The Popularity of Asian Cuisine and the Cultural Penetration

The write-up explores the relationship between culture and diplomacy. It attempts to read “How the Asian cuisine, more precisely Oriental Cuisine is gaining popularity in recent times by generating the very idea of Soft power and giving a contemporary outlook to the conventional idea of Pan Asianism through Gastronomy.”

Oriental cuisine has emerged as one of the most remarkable culinary arts in recent times. Globally, the popularity of Chinese food has always acted as one of the most preponderant factors in regulating the very idea of ‘Pan Asianism,’ that is an ideology which aims at promoting a concept of Asian solidarity among the Asian countries while providing a tough competition for the Western powers in both economic and political aspect. Starting from the 1960s, the Asian Tigers- Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand emerged as the equally developed nations like in West giving a new colour to the Japanese form of Pan Asianism and Chinese form of ‘Pan-Chinese identity’ by working on industrialization and providing an impressive approach to the international relations, predominantly involving the use of economic or cultural influence.   However, lately other countries of Asia, specifically South-East Asian countries are putting a special effort in globalizing their culinary brand through food campaigns, Cookery shows and Gastronomy tourism.

Traditionally and unconventionally the popularity of Chinese food is undeniable. India being the largest advocator of Chinese cuisine has initiated a form of cultural hybridization through food. In terms of flavour, Indian form of Chinese differs from the authentic Chinese cuisine with a fusion of Indo-Sino spices and preparation, but it perfectly fits in the taste buds of the Indians desiring for saucy and piquant dishes. This form of cultural hybridization is not only influencing globalization, but also is resulting in a definite form of ‘cross cultural communication’. Considering the other Asian countries, like Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore who have been inspired by the global popularity of Chinese cuisine are similarly relying on this factor to build up a benevolent international relation with the neighbouring countries, specifically using the concept of soft power as a catalyst in a way to gear up the National economy via Gastronomy.

The ‘Ministry of Commerce and Industry ‘of India, published an online report about an uptick in the consumption of K-noodles recognized as “Samyung Ramen”, and other Korean dishes such as, “Kimbap”, “Kimchi Rice”, etc. mostly because of the innumerable viewership of K- dramas on Netflix and the rising Hallyu wave through K-pop. This is also resulting in a number of emerging Korean cafes and restaurants with Korean interior as the latest inclusion in the field of interior designs. Hence, usage of natural lights, wooden structures and comfy seating arrangements are common nowadays to match up with the Korean style of interior in the Korean themed cafes of India. An employee at Korikart, an online marketplace started in 2018 by Seo Youngdoo in India for Korean products, says they spotted a tide in sales between March and December 2020, especially in their pantry section. This demand has led Korikart to sign up with offline stores in Darjeeling, Delhi, Nagaland, Manipur, Chennai and Bengaluru. Rathi Jafer, director of the Inko Centre, in her recent statement said that she has witnessed a slow but a steady rise in the popularity of the Korean culinary brand. She added that during the lockdown due to the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic, they ran a virtual workshop on Korean cooking for Indian homes along with Korea Tourism Organization and they observed that most of the queries and requests that came from participants were about the food they commonly see in dramas. Dishes like Soups, “Japchae”, “Kimchi”, “Bibimbap”. This intriguing desire for a Korean culture is providing a significant interrelation between Korea and India.

Thai food has become one of the most popular cuisines globally that even include big cities of US and Europe, because of the Thai local spices and intense flavour that conquered the hearts and palates of many people across the world. The diverse array of spices used in Thai food ensure both a tasty and deliciously aromatic meal every time. The usage of fresh herbs prominently lemongrass, mint, galangal is customary among the Thai chefs that deliver an added flavour to the food.  In the present generation of social media, Thai food with its photogenic traits is becoming one of the most desirable cuisines by the food vloggers these days. The two ways of preparing Thai food are stir-frying and steaming, both of which are substantially nutritious. The Thai government is successful in globalizing their national food “Pad Thai” which has five different flavours and gains a lot of international attention by emerging as the most delicious food in the planet. Pad Thai has a deep history which also stipulates a patriotic sentiment among the Thai people contributing to its spectacular sale globally. Thailand took a massive step forward by coordinating the ASEAN Gastronomy Network (AGN) that made Thai food chain gain even more popularity among the global mass.

Taking into consideration, Malaysian food fails to receive the global recognition that it deserves. However, as the cuisine is a fusion of Chinese, Indian and Malay, it is getting favoured in these countries mostly. Malaysian cuisine predominantly deals with meat and other kinds of sea food that are usually marinated before cooking Vegetables are mostly stir-fried and some vegetables are eaten raw along with different kinds of condiments like sambal. Sambal is a hot sauce consisting of chili peppers, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, lime juice, vinegar, and couple more ingredients. Usage of coconut is a key factor in Malay cuisine. Even the traditional food of Malay cuisine “Nasi lemak” has a taste of coconut in it. Durian being the most widely consumed fruit in Malaysia, with its custardy texture contributes a phenomenal taste in some of the Malay desserts and candies.

“Nasi Goreng” being the most popular dish of Indonesia is now chosen globally for the spicy and herbal “Sambal Matah” flavour gained quite traction. This is one dish that many Indonesians prefer to cook at home to get their own preferred flavour instead of buying this from restaurants to adjust the dish to taste, adding ingredients such as shrimp paste, salted fish, prawn, meatballs, sausages, vegetables and meats.

Burmese Cuisine has a deep-rooted historical background shared with Tamil Nadu in India. The year 1960s, witnessed almost 300,000 ethnic Indian emigrations from Burma, present day Myanmar due to the ‘Burmanization Policy’ of the Military Junta. These Indians settling in Chennai, brought with them the ethnic Burmese cuisine. To this day, there are street stall and restaurants that serve Burmese food; the most popular being “Atho” in Burma is a salad-like dish with grated vegetables and fried onions tossed in garlic oil, chilli powder, salt, masala powder and a lime juice. “Bejo”is another Burmese speciality which is a fried snack made of rice flour and groundnuts. Tamil Nadu also witnesses the influence of Sri Lankan local cuisine that brings variation in their “Sambar”, “Idiyappan”, etc.

To sum up, we can consider the popularity of Asian Cuisine, especially Oriental cuisine as one form of soft power utilization by the Asian countries that is not only making the Asian culinary brand a thriving economic factor globally, but also a huge competition for the Continental cuisine in the world. Another important reason for the popularity of Asian food is the large portion of food at a very affordable price universally, is making them stand out among many cuisines across the world. Thus, we can see that the wise way of popularizing the culinary brand is not limited to traditional cookery shows anymore, there are other marketing policies like good decoration of the food for the social media handles, advertising through the commercial media, entertainment industry, and also usage of rare local spices contribute to a huge part in Gastronomy  and cultural penetration providing a typical outlook to Asian solidarity or the concept of ‘Pan Asianism’ by shaping Asian cuisine in a way that is eventually gaining an outstanding place as an impeccable Global cuisine.

References-

• Prabalika M Borah explained: Inspired by K-dramas, India enjoys a Hallyu of Korean cooking at home. https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/a-hallyu-of-korean-cooking-surges-across-india/article65048472.ece

• Trysmartbite Blog: Why Malaysian Food Is the Best? https://trysmartbite.com/blog/why-malaysian-food-is-the-best

• Recipes: Why Thai Food is so Popular? https://siam.recipes/blogs/news/why-thai-food-is-so-popular#:~:text=Thai%20food%20has%20become%20one,places%20it%20hasn’t%20reached.

• Madhumita Srinivasan Explains: World on the city’s palate. https://www.thehindu.com/children/world-on-the-citys-plate/article35918777.ece

Ritwika Dutta Roy

Intern, Asia in Global Affairs.