Food fight: gastrodiplomacy and nation branding in Singapore’s UNESCO bid to recognize Hawker culture

Abstract

We applied a conceptual lens of gastrodiplomacy, or how countries conduct cultural diplomacy through the strategic use of cuisine in influencing perceptions of a nation, to examine middle power Singapore’s national and international campaigns to inscribe its hawker culture through UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. With a rather robust nation brand and established programs in gastrodiplomacy, Singapore is the first among Southeast Asian nations to take the first step to seek international and formal food-based recognition. Above everything else, Singapore’s UNESCO bid is motivated by a desire, in collaboration with non-state actors, to further increase the value and standing of its nation brand through food. As self-making, Singapore’s bid builds not only upon national identity creation within its national borders but also othering, a process of shaping the country’s unique dissimilarities to differentiate from other nation states especially its neighbors to reap the expected perceptible benefits of a tangible and emotional transnational connection with its foreign publics through food.