Table where Türkiye spoke through its cuisine

Table where Türkiye spoke through its cuisine

At the NATO summit in Ankara, world leaders gathered to discuss security and diplomacy. Yet the most memorable message may have been delivered not in the meeting rooms, but at the dining table. Through carefully selected regional ingredients, celebrated chefs and centuries-old recipes, Türkiye presented its culinary heritage as a powerful tool of cultural diplomacy

“Give me good chefs, and I will give you good agreements.” This famous quote, attributed to the French diplomat Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, is perhaps the most enduring definition of what we now call gastrodiplomacy. For centuries, nations have understood that some of their strongest messages are conveyed not across negotiating tables, but around dining tables. The recent NATO Summit in Ankara became one of the finest contemporary examples of this principle. While world leaders gathered at the Presidential Complex to discuss security, defense and the future of the world, every dish served before them told another story — one of Türkiye’s thousands of years of culinary heritage, its agricultural richness, its remarkable regional diversity and its gastronomic vision.

In recent years, many countries have come to view gastronomy not merely as part of their culinary culture, but as a powerful instrument of foreign policy and cultural diplomacy. Today, this approach is widely known as gastrodiplomacy. A carefully curated meal has become one of the most effective ways for a nation to present its agriculture, local producers, cultural identity and way of life to the world.