[1]: 1–2 Food historian Michelle T. King suggests that cuisine is a natural focus for studies of nationalism, pointing out dozens of such treatments over the first decades of the 21st century.
"[4] Mary Douglas said "national food cultures become a blinding fetish which, if disregarded, may be as dangerous as an explosion".
[4] In 2006 researcher Liora Gvion argued that cuisines of poverty – typically, traditional foods – "reveal the inter-connection between the culinary discourse and the political one" and that the issue was tied up with those of access to land and national identity.
[5] Sociologist Michaela DeSoucey in 2010 described the concept of gastronationalism as the use of food and its history, production, control, and consumption as a way of promoting nationalism.
[9] She also points out that such arguments are often not intended to reach agreement but instead to raise awareness of the food product and generate interest in obtaining it.
[1]: 122–124 In some cases United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has made statements favoring one side or the other of such an argument, sometimes after being asked to name a food to a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list for a country, which has increased passions on either side.
[1]: 147 In Europe, mandatory origin labeling is "one of the most prickly topics" in European Union (EU) policy discussions.
[12] In December 2019 France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain asked the EU to strengthen food origin labeling; Politico called the request a "bombshell", as it weakens the idea of a single market.
[4] The NGO's CEO said, ""Since 1989, the issue of Armenian pretentions towards Azerbaijan's culinary traditions has been discussed at the highest level, by specialists and academics, many times.
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro "has tried to use arepas as a nationalist rallying point, if not a political tool, claiming the food is from his country alone", according to the New York Times.
[13] According to food anthropologist Ocarina Castillo of the Central University of Venezuela, the dish is likely thousands of years old and originated in the region now occupied by the two countries before colonizers of the area drew borders.
In 2019, the official Twitter account of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation referred to borscht as "one of Russia's most famous & beloved #dishes & a symbol of traditional cuisine" in one of their tweets, sparking outrage in Ukraine, where it was widely seen as an attempt at cultural appropriation.
[4] Falafel is argued over by Israel and various Arab states; according to Jennie Ebeling, writing in the Review of Middle East Studies, the dish "is loaded with issues of national identity".
[29][28] Joseph Massad, a Jordanian-American professor at Columbia University, has called the characterization as Israeli of falafel and other dishes of Arab origin in American and European restaurants to be part of a broader issue of appropriation by colonizers.
[30] The dish and its politico-cultural significance were the subject of a 2013 documentary by Ari Cohen, Falafelism: The Politics of Food in the Middle East.
[33] In 2002, Condordia University's chapter of Hillel served falafel at an event, prompting accusations of appropriation from a pro-Palestinian student group.
[1]: 122 Foie gras has been protected as a name and signifier of traditional identity by France; conflict is common with animal rights activists.
[4] Keshkek was recognized by UNESCO on its intangible cultural heritage list, which has caused passionate debate, with Armenians arguing that the dish's main ingredient, wheat, indicates it could not have been developed in Turkey, where the tradition was nomadic.
[1]: 121–123 Fadi Abboud, then president of ALI and later tourism minister for the country, threatened legal action against Israel for marketing hummus and other commercial food products as Israeli.
[2]: 81–82 In 2001 the CAC adopted an international standard which requires fermentation in order for a product to be exported as kimchi.
[4] Accusations in Armenian media centered around Turkey and Azerbaijan claiming the dish because they wanted to conceal their early nomadic lifestyle.
[1]: 2 [60][better source needed] UNESCO has included Turkish coffee in its list of items of Intangible Cultural Heritage.