The U.S. Department is launching the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership Initiative tonight, September 7, at 6 p.m. Local chefs such as José Andrés of Think Food Group, Bryan Voltaggio of Volt Restaurant and Robert Wiedmaier of Marcel’s and Brasserie Beck have been chosen to be part of the initiative.

Zingerman’s Roadhouse executive chef Alex Young is among the first group of American chefs and culinarians to be tapped for the American Chef Corps, part of a wide-ranging new State Department program called the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership.

The Washington Post reports that the James Beard Foundation is teaming up with the State Department to launch the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership Sept. 7, hoping to "elevate the role of culinary engagement in America’s formal and public diplomacy efforts."

Isabella is one of the first chefs to be tapped by the State Department to serve as a culinary ambassador abroad, part of an ambitious new undertaking to use food as a diplomatic tool. Initiated by the U.S. Chief of Protocol Capricia Penavic Marshall, the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership aims to “elevate the role of culinary engagement in America’s formal and public diplomacy efforts."

Hong Kong's love of Japanese cuisine will help ease tensions over Tokyo's arrest of activists who left from its harbor and landed on one of the disputed Senkaku Islands, fisheries minister Akira Gunji said Thursday at a major food fair in the city. Gunji said the relationship between Hong Kong and Japan will flourish as long as the culinary binds between them stay strong.

Gastrodiplomacy is becoming a defined field of international communications and engagement in its own right, and my friend Paul Rockower has written a lot about this on his own blog (the links are on the left hand side of this page). Exploring China is not only a contribution to China's gastrodiplomacy, but also demonstrates Chinese soft power in action.

On August 15, at President Pranab Mukherjee's first official 'At Home' in Rashtrapati Bhavan's Mughal Gardens, the menu will remain drearily unchanged: samosas, idlis, sandwiches and tea-coffee. Contrast that with the White House, where food is an important tool of US public diplomacy, with everything from its executive chef to its kitchen garden and banquet menus carefully selected and promoted.

This article was translated and edited from an article by Chinese blogger Yang Hengjun (杨恒均), originally posted on the Tianda Institute website. It discusses the role of fast food entities like McDonald's and KFC in China, as well as Chinese restaurants abroad, and how they spreads the culture and values of their respective countries.