Visitors to U.S. embassies and consulates in China, Japan, India, France and Germany for July 4th celebrations won’t go away either hungry or empty handed.
Brand USA, the country’s destination-marketing organization, is enticing international travelers to visit the U.S. through their stomachs, or rather, through a culinary tourism strategy including the “Flavours of the USA” culinary guidebook.
Those Independence Day guests are going to be exposed to a wide range of American cuisine and then handed the guidebook on their way home in which they can learn that Georgia produces more than 36,000 metric tons of “juicy, sweet” peaches every year.
They also will receive an invitation to visit Atlanta’s Food and Wine Festival and Savannah’s “upscale restaurants” that serve “innovative twists on Lowcountry favorites like fried green tomatoes, hushpuppies and, of course, fresh seafood.”
The distribution of the culinary guidebooks is just a small facet of a diplomatic culinary partnership launched by the U.S. State Department with the New York-based James Beard Foundation, Christopher Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA, told Global Atlanta in a telephone interview.
The nonprofit was created in 1986 following the death of James Beard, who was widely known as the “dean of American cookery,” to perpetuate his legacy in the preparation and enjoyment of food.
The partnership between the State Department’s Office of Protocol and the foundation created the American Chef Corps — a network of more than 100 of America’s most renowned chefs — as a way to champion American chefs abroad and promote American food products.
The initiative is to promote American culinary culture through exchange programs to engage foreign audiences both at home and abroad.
Mr. Thompson’s bottom line at Brand USA is to have more international visitors come to the United States. “Many don’t realize it, but tourism is our greatest service export,” he said. “It actually represents 10 percent of all of our exports.”
The “Flavours of the USA” campaign is going way beyond just publishing 115,000 of the culinary guidebooks. It also is allied with programming of Food Network International and The Travel Channel International.
The Food Channel is broadcasting this month its feature “30 Chefs, 30 Days” that includes portraits of local chefs and commentary on how their dishes reflect the culture of particular regions.
The episodes are to be aired in 98 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Additionally, the Travel Channel is to broadcast a series of culinary road trips through the U.S. to entice overseas visitors.
But at the moment most of the attention is being focused on the expected more than 20 million visitors to Expo Milano 2015 in Milan, Italy, from May 1-Oct. 30, who will be sampling on the dishes of more than 140 countries.
While the entire Expo is addressing the challenges of how humanity will feed itself in the future, the USA Pavilion showcases U.S. contributions to food security and gastronomy.
First Lady Michelle Obama visited the show in mid-June, promoting her campaign for healthy eating. As if responding directly to the campaigns of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mrs. Obama has taken up dramatically the cause to help Americans improve their eating habits to overcome their problems with obesity and other chronic diseases.
Close on her heels was Kevin Langston, deputy commissioner for the tourism division at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), who visited Expo Milano with other officials from the U.S. South to promote Georgia’s agricultural industry and food culture.
His department has been developing a number of different culinary tours including the “Georgia Flavor Trails,” such as the “Barbecue Trail” and the “Restaurants With the Best View Trail” throughout the state.
A pleasant surprise for Mr. Langston was the magazine Food and Wine’s pick of The Grey in Savannah as one of 10 best restaurants “exciting, new launches” in the U.S. under a year old. He told Global Atlanta that the converted Greyhound bus terminal’s cuisine has provided a spotlight on the state, giving it additional cachet as Brand USA is pushing its cuisine campaign.
On July 4th The Grey is hosting a blue plate special from 4-8:00 p.m. in “The Yard,” the restaurant’s outdoor space from where the city’s fireworks celebration can be seen.
The Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Diplomacy Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Diplomacy newsletters.
