Eating Dinner, Writing Culture: The Unique Communicative Power of Food and Travel Journalism

This thesis argues that food and travel journalism is a unique strain of the craft in the way it regularly and positively engages with other cultures. Discussing texts from publications like Saveur and The New York Times, this thesis attempts to show that the editorial coverage of food culture demands an approach that is distinct from more traditional topics like hard news. From engaging with multiple senses at once to the intensely personal nature of eating, food/travel journalists have the rare opportunity to provide insight into the tastes and cultures of Others in a way that can powerful and emotionally connect with readers. Through content analysis and ethnographies of restaurants, this thesis argues that as experiences surrounding Thai food are textualized, journalists thus create an arena that is at once practical and symbolic in its ability to represent not just a single meal, but an entire culture as well.