Culinary diplomacy has increasingly become a tool of India's soft power projection at multilateral summits. Discuss with examples.

Soft power works by attraction rather than coercion. Culinary diplomacy — deploying food as a medium of cultural signalling — has become a deliberate, low-cost instrument of Indian statecraft at multilateral summits, complementing rather than substituting substantive negotiation.

Why cuisine works as soft power

• Universally accessible and non-controversial: food builds informal rapport among leaders where formal sessions are rigidly scripted.
• Projects civilisational plurality: regional dishes stand in for India's federal diversity, communicating unity-in-diversity without rhetoric.
• Aligns culture with policy: menus can carry nutrition, climate and sustainability messaging.

Recent examples

• 18th BRICS Summit, Bharat Mandapam (12–13 September 2026): the Prime Minister's gala dinner showcased a pan-Indian vegetarian spread — Gujarati khandvi, Awadhi-style khumb galouti, Himalayan gucchi, South Indian poriyal, millet pulao and Kashmiri shahtoot phirni — turning hospitality into a curated map of India [3].
• G20 Presidency, 2023: millets ("Shree Anna") were mainstreamed into delegate menus and chef-led sessions, converting the UN International Year of Millets 2023 — India's own proposal, supported by 72 countries — into summit-level messaging [5].
• Pre-summit engagement: a cultural evening for BRICS Sherpas at the National Crafts Museum (February 2026) presented crafts, music and cuisine together [4].

Strategic dividends

• Reinforces Global South leadership during India's fourth Chairship, themed "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" [1].
• Federal diplomacy: over 350 BRICS engagements across 25 cities diffused regional cuisines and venues nationally [2].
• Economic spin-offs in tourism, GI-tagged foods and agri-exports.

Limitations

• Atmospherics cannot resolve structural friction — President Xi Jinping's absence from the dinner (reason not officially stated) illustrates the ceiling of optics [3].
• Without institutional follow-up, symbolism risks becoming tokenism.

Culinary diplomacy is thus a force-multiplier, not a substitute, for hard diplomatic work: it opens conversations that agreements must then close. Institutionalising it — through sustained cultural outreach, millet-linked SDG-2 advocacy and export promotion — can convert momentary goodwill into durable influence, consolidating India's image as a confident, plural and dependable partner.