This edited collection addresses a topic that is both timely and critical considering the current state of international relations. It contributes to the further refinement of theoretical considerations around the use of food to construct and assert national identities, setting those strategies within historical as well as contemporary contexts. Although it focuses on nations in Asia, its observations are universally relevant, and can be applied to all cultural forms, not just food … As such, this volume will become foundational reading in a number of disciplines, including Asian studies, international studies, mobility studies, history, heritage studies, and political science, as well as food studies.

ASFS Book Award Judges

Gathering a prominent group of scholars and publishing a book on this topic, is quite an accomplishment
that definitely puts Dr. King's name on the list of food scholars.

Food, Culture & Society

With chapters by leading scholars in Asian food studies, Michelle King's essential volume takes us beyond the usual accounts of national cuisines as menus of inclusion and exclusion to analyze more diverse expressions of culinary nationalism.

Jeffrey M. Pilcher, University of Toronto, Canada

This book will be a great discovery to everyone interested in transformation of cuisine and nation-making in modern Asia. It brings readers to understand the 'meal' in the political context for different historical trajectories in various Asian countries. The editor has done a great job by using the framework of culinary nationalism to enhance the vibrant discussions of food in relations to government policy, market consumption, and individual choices with excellent case studies all over Asia.

Sidney C. H. Cheung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

This electric collection of essays offers provocative insights into the dynamics of culinary nationalism across East, Southeast, and South Asia. Bringing together historical work, contemporary sociological analysis, and evocative studies of film and literature, Culinary Nationalism in Asia is redolent of laksa and kimchi alongside beef biryani and zongzi, and will be certain to stimulate lively debate and new work on the complex interplay between food cultures and nation-building.

Ben Siegel, Boston University, USA

Culinary Nationalism in Asia is a pioneering interdisciplinary work on food and nationalism in Asia. Creatively crossing disciplinary and geographical boundaries, the authors of essays illuminate an extraordinarily wide range of subjects, from religious tradition to scientific nutrition, to military ration, to the high-tech kitchen appliance. This is an outstanding contribution to food studies.

Seung-joon Lee, National University of Singapore, Singapore and author of Gourmets in the Land of Famine (2011)