0:00:00.000,0:00:19.340 [ Music ] 0:00:19.340,0:00:24.770 For those of you who've been lucky enough to[br]travel abroad in the recent past, 0:00:24.770,0:00:30.260 think about the first things you wanted to do[br]and see. You probably had some museums and 0:00:30.260,0:00:36.250 historical landmarks to check out, but I'll bet you[br]also had eating food near the top of your to do list, 0:00:36.250,0:00:41.570 and not just because you're hungry, but also[br]because so much of actually experiencing 0:00:41.570,0:00:47.800 the culture of a new place is trying the food. It's[br]why we try pasta in Italy and why we try tacos 0:00:47.800,0:00:53.940 and tamales in Mexico, and it's definitely why[br]Anthony Bourdain tried warthog anus in Namibia, 0:00:53.940,0:01:01.840 and not just for the TV ratings. So every[br]destination has a dish or cuisine associated 0:01:01.840,0:01:07.560 with it, and that's because food is so deeply tied[br]to our culture and our identity. 0:01:07.560,0:01:12.360 What we cook is an expression of who we are[br]and where we come from and when we are 0:01:12.360,0:01:18.440 traveling abroad, trying the food from that country[br]is a great way to experience the culture firsthand. 0:01:18.440,0:01:23.140 In the same respect, when you're moving to a[br]new country, cooking and eating the food 0:01:23.140,0:01:30.220 from your home is a great way to feel connected[br]and nostalgic about that place and bring you back 0:01:30.220,0:01:36.020 to your roots and your foundation. Sharing that food[br]with other people can instantly connect you 0:01:36.020,0:01:41.150 to people very much unlike yourself.[br]Commensality is a stepping stone for building 0:01:41.150,0:01:46.630 friendships and communities and strengthening[br]ties between disparate groups. So today, 0:01:46.630,0:01:51.100 there's also a growing trend among governments[br]and middle power countries to 0:01:51.100,0:01:56.210 create government-funded gastrodiplomacy[br]programs, which basically serve as a tool 0:01:56.210,0:02:01.970 to introduce the cuisine of a country to a foreign[br]audience in order to gain awareness for 0:02:01.970,0:02:08.970 the country itself. So as our world becomes[br]increasingly globalized, cooking and sharing food 0:02:08.970,0:02:16.800 have become powerful tools for preserving[br]culture outside of its cultural and geographical context. 0:02:16.800,0:02:22.230 So I'm here today to talk to you about the[br]importance of maintaining this diversity 0:02:22.230,0:02:28.600 in our culinary landscape and preserving and[br]sharing cultural traditions through food. 0:02:28.600,0:02:36.580 So to start, as Americans, our food culture is a[br]little bit muddled. First of all, the food that's 0:02:36.580,0:02:41.090 typically associated with the American diet isn't[br]really good food. I'm thinking mostly of like 0:02:41.090,0:02:45.780 ballpark Franks and fast food cheeseburgers,[br]things that taste really good, 0:02:45.780,0:02:51.820 but aren't getting any Michelin stars. Second[br]of all, America is a country of immigrants, 0:02:51.820,0:02:57.730 so our cuisine is constantly being influenced by[br]food that's coming in from different countries 0:02:57.730,0:03:03.440 and because of that, even though I'm a[br]fifth-generation American, I never really strongly 0:03:03.440,0:03:09.850 identified with a specific American food culture[br]until fairly recently when I was geographically 0:03:09.850,0:03:15.650 removed from it. And that happened in the[br]summer of 2010 when I went to Uganda 0:03:15.650,0:03:21.000 to live and work on a farm with a farmer named[br]Bob and his family in order to learn more about 0:03:21.000,0:03:27.100 agriculture and food systems in developing[br]countries. So while I was there, about four weeks 0:03:27.100,0:03:31.840 into my trip, I got malaria which unfortunately[br]is very common in Uganda, 0:03:31.840,0:03:36.770 it's much like getting the flu here, and I knew this.[br]I had been to malaria endemic countries 0:03:36.770,0:03:41.500 before. I was well aware that with a quick[br]diagnosis and proper drugs, it was 0:03:41.500,0:03:47.510 totally treatable. But being a stereotypical American[br]when I was sitting in that little rural hospital, and 0:03:47.510,0:03:53.490 that doctor told me that I did in fact have malaria,[br]I freaked out. I was really scared, and I think 0:03:53.490,0:03:59.980 it was the first time in my adult life that I felt truly[br]homesick. So in the following weeks, 0:03:59.980,0:04:05.470 even though I couldn't actually eat anything,[br]I was dreaming about American food. 0:04:05.470,0:04:10.980 And whenever I got a chance, I would text my[br]sister and ask her what she was eating, 0:04:10.980,0:04:15.200 and what she eaten earlier that day, and what[br]everyone else around her was eating, and 0:04:15.200,0:04:21.510 I was dreaming about chocolate and coffee and[br]bread, and I think that the food that 0:04:21.510,0:04:29.060 I miss the most, and this won't come as a[br]surprise to anyone was cheese. And ironically 0:04:29.060,0:04:35.150 during that week when I was getting better, my[br]entire extended family was vacationing 0:04:35.150,0:04:42.370 in the state of Wisconsin, cheese capital of[br]America. So this food homesickness was really 0:04:42.370,0:04:46.650 weird to me. It was something that I had never[br]experienced before, but it's actually 0:04:46.650,0:04:51.350 really common among people who are moving[br]into a new country and adjusting to a new culture. 0:04:51.350,0:04:58.230 Reconciling that old and familiar food with the[br]new unfamiliar food is part of a larger process 0:04:58.230,0:05:04.040 called acculturation. And although this is different[br]for everyone, cultural anthropologists have 0:05:04.040,0:05:09.930 mapped into roughly four stages. So the first is the[br]honeymoon stage, which is pretty self-explanatory. 0:05:09.930,0:05:15.260 It's basically when everything is new and exciting,[br]and you're like on an adventure in this new country. 0:05:15.260,0:05:21.800 And then the next is the hostility or the conflict[br]phase, at which point those differences in culture 0:05:21.800,0:05:26.950 become grating and everyday life can become a[br]little bit frustrating. And then you move up 0:05:26.950,0:05:32.020 through the adjustment phase when you can[br]objectively identify the differences in culture 0:05:32.020,0:05:36.800 and kind of approach it with a more lighthearted[br]sense of humor. And then finally there's 0:05:36.800,0:05:41.260 the home stage at which point you're about as[br]close to assimilation as you're going to get. 0:05:41.260,0:05:48.070 Most people adapt either by cultural identity or[br]relinquish their old cultural identity entirely and 0:05:48.070,0:05:51.870 it should be noted that these stages are much[br]more pronounced when you're moving into 0:05:51.870,0:05:56.910 a culture that is starkly different from your original[br]culture. And also when you have little to no contact 0:05:56.910,0:06:01.350 with your home culture. So I found a lot of[br]references to them in literature for 0:06:01.350,0:06:07.050 peace corps volunteers, for example. So I was[br]never in Uganda or anywhere else long enough 0:06:07.050,0:06:12.170 to go through all four of these stages, but in a[br]country like America, that has a large immigrant 0:06:12.170,0:06:17.660 population, people are going through this new[br]curve of cultural adjustment all the time. 0:06:17.660,0:06:23.880 It's been well documented, and there's actually a[br]lot of really interesting literature about the effect 0:06:23.880,0:06:28.420 it can have on food purchasing and food consumption[br]habits among immigrant communities. 0:06:28.420,0:06:33.780 So one study of Korean immigrants in America[br]found that when they first moved here, 0:06:33.780,0:06:38.400 they were very adventuresome in their purchase[br]of American food products, and then they kind of 0:06:38.400,0:06:43.070 quickly moved into the hostility phase at which point[br]they reverted back to purchasing more traditional 0:06:43.070,0:06:48.620 Korean food products, and then made their way[br]up to the home phase at which point they were 0:06:48.620,0:06:52.310 purchasing those American food products with[br]about the same frequency that they had been 0:06:52.310,0:06:58.330 when they first moved here. There's also multiple[br]studies showing that when non-western immigrants 0:06:58.330,0:07:05.310 move into Western countries, like America, their[br]rates of obesity and diabetes rise to about 0:07:05.310,0:07:11.010 the same levels as those that are in their new[br]adopted home. And this trend is associated directly 0:07:11.010,0:07:17.480 with their increased consumption of Western foods.[br]And finally a study of Mexican immigrants 0:07:17.480,0:07:22.800 in America found that in just one generation the[br]influence of the Mexican diet was almost 0:07:22.800,0:07:29.780 entirely lost. So as these communities are moving[br]into second and third and fourth generations, 0:07:29.780,0:07:35.760 they're losing some of the traditional foods to[br]make way for the American foods. And with that 0:07:35.760,0:07:42.110 they're losing some of that sense of culture and[br]identity. And this experience was actually illustrated 0:07:42.110,0:07:47.780 beautifully in a recent New York Times article in[br]which the author herself and the subject 0:07:47.780,0:07:53.990 she interviews discuss desperately trying to hold[br]on to those recipes and culinary traditions 0:07:53.990,0:07:59.500 from their parents and their grandparents in order[br]to maintain a connection to family and to 0:07:59.500,0:08:04.800 their home country. She says, "Over generations, palates evolve and customs fade. The old 0:08:04.800,0:08:11.490 ways of cooking are quietly forgotten." So in an[br]effort to kind of curb that loss of cultural capital, 0:08:11.490,0:08:16.720 as social scientists like to call it, me and two of[br]my friends from graduate school, Ryan and Pete, 0:08:16.720,0:08:22.360 started Global Kitchen which is a social enterprise[br]that hosts immigrant-led cooking classes. 0:08:22.360,0:08:27.860 And our classes are based in the New York City[br]area. And all of the chefs that we work with 0:08:27.860,0:08:33.110 teach the cuisine from their home country.[br]So they'll be home cooks, and they'll sometimes 0:08:33.110,0:08:39.130 be classically trained chefs, but they[br]always teach traditional foods to our students 0:08:39.130,0:08:44.700 that are common in their countries of origin.[br]Some of these foods are well known to an American 0:08:44.700,0:08:50.000 audience, such as Filipino adobo and Indian curry,[br]and some you'd be hard-pressed 0:08:50.000,0:08:55.300 to find in any restaurant even in New York City.[br]A good example of that is Egyptian koshary 0:08:55.300,0:09:00.800 which is actually incredibly popular in Egypt,[br]but because it's so labor-intensive and 0:09:00.800,0:09:05.620 there's so little demand for it in the United States,[br]there's no real justification for serving it 0:09:05.620,0:09:12.230 in restaurants here. So one of the things that we[br]really like to emphasize in our classes is 0:09:12.230,0:09:18.580 the cultural and historical traditions and context[br]behind the food. So this can come from a chef 0:09:18.580,0:09:23.440 instructor talking about cooking this particular[br]dish with her parents and her grandparents when 0:09:23.440,0:09:29.000 she was growing up, or it can mean talking about[br]trade routes and a history of colonization and 0:09:29.000,0:09:33.160 how those influence the dishes in the ingredients[br]in a particular country. 0:09:33.160,0:09:38.490 A really good example of that would be the[br]Spanish influence on Filipino cuisine, bringing in dishes 0:09:38.490,0:09:43.890 like paella. And then finally we like to incorporate[br]cultural elements into the classes themselves. 0:09:43.890,0:09:50.860 So with our Ethiopian class, our chef instructors[br]perform a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. 0:09:50.860,0:09:59.020 And this is a part of daily life in Ethiopia. It usually[br]involves roasting beans over a fire or stove, 0:09:59.020,0:10:03.730 and then grinding them by hand with a mortar[br]and pestle or with a coffee grinder in our case, 0:10:03.730,0:10:10.810 and then brewing the coffee in front of your guests[br]and serving it to them, and in Ethiopia it's meant to 0:10:10.810,0:10:15.180 signify friendship and hospitality towards the[br]people that you're welcoming into your home. 0:10:15.180,0:10:23.820 So what we really want to do with Global Kitchen[br]besides the classes is create this platform 0:10:23.820,0:10:30.460 for cultural exchange. And we also want to record[br]these recipes in these culinary traditions that 0:10:30.460,0:10:34.330 otherwise wouldn't be documented. And we're not[br]the only ones with this idea. 0:10:34.330,0:10:39.240 Some of you may have heard of "Eat With" which[br]is a service that's rapidly expanding over the world, 0:10:39.240,0:10:45.030 and it's basically a way to connect to hosts in a[br]country that you're traveling to and then go to 0:10:45.030,0:10:50.630 their home and they'll serve you a meal. There's[br]also a really awesome restaurant in Pittsburgh 0:10:50.630,0:10:56.780 called "Conflict Kitchen," and they only serve[br]cuisines from countries with which the United States is 0:10:56.780,0:11:04.220 in conflict. So this would be places like[br]Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Cuba. And 0:11:04.220,0:11:09.800 finally UNESCO has actually added specific[br]cooking styles from countries like 0:11:09.800,0:11:17.970 Japan, France, Turkey, and Mexico to it's[br]intangible cultural heritage list. And these are all 0:11:17.970,0:11:24.440 small examples of gastrodiplomacy, which I[br]mentioned earlier. And defined broadly, simply means 0:11:24.440,0:11:30.520 communicating your culture and your identity[br]through food. But in the public diplomacy context, 0:11:30.520,0:11:37.020 gastrodiplomacy is actually a tool that governments[br]use to tap into people's emotional connection 0:11:37.020,0:11:42.920 to food in order to gain influence and raise brand[br]awareness about the country itself 0:11:42.920,0:11:47.890 in an international setting. And it's also a fantastic[br]way to encourage tourism to your country. 0:11:47.890,0:11:55.540 So the first country to do this was Thailand. In 2002,[br]it started the Global Thai program. And at the 0:11:55.540,0:12:00.300 time, there are only five thousand Thai restaurants[br]in the world, and their goal is simply to raise that 0:12:00.300,0:12:06.000 number to eight thousand. And they did this by[br]helping Thai restaurateurs in all over the world 0:12:06.000,0:12:10.680 to gain access to funding and ingredients that[br]they needed in order to build up their restaurants. 0:12:10.680,0:12:15.500 So as you may have guessed, based solely on the number of Thai restaurants in Brooklyn alone, 0:12:15.500,0:12:22.430 the program was incredibly successful. Today,[br]there are upwards of 20,000 Thai restaurants 0:12:22.430,0:12:26.440 in the world. Thai food has become one of the[br]most well-known international cuisines and 0:12:26.440,0:12:33.050 Thailand itself is a wildly popular tourist destination.[br]And so other government saw this, and they 0:12:33.050,0:12:39.440 followed suit. Korea started a gastrodiplomacy[br]program in 2009. It was a 40 million dollar program 0:12:39.440,0:12:44.410 and now just a few years later, Korean food is[br]consistently ranked among the top American 0:12:44.410,0:12:50.310 food trends. Taiwan started a program that[br]helped throw gourmet food festivals on the island 0:12:50.310,0:12:55.560 and also started a think tank, the sole purpose[br]of which was to figure out new ways to 0:12:55.560,0:13:00.660 introduce Taiwanese restaurants and coffee[br]shops and food products to a foreign audience. 0:13:00.660,0:13:07.000 And Peru started a gastrodiplomacy program[br]that helped make Peruvian food more 0:13:07.000,0:13:12.470 recognizable to a wider audience, and Peru itself[br]was recently ranked the number one culinary 0:13:12.470,0:13:18.550 destination in the world, and it expects to see[br]one billion dollars in culinary tourism just this year. 0:13:18.550,0:13:27.560 So this might seem really simple, but gastrodiplomacy[br]is actually really working as a tool to 0:13:27.560,0:13:34.530 introduce audiences to the food and the culture of[br]a new country. Food is an easy and incredibly 0:13:34.530,0:13:41.040 effective way to introduce an unfamiliar culture to[br]a foreign audience and then suddenly overtime 0:13:41.040,0:13:46.690 make the country itself more approachable, as[br]was the case with Thailand. And on a more 0:13:46.690,0:13:51.340 personal level, sharing our food culture with[br]others and letting them share theirs with us 0:13:51.340,0:13:58.390 can create an immediate connection. This is a[br]picture of me mixing cake batter in Uganda 0:13:58.390,0:14:07.440 and simultaneously trying to make gaucho pants[br]happen. (Laughs) But when I was there, 0:14:07.440,0:14:14.970 we cooked together as a family nearly every day, and we were usually cooking the food 0:14:14.970,0:14:20.150 from the farm. So it was during those moments[br]when we were cooking and we were eating that 0:14:20.150,0:14:24.590 we actually got to know each other outside of the[br]context of work, and it was also during 0:14:24.590,0:14:29.360 those moments when I felt most included in the[br]family unit itself and most connected to 0:14:29.360,0:14:36.190 Ugandan culture. Similarly since starting Global Kitchen,[br]I've been able to witness connections like that 0:14:36.190,0:14:41.750 happen all the time. One example that really[br]stood out to me was when we had an Ethiopian 0:14:41.750,0:14:47.310 class and we had three couples come in who had[br]all adopted children from Ethiopia. And they wanted 0:14:47.310,0:14:51.940 to learn about the food and the culture in order to[br]share that experience with their children. 0:14:51.940,0:14:58.060 I thought it was a really wonderful example of what[br]Global Kitchen is trying to do, and it inspired me 0:14:58.060,0:15:03.820 to continue working to preserve culture through[br]food, and I hope it's through this example and 0:15:03.820,0:15:17.745 others out there that will inspire you to do[br]the same. Thank you so much.