Culinary Nationalism in Asia

by Michelle T. King (Editor)

With culinary nationalism defined as a process in flux, as opposed to the limited concept of national cuisine, the contributors of this book call for explicit critical comparisons of cases of culinary nationalism among Asian regions, with the intention of recognizing patterns of modern culinary development. As a result, the formation of modern cuisine is revealed to be a process that takes place around the world, in different forms and periods, and not
exclusive to current Eurocentric models.

Key themes include the historical legacies of imperialism/colonialism, nationalism, the Cold War, and global capitalism in Asian cuisines; internal culinary boundaries between genders, ethnicities, social classes, religious groups, and perceived traditions/modernities; and global contexts of Asian cuisines as both nationalist and internationalist enterprises, and "Asia" itself as a vibrant culinary imaginary.

The book, which includes a foreword from Krishnendu Ray and an afterword from James L. Watson, sets out a fresh agenda for thinking about future food studies scholarship.

304 pages, Hardcover

Published July 11, 2019

Reviews

[ryan harrington]

i’m not rating academic books !

but very interesting nonetheless, some chapters (and by extension some authors) were far stronger than others.

each subject matter was insightful and interesting for its own additions to the discussion of asia and culinary nationalism.