FPCI Chapter UI successfully held its seventh podcast with the theme Gastrodiplomacy: Internationalizing Indonesia through Food Culture. In the podcast, Dr. Agus Trihartono was invited to be one of the speakers along with other speakers from Bina Nusantara University and Padjajaran University.
Dr. Trihartono explained that state power is now not only measured through hard power, namely military and economy, but also the soft power of a country. Soft power itself is a country's effort to influence the preferences and behavior of other countries through persuasion and attraction of existing culture, values, and norms. Furthermore, Dr. Trihartono explained that in this modern era, countries that are not strong enough in hard power are starting to be able to move their countries by using soft power.
Dr. Trihartono then explained that countries can use food to strengthen soft power. So far, food has been known as a nonverbal communication tool and can be the identity of a country. Therefore, food can tell a story about who we are and how our country is developing. Unfortunately, Indonesia has so far not been able to portray itself through food. This is in contrast to other countries such as Thailand, South Korea, and Japan that have been able to portray themselves and capitalize on their country's food as a diplomacy tool to international audiences in order to shape the country's image.
Through food diplomacy (gastrodiplomacy), a country can win the hearts and minds of the international community. By doing so, countries can develop their power through persuasion and the value of their food. This will certainly have an impact on strengthening the soft power of a nation and to some extent can strengthen the strength of hard power, especially in the economic field.
(Further discussion can be listened on the link below)
Author : Gilang Ariantama
Editor : Pelangi Sinatrya
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