Gastrodiplomacy
When a country uses its cuisine to boost its reputation
Example
You know whose gastrodiplomacy game is really on point? South Korea's. Tasting the food has made me really likely to go there
Related Slang
Sportswashing | Using sports to improve a bad reputation |
Greenwashing | Deceptively claiming to be eco-friendly |
Rainbow washing | Claiming to be LGBTQ allies to make money |
delish | Delicious |
Foodie | A person who loves food |
Food coma | Tired feeling after eating a lot of food |
Nomonym | A food that tastes similar to another food |
Americancore | A satirical aesthetic centered around American stereotypes |
Gastrodiplomacy is the practice of a country attempting to boost its reputation by promoting its tasty food. This can take the form of providing delicious, country-specific meals at state dinners, encouraging citizens to open ethnically-authentic restaurants abroad, or subsidizing the printing and distribution of promotional cookbooks.
For example, Thailand has a longstanding gastrodiplomacy program, called Global Thai. This initiative, launched in 2002, provides Thai people who want to open restaurants abroad with templates and funding. As a result of the initiative, the number of Thai restaurants abroad increased from 5,500 in 2002 to over 10,000 in 2011. These efforts have caused foreigners to primarily associate Thailand with tasty food, rather than the country's less than sterling human rights record.