Culinary & Tourism Diplomacy: Taste, Travel & the Indian Experience

“Cuisine is the landscape in a pot” – this quote by Jean Brunhes poetically expresses the amalgamation of geography, history, food and identity.

- By Dr. Jones Mathew

On another level, “Life is a book; those who do not travel read only one page.” Food and Cuisine are so intricately intertwined that doing one and not doing the other probably leaves a half-baked taste in life.

In an era where global diplomacy increasingly extends beyond boardrooms and formal negotiations, the dining table has emerged as an influential platform of persuasion. As someone famously said, “the best way to a person’s heart is through the stomach”. Food, once regarded as mere sustenance or indulgence, has become a subtle yet potent instrument of diplomacy. Culinary and tourism diplomacy are two of the most experiential forms of soft power alongside movies and music. Cuisine and tourism together offer a unique opportunity for India to project its identity, break down barriers, strengthen partnerships, and narrate its story to the world in flavours, fragrances, and journeys that linger long after the last bite or photograph.

The Power of the Plate

Culinary diplomacy—also called gastrodiplomacy—has been described as “winning hearts and minds through stomachs.” Nations have long recognised the symbolic and emotional resonance of cuisine in forging bonds. France’s haute cuisine, Japan’s washoku, and Thailand’s “Global Thai” initiative have turned national kitchens into emissaries of culture and commerce. In each case, the plate becomes a point of entry into a nation’s defining values: balance, precision, creativity, hospitality, restraint, or abundance.

For India, food diplomacy is not new; it is simply under-articulated. For centuries, India’s spices have sailed across oceans as ambassadors of its civilisational depth and diversity. The exchange of ingredients— from pepper and cardamom to mango and tamarind—helped shape the global palette long before globalisation became a policy term. Today, that same legacy offers a powerful medium for reimagining India’s global engagement.