Consuming Nations: The Construction of National Identities in the Food Industry

This chapter sets out to primarily examine the reasons and the ways in which food is articulated, constructed and reproduced as national by the private sector. Despite the advance of globalisation and the spread of multinational food corporations, in recent years there has been an increase in the articulation and promotion of food as national in the private sector. This has in turn helped to construct and reproduce food images, tastes and qualities as belonging to or originating from a particular national setting. The chapter explores this phenomenon through two case studies. The first case examines the rising tendency to construct and market food as national by the UK-based contract catering industry. Beyond the legal requirement to provide country of origin (CO) information for products, the chapter provides three additional reasons for this phenomenon: the celebration of diversity, cashing in on the sense of national responsibility and belonging, and the standardisation of operations and services. The second case study is on the Scotch whisky industry. Because the basis of the product’s identity coincides with the geographical framework of a nation, the industry is inevitably engaged with defining, maintaining and promoting the idea of a Scottish nation in its pursuit of profit, highlighting the entrenchment/permeation of the nation-state framework in the everyday life.