Culinary heritage in Asia: National and regional identities – Reflections from the field

Abstract

This review provides an overview of research trends on culinary heritage in Asia. The first objective is to trace a shift from the appreciation of a Western tangible cultural heritage to the recognition of non-Western intangible cultural heritage, which has underlined the prominence of food as a marker for culinary nationalism or gastronationalism (DeSoucey, 2010). Asian nations promote their culinary heritage in competitive ways. The second objective is to examine the construction of a culinary heritage on regional levels through four different case studies on China and Japan. The third objective is to showcase a rich body of research in English that has emerged in response to new forms of culinary nationalism and has emphasized the analysis of food as a powerful tool for understanding politics and international relations. This review finds that the objective of heritagization on the global level often constitutes nation branding. In contrast, culinary heritage construction on regional levels may occur for various reasons, such as branding a regional specialty, providing economic opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurs, or maintaining historical bonds between a diasporic community and their town of origin.