The Role of Food in Shaping National and Cultural Identity

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_8How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Food; Culture; National Identity; Literary Representation; Culinary Traditions; Heritage; Memory; Globalization; Migration; Symbolism

Abstract

To analyze the world around us and to explore the everyday to the global food and nationalism axis provides a prismatic observation over a much neglected area of study: the connection between food, nationalism and literature. Food is always considered as an essential area of a culture because it’s a way of expressing oneself as deeply ingrained in our cultural identity and to pass it to the generations its rich cultural heritage. It’s not only the means of sustenance but also can define and perpetuate culture. It appreciates and incorporates other ways of life also by cultural blending for social interactions and rituals because food is the centerpiece of celebrations and social gatherings like weddings, birthdays or parties of any kind. Sharing and passing down traditional dishes of this cultural blending and bring unique local cuisine and traditions which can be often made with fresh, locally sourced ingredients to give it a unique sense of identity. Hence food access is not mere subject of nutrition and physical health but it is continuity of tradition, customs and memories to the generation to come navigating amongst multicultural landscapes. Through food not only the culture is shared but also emotions are passed to new generations passing the legacy so that they can pass it to their coming generation. Shared emotions and shared food makes the bond stronger and gives a colour to the culture. However there is a generation gap food becomes the binding element from one generation to another representing culture at large.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Geetika Patni
AU  - Kirti Bala
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/30
TI  - The Role of Food in Shaping National and Cultural Identity
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Food Studies: Intersections of Culture, Science and Sustainability (ICEFS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 68
EP  - 75
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_8
ID  - Patni2026
ER  -