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34 - Foodways and Nationhood

from Part III - Intersections: National(ist) Synergies and Tensions with Other Social, Economic, Political, and Cultural Categories, Identities, and Practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2023

By
Peter Scholliers
Edited by
Cathie Carmichael ,
Matthew D'Auria  and
Aviel Roshwald
Cathie Carmichael
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Matthew D'Auria
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Aviel Roshwald
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

In 1877 George F. Keller (1846–1927?) commented on America’s ethnic melting pot and exclusionism by drawing “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner,” showing a chaotic dining scene (see Figure 34.1).1 Uncle Sam is served (uncooked) turkey by an African-American domestic and is accompanied by nine male diners. All have food in front of them: the Frenchman has frogs and wine, the German sauerkraut and sausages, the Russian holds a bottle with a label saying “Acid,” and, to the disgust of the Irish (having potatoes and whisky) and the Englishman (having pie and tea), the Chinese is eating a rat.2 This was not the first time that nations and peoples were pictured by means of foodways.3 In 1803, for example, English cartoonist James Gillray (1757–1815) drew a party of five German men who ferociously devoured sauerkraut and sausages (with beer jugs pell-mell on the floor).4 Later, typecasting nations through food occurred regularly.

Keywords

CookbooksCuisineCulinary nationalismFood classificationFood stereotypesGastronationalismGastrodiplomacyNational dishTerroir
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Nationhood and Nationalism , pp. 727 - 748
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Further Reading

Belasco, Warren, and Scranton, Philip (eds.), Food Nations: Selling Taste in Consumer Societies (New York: Routledge, 2002).Google Scholar
Fischler, Claude, “Food, Self and Identity,” Social Science Information, 27/2 (1988), 275–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ichijo, Atsuko, and Ranta, Ronald, Food, National Identity and Nationalism: From Everyday to Global Politics (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, M. T. (ed.), Culinary Nationalism in Asia (London: Bloomsbury, 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murcott, Anne, “Food as an Expression of Identity,” in Gustavsson, Sverker and Lewin, Leif (eds.), The Future of the Nation State (London: Routledge, 1996), 49–77.Google Scholar
Parasecoli, Fabio, Gastronativism: Food, Identity, Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 2022).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porciani, Ilaria (ed.), Food Heritage and Nationalism in Europe (New York: Routledge, 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramshaw, Gregory, “Food, Heritage and Nationalism,” in Timothy, D. J. (ed.), Heritage Cuisines: Traditions, Identities and Tourism (London: Routledge, 2016), 53–64.Google Scholar
Ranta, Ronald, “Food and Nationalism: From Foie Gras to Hummus,” World Policy Journal (Fall 2015), 33–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, Krishnendu, “Food and Identity,” in Murcott, Anne, Belasco, Warren, and Jackson, Peter (eds.), The Handbook of Food Research (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), 363–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholliers, Peter (ed.), Food, Drink and Identity: Cooking, Eating and Drinking in Europe since the Middle Ages (Oxford: Berg, 2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Alison, “National Cuisines,” in Pilcher, Jeffrey (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Food History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 444–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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