Communicating Cultures Through Cuisine

Liwag, JME. (2018). Communicating Cultures through Cuisine: A Study on the Disparity in the Representations of the Filipino Food Identity on Selected Local and Foreign TV Shows, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis. University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication

Abstract

This study looks at the representation of the Filipino food image on select foreign media and how it is disconnected from the Filipino food identity as defined and established by the works of noted Filipino cuisine historian/writer, Doreen Fernandez, and select Filipino chefs through their television shows. With Filipino food’s global rise in fame, its definition, presentation, and the dishes therewith are adapting to and for a global audience. This adaptation is evident in the difference between how Filipino food is represented in local and foreign-produced media. This study will use the concepts of globalization and Fernandez’ indigenization to analyze the presentation and discussion of the Filipino food identity in shows such as Chasing Flavors, Food Prints, and Curiosity Got The Chef, locally produced food/travelogue programs, and episodes featuring Filipino food and/or chefs from select foreign-produced travel programs. The study will also use Baudrillard’s concept of the simulacra as its grounding framework, Barthes’ model of semiotics, and Adorno's culture industry as lenses in analyzing data pertaining to the presentation and discussion of Filipino food.

Keywords: Filipino food, globalization, indigenization, simulacra, food shows

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