150 points

Describe how Gastrodiplomacy might help countries like Thailand, Korea,

Read the following article to get a clearer understanding of gastrodiplomacy. The link is posted along with the actual article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-rockower/the-gastrodiplomacy-cookb_b_716555.htm

Paul Rockower

Gastronomist

The Gastrodiplomacy Cookbook

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” — James Beard

One of the more delicious forms of public diplomacy has recently emerged in the global consciousness: gastrodiplomacy. Public diplomacy is a field predicated on the communication of culture and values to foreign publics; gastrodiplomacy, most plainly put, is the act of winning hearts and minds through stomachs. It is a public and cultural diplomacy endeavor that the governments of Korea and Taiwan have recently embarked on. There is an old American public diplomacy maxim, “to know us is to love us;” Taiwanese and Korean gastrodiplomacy posits it a little differently and declares “to taste us is to love us.”

Gastrodiplomacy was a technique perfected by Thailand, which first used its kitchens and restaurants as outposts of cultural diplomacy. Given the growing popularity of Thai restaurants around the globe, in 2002, the government of Thailand implemented the “Global Thai program” as a means to increase the number of Thai restaurants. The Thai government’s rationale, The Economist noted, was that the boom in restaurants, “will not only introduce delicious spicy Thai food to thousands of new tummies and persuade more people to visit Thailand, but it could subtly help deepen relations with other countries.”

More recently, both Korea (“Kimchi Diplomacy”) and Taiwan (“Dim Sum Diplomacy”) have been engaging in culinary diplomacy to help increase global recognition of their respective nation brands.

Seoul initiated the “Korean Cuisine to the World” campaign in April 2009, with stated goals of increasing Korean restaurants abroad fourfold to nearly 40,000 by 2017. The ₩50 billion (US$40 million) fund will be used to promote Korean cooking classes an internationally-acclaimed cooking schools, help support Korean culinary students with grants and scholarships to attend culinary schools and international food fairs. Korean cuisine also got added attention with the local Los Angeles creation of the Korean-taco truck, which quickly gained a culinary cult status and has been popping up all over America.

Meanwhile, Taipei recently unveiled a plan to promote Taiwanese culinary diplomacy. The sad culinary reality is that most people associate Chinese food with the heavy, sauce-laden fare that is promoted as typical Middle Kingdom cuisine; meanwhile, for those not of the foodie bent, the notion of Taiwanese cuisine draws a blank. That creates a tremendous opportunity for Taiwan to conduct gastrodiplomacy in order to brand its own cuisine as a healthy, light alternative to the heavy image associated with Western versions of Chinese food. The lighter, healthier side of Taiwanese cuisine, with its unique flavors and textures could really tempt global tummies as it creates awareness of what Taiwanese food entails.

Through the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan is set to invest NT$1.1 billion (US$34.2 million) through 2013 to engage in Taiwanese gastrodiplomacy and promote Taiwanese cuisine at the global dining table. As part of the campaign, Taiwan will host international gourmet festivals as well as help send local chefs to ply their culinary skills at global culinary competitions. The initiative will support the introduction of Taiwanese restaurants abroad, with a focus on major overseas shopping malls and department stores as well as sampling stations for Taiwanese cuisines at international airports. Moreover, the gastrodiplomacy plan is anticipated to enable local businesses to set up 3,500 restaurants in both Taiwan and abroad, and generate close to NT$2 billion in private investments.

Technology – a catalyst for social change

Over the next few weeks we examine the subject of technology and how it can be taught within a primary school context. Let’s first consider the broader concept of technology and why it is such an important part of our past, present and future lives.

The story of technology is the continual invention of new objects and materials in order to create solutions to our most basic problems. Flint stone knives were made to help us cut, while the wheel helped us transport heavy loads. Our ability to create and perfect the use of tools has been an integral part of human history for thousands of years. The list of historical changing technological inventions is extensive, including: the printing press, the combustion engine, and the silicon chip, to name but a few. Each wave of major technological change has become a catalyst for significant social change.

To see the impact of technological change on a familiar context, take a look at the The History of Household Technology (LibraryOfCongress, 2009) summarising how technology has changed domestic life over last 150 years.

As you watch the video, consider:

• how the invention of household appliances created social change
• why these inventions were solutions to social problems.

The introduction of new technology creates new opportunities and ways of thinking that are sometimes difficult to see beforehand. In our lifetime we have witnessed massive technological change through the exponential growth of the Internet and mobile communication. These have produced a new wave of social change that has led to the creation of new ways that we live and work.