Keywords
evolutionary mechanisms
gastronomic culture
conceptual model
food behavior
globalization
How to Cite
Abstract
This article demonstrates that Ukraine today, like all leading countries in the world, is fully experiencing the impact of globalization processes, the main goal of which is to unify economic, political, social, educational, informational, and cultural standards, life values, and guidelines, as well as total interdependence between countries. In such conditions, it is extremely important to understand that without a clearly defined identity, it is impossible to create one’s own history, preserve unique traditions, and be recognized in various dimensions, including gastronomic ones. It is well known that language identifies a person. The same is true of food, which has never been and cannot be positioned today as just one of the basic means of human existence. It is obvious that the gastronomic culture of each nation shapes its belonging to certain roots and is its individual feature. The relevance of the study lies in making a feasible attempt to investigate the mechanisms that shape our identity through gastronomy, but due to the specific development of our modernity, we risk losing our ability to evolve. The goal of the work (to find out what globalization challenges gastronomic culture faces on the way to forming gastronomic culture) and the main tasks that will help to achieve it have been defined. A rich source base and a set of synthesis and analysis methods helped to form the following research results: globalization is a serious challenge for Ukrainian and any other authentic cuisine, as it can very quickly change the gastronomic preferences of the indigenous population, which have been formed by individual nations over centuries. The continued existence of the concept of cultural diversity also appears doubtful. However, this does not mean that national culture should be isolated at all costs from the influences of globalization. This is precisely why there are mechanisms in place to ensure that new trends do not destroy cultural traditions, but rather, through adaptation, careful selection, and innovation, form a new model of national identity while preserving its continuity.
References
1. Almerico, G. M. (2014). Food and identity: Food studies, cultural, and personal identity. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, 8(1). https://www.aabri.com/OC2014Manuscripts/OC14055.pdf
2. Antony, S. (2016). Beyond the Superficial: Making sense of food in a globalised world. Inter-Disciplinary Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848884304
3. Assmann, S. (2024). Culinary heritage in Asia: National and regional identities – Reflections from the field. Routledge Open Research. https://doi.org/10.12688/routledgeopenres.18143.1
4. Cognitive Market Research. (2025). Gastronomy tourism market report 2025. https://www.cognitivemarketresearch.com/gastronomy-tourism-market-report
5. Dushar, M. (2025). Hastronomichna spadshchyna ta natsionalna identychnist. Istorychna Pravda [Gastronomic heritage and national identity. Historical truth]. https://www.istpravda.com.ua/columns/6113829858531/ (in Ukrainian)
6. Fondazione Slow Food per la Biodiversità Onlus. (2022). Kovcheh smaku Ukrainy: ukrainskyi katalog tradytsiinykh produtsiv [Ark of Taste Ukraine: Ukrainian catalog of traditional foods]. Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ADG_UCRAINA_WEB_2.pdf (in Ukrainian)
7. Ichijo, A. (2020). Food and Nationalism: Gastronationalism Revisited. Nationalities Papers, 48(2), 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2019.104
8. Ichijo, A., Johannes, V., & Ranta, R. (2019). The Emergence of National Food: The Dynamics of Food and Nationalism. https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/5214254
9. Kazakevych, O. (2019). “Politychna kukhnia” ukrainskoi identychnosti: hastronomichna tradytsiia yak faktor formuvannia natsii u druhii polovyni XIX – na pochatku XX stolittia [The “political cuisine” of Ukrainian identity: gastronomic tradition as a factor in nation building in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries]. Eminak: Scientific Quarterly Journal, 3(27), 85–93. https://doi.org/10.33782/eminak2019.3(27).314 (in Ukrainian)
10. Kobzei, N., & Mykhyda, S. (2023). Smak u teksti y poza tekstom: estetychnyi ta literaturoznavchyi aspekty [Taste in and beyond the text: aesthetic and literary aspects]. Research bulletin. Series: Philological sciences, (205), 131–142. https://doi.org/10.32782/2522-4077-2023-205-19 (in Ukrainian)
11. Kozlovets, M. (2009). Fenomen natsionalnoi identychnosti: vyklyky hlobalizatsii [The Phenomenon of National Identity: Challenges of Globalization]. Zhytomyr: Vydavnytstvo ZhDU im. I. Franka. https://eprints.zu.edu.ua/6217/1/kozlovez_monograf.pdf (in Ukrainian)
12. Lytvynenko, K. (2025). Cultural identity as a factor in the competitiveness of gastronomic projects in a multinational environment. Current Issues of Economic Sciences, (11). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15484702
13. Meyer, K. (2011). The Globalization of Food Culture. Academy of International Business. https://www.academia.edu/27539277/The_Globalization_of_Food_Culture
14. Nabrusko, I. (2012). Suchasni hastronomichni praktyky yak dzerkalo ukrainskoho suspilstva [Contemporary gastronomic practices as a reflection of Ukrainian society]. Metodolohiia, teoriia ta praktyka sotsiolohichnoho analizu suchasnoho suspilstva, (18), 315–321. (in Ukrainian)
15. Nikolenko, V. (2015). Hastronomichna kultura v protsesakh formuvannia hromadianskoi identychnosti: teoretychnyi ohliad problemy [Gastronomic culture in the processes of forming civic identity: a theoretical overview of the issue]. Hrani, 18(7), 46–52. https://doi.org/10.15421/1715134 (in Ukrainian)
16. Nitinkumar, Dr., & Pithadiya V. (2025). Globalized Gastronomy: The Interplay of Food, Culture, and Identity in Contemporary South Asian Diasporic Literature. Literary Enigma, 1(2), 49–57. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15315957
17. O’Brien, N. (2024). Food and Culture in the Works of Ford Madox Ford, Gertrude Stein, and Virginia Woolf: Culinary Civilizations. Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198871729.003.0001
18. Pliuta, O. (2025). Zberezhennia hastronomichnoi identychnosti v umovakh rosiisko-ukrainskoi viiny: postanovka problemy [Preserving gastronomic identity amid the Russian-Ukrainian war: framing the issue]. Pytannia kulturolohii, (45), 181–193. https://doi.org/10.31866/2410-1311.45.2025.325052 (in Ukrainian)
19. Polovynchak, Yu. (2016). Kulinarno-hastronomichnyi dyskurs sotsialnykh media v protsesakh formuvannia natsionalnoi identychnosti [Culinary and gastronomic discourse on social media in the processes of forming national identity]. Nauka ta osvita v novomu vymiri. Humanitarni ta sotsialni nauky, (82), 62–65. https://seanewdim.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Culinary-and-gastronomic-discourse-of-social-media-in-the-formation-of-national-identity-Y.-Polovynchak.pdf (in Ukrainian)
20. Porciani, I. (Ed.). (2019). Food Heritage and Nationalism in Europe (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279751
21. Vester, K. (2016). A taste of power: food and American identities. Choice Reviews Online. https://doi.org/10.5860/CHOICE.196764
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vladyslav Dorozhko