Foodways and Foodwashing: Israeli Cookbooks and the Politics of Culinary Zionism

Abstract The paper explores the political narratives produced in English-language Israeli cookbooks. We examine an understudied, yet central component of everyday international relations, nationalism, and identity contestations as practiced through gastronomy, highlight dilemma between different uses popular culture context conflict resolution resistance. Our argument identifies represented what we term Culinary Zionism. One narrative is explicitly political, discusses cuisine a foodway, contributes to creating space of, path for, coexistence recognition Other. A second found tourist-orientated cookbooks that offer supposedly apolitical story culinary tours Israel. problematize normative implications these by exploring potential role books open for dialogue increase familiarity interest foreign audiences Israel conflict. contrast this possibility with their foodwashing, namely process using food symbolically wash over violence injustices (the Israeli–Palestinian case).