Looking back to a post we made in 2009 on Kraft’s mission to sell Oreos in China, we’ve seen some major progress, according to this recent NPR story. In fact, The Oreo has become the best-selling cookie in China.

Kraft initially responded to Chinese taste buds by reducing sugar content in the cookies. For the masses, it was too sweet. They took further steps by looking at other flavors the market craved, resulting in Oreos with green-tea and mango flavored filling. They also changed the shape to resemble a rolled wafer, much easier to eat in the traditional Oreo fashion for a country that isn’t accustomed to “dunking” their cookies in (soy) milk. The imprint Americans have for eating Oreos (“Twist, Lick, Dunk”) doesn’t exist in China. To address this, “Oreo launched a series of TV ads where cute children demonstrate to their parents and other adults how to eat an Oreo cookie in the American style,” says the NPR story, effectively teaching children and adults at the same time.

Lorna Davis, head of the global biscuit division at Kraft, told NPR what she learned:

Any foreign company that comes to China and says, ‘There’s 1 1/2 billion people here, goody goody, and I only need 1 percent of that’ … [is] going to get into trouble. You have to understand how the consumer operates at a really detailed level.

Culture encompasses all the detail to which Davis refers. Culture informs the preferences we develop at a young age, which influences our behaviors for life.

What other foods have you seen undergo this kind of cultural transformation as it migrates from country to country?

Grayson
RW3 CultureWizard

Winning the hearts and stomachs of people around the world might be one of the most effective ways of bridging cultures. For centuries, food’s diplomatic prowess has provided a channel for introducing and exploring new cultures, often earlier than substantial human-to-human contact is made. The token trip to New York’s Chinatown for an authentic dim sum experience or to Brick Lane in East London for a Bangladeshi meal is a typically modern food experience many of us in the West know well. In Hend Alhinnawi’s blog post, she cites Paul Rockower’s definition of gastrodiplomacy: a way to use “culinary delights to appeal to global appetites, and thus helps raise a nation’s brand awareness and reputation.” Alhinnawi goes on to say:

It is an important tool in building cultural understanding, and in turn, breaking down traditional barriers by providing insight into a culture that might otherwise be unknown to a person. While many Americans may never experience the joys, sights and sounds of Incredible India, they can taste the culture through a culinary sampling at their local Indian market or restaurant. By bringing the food to their local communities, these outlets are great for engaging audiences through gastrodiplomacy, one palate at a time.

“Vindaloo Against Violence” is a project one Australian launched in 2010 to combat hostility towards Indians in her city, Melbourne, by encouraging people to dine at Indian eateries. It was effective – 17,000 people signed up to partake (we all know that the prospect of good food is an effective way to gather support!).

I wrote my graduate thesis on how mainstream American society shifted from initially shunning Italian foods to consuming it at very high levels. This started with the en masse migration of Europeans, many of whom were Italian, to North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At first, North American society saw Italian foods in the same way it perceived the people who created and consumed them: suspicious, foreign and unpalatable. The historical trajectory of the cuisine is remarkable, as gastrodiplomacy gradually brought people to love Italian pizza and pasta – foods consumed in countries worldwide. This was in part due to the energies of the Italian diaspora and the success they had as entrepreneurs, restaurant owners and purveyors of food in general. In my thesis, I linked the increasingly saturated Italian food industry to the Italian community’s integration into US society, and how the food acted as a diplomat by building awareness of Italian values and traditions for mainstream society.

Where have you experienced or seen gastrodiplomacy at work? Do you think food has the power to unite people from different countries and different backgrounds?

Sean
RW3 CultureWizard

How do food and customs surrounding the acts of eating and drinking inform culture (and vice versa)? How is one’s awareness of culture developed through cooking, eating, buying and talking about food? Below is something my colleague, Grayson Leverenz, told me about how she likes to tie gastronomy into her travels:

Whenever I visit a new city, I search for an authentic eating experience. On a recent trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I discovered a Philly Cheese Steak as the culinary choice of locals. Jim’s Steaks has been serving the classic cheese steak sandwiches since 1939, and with its prime location on South Street, I figured I couldn’t go wrong.

Cooks prepare sliced beef and onions on a grill, slather a hoagie roll with Cheese Whiz, and top it with the meat and onions. Hot and delicious, it goes well with Yuengling, a local PA beer. John Denver, an American folk singer popular in the 1970′s folk singer, said it best in his autograph on Jim’s wall (pictured below): ‘I’d be a vegetarian if it wasn’t for your cheese steak.’

An authentic Philly Cheese Steak

A cheese steak is a truly cultural representation of Philadelphia and of an American innovation: “cheese whiz”.

Personally, I like to visit grocery stores and food markets when I travel to new places, which reveal a lot about an area’s history, society and, of course, typical cuisine. When I’m find myself in new cities and countries, I ask questions like: do you bargain for food? Do you bring with you to the market your own bags to take food home? Do people eat a lot of street food? Do people prefer to eat in their homes? With whom can you share food? Questions lead to more questions, all of which paint an appetizing cultural portrait.

How do you think about food when experiencing new peoples and cultures? How much can you learn about a culture from it’s food and drink? Please share your stories and tell us about your favorite gastronomical experiences!

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard