Issue on Gastrodiplomacy

Public Diplomacy Magazine (PD) announces the release of its Winter 2014 issue: “Gastrodiplomacy.” The latest edition features the emerging role of food and how national cuisine can help facilitate cultural dialogue. 

While public diplomacy scholars and practitioners are just beginning to explore and analyze gastrodiplomacy as a component of public diplomacy and nation branding, the term may have been first used by the Economist in 2002 in an article about Thailand’s export of Thai food globally. Since then, gastrodiplomacy has been employed by countries such as South Korea, Peru, and Malaysia. 

Shannon Haugh, PD Editor-in-Chief defines gastrodiplomacy as “the practice of sharing a country’s cultural heritage through food” and notes that many countries recognize “the seductive qualities food can have, and are leveraging this unique medium…to increase trade, economic investment, and tourism.”

The magazine uses contributed features, interviews and perspective pieces to lead the discussion of this emergent activity through both theoretical and practical frameworks. The endnote of the 11th issue of PD is an interview with the Communications Director of Amazon Watch, Caroline Bennett, which focuses on the Summer 2014 theme, “The Power of Non-State Actors.”

To access the entire issue, visit www.publicdiplomacymagazine.com.
To view the PDF version, click here.