How food’s deployed as a ‘diplomatic tool’ to build political alliances

By Stephen Beech

Food has been used as a diplomatic "tool" to make and break political alliances for over a century, reveals a new study.

Researchers examined menus from diplomatic dinners dating from 1910 to 2023 and showed that meals can play a "significant" role in a country’s foreign policy.

They say food brings people together, and it serves as a tool to communicate political stances, to cultivate cross-cultural comprehension or, if necessary, create tensions.

The Portuguese research team analyzed menus from diplomatic dinners, state banquets, and receptions hosted over 103 years to find out how meals reflected and shaped Portugal's foreign policy and geopolitics.

Study first author Óscar Cabral said: “Those meals play a significant role as diplomatic institutions in the executio