Food Television and the Processes of Globalization

Food Television and the

processes of globalization

A qualitative analysis of culture, representation and identity in the context of cultural globalization portrayed in Food Television

Preslava Petkova

Media and Communication studies: Culture, Collaborative Media and Creative Industries First-year Master thesis | 15 credits Submitted: HT 2020 | 2020-08-19 Supervisor: Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt Student: Preslava Petkova | [email protected] Examiner: Solveig Daugaard

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Abstract 3

Introduction 4 1.1 Layout 5

Background 6 2.1 Food Media 6 2.2 Interest in intercultural food 8 2.3 Netflix as global phenomenon 10 2.4 Ugly Delicious 14

Grounded Theory Approach 16 3.1 Introduction to Grounded theory 16 3.2 Why Grounded theory? 18 3.3 Use of Grounded theory 18 3.4 Theoretical framework 19 3.4.1 Theoretical concepts 20

Globalization, Identity and Representation 21 4.1 Globalization 22 4.2 Identity 24 4.3 Representation in Food Media 26

Methodology 28 5.1 Research Design 28 5.2 Constructivists paradigm 31

Ethics 33

Analysis and Findings 34 7.1 Formal analysis 35 7.2 Contextual Analysis 38 7.3 Representation 41 7.4 Discussion 44 7.5 Limitations 47

Conclusion 47

References 50

Appendix 53 10.1 Codebook/ Season 1 53 10.2 Codebook / Season 2, Episode 2 (example) 56 10.3 Focused codes 59 10.4 Episode 1/ Season 2 61

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Abstract This paper presents the initiative to research on Food Television and the processes of globalization. The research gap in the selected subject area is identified after an in-depth literature review and watching the culinary documentary ‘Ugly Delicious’. According to scholars globalization processes are influenced by the use of Media, as different channels are transmitting values shared by globalization. Over the years, globalization has developed sub-process such as cultural globalization, a term which refers to the merge of cultures and the formation of a global one. The identified research gap is to translate how globalization has been communicated in a culinary documentary. The title of the research is, therefore “Food Television and the processes of globalization: How does ‘Ugly Delicious’ use representations to portray cultural globalization?”, as it addresses the most pertinent research gap. Using visual data, such as video, requires a qualitative approach in which the content can be coded and later linked to theoretical knowledge. The role of the researcher is to find examples or patterns that represent cultural globalization within the frame of the two seasons of the documentary. The method which shapes this qualitative research is the Grounded Theory approach. A coding sheet will be generated to present the process and the logic of generating codes.

Keywords: Global development, Food Media, Globalization, Cultural identity, Cultural imperialism, Representation

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

1. Introduction Food has always been perceived as a representation of cultural and economic capital (Bourdieu, 1896). In recent years of media development, food presence in diverse media platforms has allowed more and more people to develop a relation or an interest in food. Since traveling might not be an option for some, culinary shows facilitate the аccess to foreign cuisines and traditions. Prior to the 1980s ethnic media presence has been significantly lower than today’s, due to racial inequality (Hodkinson, 2017, p.224). Even though the situation of representation of cultural groups in the media has improved, there is still under-representation in key-decision making roles (Phillips, 2006).

Being a communication and media student has brought to light that one can relate almost every matter in daily life to the study field with the right arguments. What personally attracted me about this topic is my interest and affection for food. Watching multiple culinary TV programs made me think about how much one learns about different cultures, traditions, and heritage by watching such shows. It appeared to me that food as a medium is very powerful in representing different ethnicities. The field of Food media in cultural identification taps on theories for representation, globalization, cultural identity, mediatization.

As it has appeared in my literature research, there is a gap between the Food Media studies and Globalization theory, which I am interested in covering. Therefore the following paper is focused on the topic of food media, more specifically Netflix food documentaries revised through the lens of Globalization. The overall aim of the thesis is to discover how representations of different cultures, identities, and foods are used to portray cultural globalization. To cover the identified gap, a research question has been formulated: How is cultural globalization portrayed in Netflix’s culinary show “Ugly Delicious”? Providing arguments and proof for answering the posed question will be the focus of this study.

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

1.1 Layout The layout paragraph aims to explain the flow of the thesis in the different sections. As it will become obvious later on, this paper follows an unusual structure, due to the interdisciplinary nature of the study, combined with my personal vision. The study carries the basis of the Sociological approach transmitted and adapted to the field of Media and Communication. In the introduction part, the overall goal is to welcome the reader to the main context of the paper and to present the research gap, I am trying to cover with the stated research question. Following is Background, whose purpose is providing an overview of the context of the researched media, introducing the themes that guide this paper, and presenting the main source of data. This section aids the reader to build an understanding of Food Media and excel the transition to further paragraphs. Going forward is where the usual structure of the Master thesis is broken and adapted to serve the purposes of this study. Introducing the Grounded Theory Approach section is placed in a front position as it shapes the paper and explains the structure of the findings. The theoretical framework presents concepts that will, later on, serve as major tools in analyzing the collected data and gathering arguments to answer the research question. In addition to the section definitions of main theoretical concepts are provided for further relating them to the codes extracted from the data. The following section Globalization, Identity, and Representation serves a literature review. The work of scholars has been used as the key to understanding the basics of globalization and the different aspects of the process. Identity is an important term in order to understand the culture and therefore cultural globalization, observation of previous work has been used to set the basics knowledge on the notions identity and cultural identity. And lastly, the representation section aims to unpack the concept of cultural or individual representation in the food media concept. The Methodology paragraph discusses the research design and presents the steps taken. It also elaborates on the choice of paradigm together with the limitation of the paper. In the Ethics section, a few considerations, applicable to every researcher writing a similar paper, have been outlined. Most importantly the analysis does not involve direct contact with the public, which excludes the paper from major ethical issues. After gathering all the information needed,

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova follows the Analysis and findings section. It is separated into four parts. The first one is the formal analysis which provides a summary of the episodes and the most important themes and sub-themes from which the focus codes have been consisted. Then is a turn off the contextual analysis where the codes and themes from data are related and explained in the context of the main concepts - globalization, identity, and representation, eluding to second last step of the analysis - representation - where the is presented what are the signs of cultural globalization found through representations in the data. Lastly, there is the discussion segment which attempts to round everything together, before a concise final sum-up of the thesis is offered in the Conclusion section.

2. Background The Background section serves as guidance through the phenomenons that have an impact on the research field. Having in mind the paper uses data from what is considered part of the Food Television, it builds a basic understanding of the subjects that will later appear in the data. It also introduces the media platform Netflix and briefs on the main data source.

2.1 Food Media Food has been a topic, dating since the beginning of the world. It is considered shaping and mirroring all forms of human experience and cultural identity (Frye & Bruner, 2013). It is a key marker for societies, cultures, states, and ages, while its importance cuts over these classifications. For a bigger scope, food production carries both bringing order and turmoil to local, provincial, national, and international scenes and controls economies throughout the world. Absence of access to food can cause deaths, ailments, and in severe cases even war. With the emergence of media platforms it food has evolved and became democratized, and accessible to the mass consumer. Food medium includes books, magazines, tv shows, programs, and movies, as well as podcasts. Food media’s reach is estimated at hundreds of millions of people all over the world. The Food Network is one of the first founded food TV media focusing on cooking. Since its launch in 1993, a relationship between food and culture has been established by involving features of

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova international traveling, food ecologies, homemaking, entertainment, and competitions (Kelly, 2017, p.1).

During the past two decades, the media talks about food have multiplied. Most way of life magazines offer plans and articles about food. Furthermore, for the most recent decade, a whole telecom company has committed itself to food. Although, minimal scholastic exploration has researched what we call "food media" and the delights it offers. It can be contended that however, the Food projects are reality-based, it cautiously develops a customer dreamland for its watchers. Television has been called the most effective means of communication which is a very famous medium, and it is believed to change the dynamics of the world (Zaidi et al. 2012, p. 67) while influencing the brains of its audience. Where it has updated us with news, provided us with entertainment, it has also elevated our knowledge about food diversity. The enormous number of food channels all over the world with their chefs and food experts have been transferring their skills into the public. Apart from the food programs that we usually see on TV Channels, specific Food Channels also attain a lot of ratings and viewership (Zaidi et al. 2012, p. 66). Food media is a middle ground where food practices and content meets media outlets to produce a shared outcome such as magazines, TV shows, books, videos, etc. The universe of food has been colonized by a variety of electronic gadgets, online materials, and data advancements. Similarly, media content, as well, has experienced complex changes. According to Kelly (2017) Food TV no longer just teaches cooking techniques, but rather explains how consumption and production construct culture.

In the past decade, the concept of food media has evolved into the concept of “Digital Food”(Lewis and Philippov, 2018, p.207). The concept has traveled from sharing food photos through Social Media Platforms and viewing How to Cook this and that on Youtube. This has increased the digital food connectivity with millions of subscribers and followers of food bloggers and cooking experts (Lewis and Philippov, 2018, p.207). So the term food media is very vast and versatile. Hence, the concept of food media moves through systems of mediated representation involving print, film, radio, television, and the

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Internet, which provides an introduction not only to media studies as an area of inquiry, but also to cultural studies, through the way scholars have engaged issues of power, globalization, inequality, social difference, and representation.

2.2 Interest in intercultural food Multiculturalism in food is a notion that migrates on the back of colonial and postcolonial forces (Highmore, 2008, pp.392). Food is an immutable part of traveling, exploring, and conquering new territories. History and politics has a great effect on the spread of different cuisines around the world. Migration is one of the social processes that influence and initiate cultural change. An evident example of this cultural change is the popularity of Indian food in Britain. In a study British-Pakistani food consumption it is also found that multicultural food taste is developed by the different generations - the younger generations (the ones born in the UK) are experiencing a large range of different food cultures, while the older generations (many of whom came to the UK as adults) maintain traditions by strictly eating Pakistani cuisine (Highmore, 2008, pp. 390). For marginalized and more powerfully placed ethnicities, cross-cultural food consumption can be pleasurable and problematic. Food spaces can be seen as a place where new worlds are encountered, where one can experience various emotions such as joy, aggression or fear, but also those spaces reflect the multicultural shapes of a culture - its racism, its openness, its acceptance of difference (Highmore, 2008, pp. 396).

With the development of the world from a technological perspective - the introduction of different media channels allowed the spread of cultures became accessible for mass audiences. And since eating traditions are embedded in one’s culture (Jensen, 2003, pp. 190), the media's impact on food habits becomes more powerful. According to Donald Winnicott (1975), food can be a tool for creating a bigger, social multicultural world. Affected by globalization, today's multicultural society consumes a range of diasporic and ‘native’ cuisines on an everyday basis. That activity is shaping the multicultural pattern of a given culture or society (Highmore, 2008, pp.396).

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Lisa Heldke (2003), a self-confessed ‘food adventurer’, connects her enthusiasm for southern hemisphere cuisines (described as ‘exotic’) with colonialism. Heldke’s analysis is a useful corrective to those accounts that might naively associate (Western-directed) cosmopolitan food consumption with a progressive attitude towards multiculturalism, but it leaves unaddressed material contact with food and its possible agency in re-orienting sensual perception. Kaya Ganguly shares an opinion that even in the today’s world where multicultural tastes are well accepted, haute cuisine is still French or Italian and subcontinental food alone is not much of an offer (Ganguly, as cited in Highmore, 2008, pp.291)

“After all, differences between national cultures (or local cultures) are often registered at precisely this level: the advertising hoardings and the TV programs of another country look different; talk, music and noise sound unfamiliar; climates and cooking provide a tactile and olfactory environment peculiar to this place and not another; and so on” (Highmore, 2008, p. 395). And of course, the very first elements that any holidaymaker, any refugee, any migrant has to overcome is the urgency of food, of sustenance

Food is one of the most important subjects, not only because it is a vital substance for human’s existence, but also due to its importance in preserving different cultures. Food is a universal language connecting people across the world. As eating habits are often related to one’s family and origin, it can be concluded that food represents one’s culture. Throughout history, shared meals have played an important role in creating bonds between cultures, and heritage is usually passed down and intimately bound up in the food one consumes. Passing out culinary habits and traditions operates as an expression of cultural identity. “Immigrants bring the food of their countries with them wherever they go and cooking traditional food is a way of preserving their culture when they move to new places” (Le, 2017). Food is memory - the ability to activate and remember the outcome of one’s senses - smell, sight, taste. It is that memory that humans share with one another and which connects people with the same or similar experience, values, and beliefs. Those categories help one build self-identification and locate their own culture on the map. Cultural identity

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova has a strong importance for the population, but within the era of mediatization and globalization, the nature of different cultures become vaguer and vaguer. The role of media in that is significant and since the relationship between food and globalization is relatively new to anthropology, the following paper will try to provide some new insights and angles on this topic.

Whereas food consumption unites the human experience and contributes to cultural globalization, the taste is what forms the base of the division. Criticizing someone’s taste in any given cultural phenomenon (food, music, TV) is a judgment on their identity. As Theodore Adorno (Adorno et al. 1999) discusses, one’s preferences might be perceived by another as what is considered ‘low cultural forms’ as evidence for the poor choice, taste, or reflection of their distasteful social presence. As taste has been a theme of interest by many scholars, among whom is Pierre Bourdieu (1984) who argues that it “reveals the deepest dispositions of habitus”. It does not only signify social position, race, gender, or class, but it elevates status and discernment particular to one nation or culture. Taste is what maps hierarchy and purpose onto the differences created by history, geography, politics, climate and so one.

2.3 Netflix as a global phenomenon Introducing Netflix is important to the reader in order to build awareness of global reach and impact on streaming media that it has. It also describes the development of the platform to its current state where it is able to produce its own content and spread it almost everywhere around the world. Established by Reed Hastings in 1997, Netflix started as a membership-based online film rental company. In the beginning, Netflix was a web entryway through which followers or subscribers can get motion pictures, series or movies in DVD configuration and afterward have these DVD's conveyed to them legitimately to their homes. Initially, Netflix was situated in the United States of America and it used the U.S. Postal support, but before the end of 2006, Netflix had an aggregate of 44 distribution places over the United States which made it simpler and quicker to convey its DVDs to its endless supporters. Netflix,

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova having a subscriber base of 6.6 million supporters, could guarantee conveyance of its DVDs to over 90% of its supporters within one business day and before the departure of 2006, Netflix had accomplished incomes of about $1billion. As DVD format has outdated within the years and new platforms have emerged, Netflix has adapted and is now considered one of the biggest streaming sources. The enterprise marks ever-growing success and expansion, since its founding. Currently, Netflix is considered the biggest provider of video-on-demand movies, in a sea of competitors such as Apple and Disney joining Amazon and Hulu (Lobato, 2019, pp.X).

Figure 1. Number of nominations and wins for Netflix original programs at the Primetime Emmy Awards from 2013 to 2019 (Statista)

Since the decline of domestic films, a brand new phenomenon has taken over that lets in customers to look at a Film or tv display at the press of a button. Simply put, Netflix has taken over our lives, increasing its emblem throughout some of the international locations across the world, turning into international pressure and a big competitor to be named as the most important and exceptional around the globe. Netflix offers its own production, and each year since 2013 the quality and the recognition is getting bigger and better. Having in mind that “Ugly Delicious” is a Netflix Original production, its reach is assumed to be throughout all the countries people can access those provided streaming services (Quora: Downton, 2019). As Netflix produces its own content, therefore, the inclusion of

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Figure 1, serves as proof of the recognition Netflix Originals have, which has been growing constantly each year.

What initiated as an exclusively American show has now become a new normal in more than 190 countries. Over 167 million subscribers worldwide, the streaming platform has changed the landscape of TV media worldwide (Netflix Revenue and Usage Statistics, 2020). It has itself become a huge form of infotainment as well as entertainment. Over the past decade, it has now become a brand itself and has done a lot of expansion. Apart from streaming numerous films and TV programs, Netflix has reached the level of producing shows. During the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas, 2016, the CEO and co-founder of Netflix - Reed Hastings - announced that its services are now available for most parts of the world. The list with the countries who yet have no access to Netflix’s services, includes China, North Korea, Syria, and Crimea (Lobato, 2019, p.3). Growing a business from domestic to global comes along with challenges from a political, economic, and cultural perspective. No longer after Netflix declared its almost worldwide availability, countries like Kenya and Indonesia disapproved of the content that the streaming provider beheld (Lobato, 2019, p. 3).

Figure 2. Netflix paid subscribers, 2019 by region (Statista)

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Figure 2.1 Netflix subscribers, 1st quarter of 2020 by region (Statista)

The digital broadcasting service announced that finally, the basic language of their content will not be English. Although Netflix initiated in California, and later it has reached all over the world. In fact, 50℅ of their contemporary demographic lives away from the US, and hence the firm is acquiring cultures and languages from all over the world. Therefore, Netflix is converting into a global phenomenon by offering more than 20 languages. Compared to 2019 (Figure 2), the first quarter of 2020 (Figure 2.1), there is the growth of about 7-8% in the region of Europe, Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific as well as around 2% in Latin America, U.S, and Canada. The biggest share of subscribers still belongs to the US, but the spread of Netflix’s services to the rest of the world is slowly advancing. International audiences are now more interested because of the local or regional language because watching a series without your local.language becomes irritating. Netflix has become a global diversified phenomenon because of the cultural diversity it is representing (Editors & Editors, 2017). Netflix (2020) on its own website claims that “Traveling, tasting, baking, making -- these cooking shows are all about one thing: good food. Please try your best not to drool on the remote.” From cookbooks to Radio cooking shows, from radio shows to TV Shows and then from Netflix to Youtube, the obsession of people with food and culinary shows is never-ending. Still, people watch these culinary

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova shows on TV, Listen to them on Radio, Follow them on Youtube, specifically on Youtube millions of subscribers are on Cooking channels and the channel owners are earning enough in dollars (Netflix, 2020). The importance of discussing the phenomenon that Netflix is crucial for understanding the global digital trend

2.4 Ugly Delicious With the rising popularity of the food industry, many media outlets have taken the opportunity to come up with different ways to capitalize upon these trends. Netflix is no different. The platform has over forty shows, documentaries, and movies related to culinary and Ugly Delicious is one of them. According to IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase), the show has a rating of 7,8/10, voted by 2,527 users of the website (IMDB, 2018). Figure 3 below is a backup argument, supporting the global reach of the show via Netflix platform.

Figure 3. How well is Ugly Delicious doing? Comparison between the US and Globally (Parrot Analytics)

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

The genre of the show is described by Netflix as a social & cultural documentary, food & travel, and lifestyle program, directed and produced by David Chang, Peter Meehan, Christopher C. Chen, Morgan Neville, Lisa Nishimura. As part of the producers’ crew, David Chang and Peter Meehan are no strangers to food media content, as previously both of them collaborated on an independent food magazine called “Lucky Peach”. The plot for the show goes around an award-winning chef David Cheng and his travels related to food. “Ugly Delicious” doesn’t simply educate the viewer about ‘how to cook’, but how to use food as one element in exploring different cultures and their history. During the two seasons, he explores culinary hot spots around the world (from Tokyo, through Huston, to Copenhagen), joined by writers, activists, artists, and other chefs who use food as a tool to break down cultural barriers and tackle misconceptions. Many of the discussions in the show touch on topics such as racism, politics, immigration as well as feature different cultures and ethnicities (Netflix, 2020). According to numerous reviews, found on popular web pages, such as IMDB (IMDB, 2018), state that the politics involved in the show represents liberal points of view and discourage viewers to enjoy the food content of the series. As the main scene of the documentary is the USA, discussion about racism, immigration, and origins are presumably sensitive topics for many. In my personal view, the show brings knowledge, entertainment, shines a light on different cultures, and present opinions related to food that might not occur in everyday life.

Watching “Ugly Delicious” in parallel to my studies has had a significant impact on the topic of choice for this paper. Furthermore, I can say that the selection of the show is based on personal preferences. The content presented in the documentary has given me food for thoughts, which I relate to the subject of my studies and found it interesting to observe deeper. As the show features cultural issues and topics as much as it features food, it seemed like a fruitful material in relation to my Master’s program. My personal watching history does not include many other food documentaries, but compared to others, I have seen (f.x. “Chef’s Table”, “The Chef show” and “Somebody feed Phil”) I prefer “Ugly Delicious” for its dynamics, for the topics it presents and for its ease to follow. The only problem I found is that for some reason there is no African cuisine included in the show. I

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova might not be the only one having this concern, as others have already addressed this issue. In a website called Africa is a country there is an article, which is an open letter to the host of the show, David Chang, named: “A plea for foodie celebrities like Chang, the host of a popular Netflix show, to take African cuisine seriously” (Timbs, 2020).

3. Grounded Theory Approach As the grounded theory approach is the skeleton to my thesis, it is of huge importance, to begin with introducing the method, why it was a reasonable solution for this thesis, and how it has been used.

3.1 Introduction to Grounded theory Grounded theory is rooted in symbolic interactionism, which derives from the pragmatist ideas of James, Dewey, Cooley and Mead (Hammersley, 1989 as cited in Heath and Cowley, 2004, p.142). The term “symbolic interactionism” has been developed by Blumer (1937), who emphasizes on “the role of concepts that are sensitizing rather than definitive, that gain their utility and significance from patterned relationships rather than quantifiable correlations” (Heath and Cowley, 2004, p.142). While Glaser and Strauss were studying ‘death and dying in hospitals’, they established systematic methodological strategies that could be applied in other areas of research. With their publication from 1967 - “The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research”, the sociologists were considered the founders of the grounded theory method (Charmaz, 2014, pp.40). The appearance of this method brought back the interest to the field of qualitative research and aimed to place it beyond descriptive studies. The release of Glassier and Strauss’ work ignited a qualitative revolution and inspired a generation of social scientists to develop theories from qualitative data (Denzin & Lincoln, 199, p.ix) Glaser and Strauss’ guidelines transformed the tradition and made analytic guidelines accessible to researchers within and beyond the disciplinary borders of sociology and the continental borders of North America (Charmaz, 2014, p. 45). The positivist background of Glaser and Strauss’s education in pragmatism is what constructs the core of the grounded theory. The attempts of Glasser to adopt approaches from Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton echoes strongly in many of the

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova basic principles of grounded theory. The presence of Strauss was to be found in the involvement of human beings as active structures within the research. The logic that grounded theory follows shifts between substantive areas and formal theory, “generating abstract concepts and specializing relationships between them to understand problems in multiple substantive areas”(Charmaz, 2014, p.49). Grounded theory research is not a linear process and a pivotal insight or realization of analytic connections can occur at any time, so it is encouraged to stop and write whenever ideas come to the mind.

Figure 4. A visual representation of grounded theory. An earlier Tweed and Charmaz (2011, p. 133). Alison Tweed constructed the original figure (Charmaz 2017, p. 61)

Although the name ‘Grounded Theory’ contains the term ‘theory’, it is a research method, based on categorizing, comparing, and analyzing data and relating it to existing theory. Katie Charmaz, a developer of Constructivist Grounded Theory, has written books for navigating people when using Grounded Theory. In her words, the method has systematic yet flexible guidelines for collecting and analyzing qualitative data in order to construct theories. The process of going back and forward when analyzing gives a fresh and original take on the given data. The main approach is to study the statements and actions presented in the data material and make an analytic sense of them (Charmaz, 2017, pp 34).

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Leading its origins from sociology, the Grounded Theory approach appears applicable to other disciplines as well. Further elaboration on the relation between sociology and media and communication study is presented in 3.3 Use of Grounded theory.

3.2 Why Grounded theory? This paper required an approach analyzing a big amount of qualitative content, therefore the most suitable was the Grounded Theory method. Since the major data observed in this paper is a video material, conducting the analysis of it appeared to be more precise and successful. The main features of the approach focus on simultaneous involvement in data collection and analysis; constructing analytic codes from data, not from preconceived logically deduced hypotheses; constant comparison during each stage of the analysis; advancing theory development during each step of data collection and analysis; memo-writing to elaborate the categories, and identify gaps; sampling aimed toward theory construction, not for population representativeness; conducting the literature review after developing an independent analysis. (Charmaz, 2014, pp. 44). Like other methods, Grounded Theory holds its weaknesses. They are due to the large amount of data that the method is handling. Often the weaknesses affect the researcher at most since the method has no specific guidelines in terms of coding and creating categories. The choice for this method over content analysis comes from the fact that the categories arising from the coding are not just predefined, they rather develop within the process. Regardless of that, features of content analysis, such contextual analysis and interpretation are used as part of the empirical toolbox.

3.3 Use of Grounded theory Grounded theory approach is a popular choice when conducting qualitative research, handling significant amounts of data, such as interviews, social experiments, in this case - video materials. Originally the method is used by researchers in the social sciences (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), but it has been applied to numerous disciplines since (Scott, 2009). This paper is focusing on analyzing human behavior through media ‘text’, which creates an interplay between Sociology and Media and Communication studies. Therefore integrating

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova sociological approach, such as the Grounded theory, shows the interdisciplinary nature of the study. Investigating the relation between the phenomenon of globalization and culinary TV shows, required gathering and analyzing some qualitative data. In order to gain better insight on the research topic, a food TV show has been selected for qualitative research and analysis. Usually, qualitative research involves some form of textual analysis and the data is based on language, images, or observations. In the given paper the chosen data is a video material - a full season of a Netflix original culinary show, named “Ugly Delicious”. The TV show features four episodes, focusing on different journeys of the lead character - Dave Cheng. The series has documentary nature, rather than entertaining. What is to be found in the selected video materials is if food has a part in the processes of cultural globalization. The episodes were observed mainly as text, as well as obvious visual images of ethnicities or races were considered. Building a content analysis on a video material may appear harder than one assumes. Coding for variables and identifying codes brings a new set of challenges. Using the Grounded theory approach, a new angle on how to filter and code the data appeared. This method is described by Katie Charmaz (2014) in her book “Constructing Grounded theory”.

3.4 Theoretical framework This section aims to provide a more grounded basis for the theories used to discuss and analyze the findings.

Stuart Hall (2001) describes that humans possess a system of intrinsic meaning-making processes. This complex system, Hall calls a conceptual map and refers to it as a built over years of experience living in the world. The conceptual map is based on the recognition of different factors, which indicate conceptual meaning and how related or not is to other concepts (Hall, 2001). In this paper, the concept is used due to its quality of allowing people to make sense on an immediate level in their everyday life. It is important to mention that the paper does not observe protagonists’ actual ‘everyday life’, but rather staged and planned content. This content is in the form of video material, but to be able to

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova analyze it with the Grounded theory method, one may address it as ‘text’. The term ‘text’ can be understood as applying to anything that can be read, that is, anything that transmits meaning (Barthes, 1968). That does not only include written or spoken language, but also the collective presence of ‘signs’ which signify meaning and relate to each other to create meaning from context (Barthes, 1968). Taking the visual nature of ‘Ugly Delicious’, observing different scenes can find patterns of signs which can lead to creating ‘focused codes’. The ‘text’ helps to identify elements of the scene itself; it is a matter of a denoted description of the image.

3.4.1 Theoretical concepts Having reviewed literature sources that draw links to useful concepts, it is important to establish a ground for the research by providing definitions. Identifying definitions facilitate the upcoming process of coding, analyzing and connecting theory and data. The formation of the definition below has been composed of personal interpretation or directly from the literature. Using the Grounded theory approach, those terms will be later used as a theory that coding can link to. Creating this cohesive link between codes and theoretical findings is crucial in order to come up with arguments answering the research question.

Culture refers to a system of shared knowledge, cultivated behavior, transmitted experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a relatively large group of people. (Samovar & Porter, 1994) Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as she/he is influenced by her/his belonging to a group or culture. (Jensen, 2003) Multiculturalism can be perceived as the way a certain society reacts and interacts with cultural diversity (Highmore, 2008). Cultural globalization is the notion of different cultures uniting under the same ‘global’ denominator. Overcoming the national culture in the name of ‘global’ one. (Pagano, 2007) Anti-globalization - a process opposite of globalization, where instead of merging into ‘global’ the focus is on keeping the ‘individual’ and ‘national’. (Wang, 2007)

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Globalization - Globalization defines a process through which events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world can come to have a significant consequence for individuals and communities in quite distant parts of the globe. (McGrew, 1992) Individual identity could be described as the formation of the basis of an individual’s dignity, self-respect, and social position. (Voicu and Cuza, 2013) National identity is a product of modernity, a form of collective identity, a way of thinking that promotes the interests, and values of a certain social group. (Voicu and Cuza, 2013) Representations are understood as the means of using language to say something meaningful about, or to represent, the world meaningfully, to other people. (Hall, 2014) Cultural imperialism is a notion explaining the inequality and the dominance of certain cultures over others (Roach, 1997)

4. Globalization, Identity and Representation Reviewing some literature sources gives an introduction to the key concepts that can influence the research. Those topics serve as inspiration for the empirical work, as creating codes, later on, will refer to finding patterns or signs of those concepts. It is important to understand the ideas and gather information related to the subjects of identity, globalization, and representation, in order to be able to shape the data. Although those three points might seem far from each other, in this Media and Communication study they interplay with each other. Globalization processes are strongly related to the transmission of cultures and cultural values that affect individuals and communities around the globe. Zooming into identity one can find the relation between the individual and the community and their direct connection to culture. And to discover how culture and identities are showcased in the media context, one must explore the representation.

4.1 Globalization As a base reading in regard to media and cultural studies, is the book of Paul Hodkinson (2017) “Media, Culture and Society”, which gives fruitful definitions to some of the key concepts and provides useful theories. Hodkinson (2017) discusses theories of cultural 20

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova imperialism focused on “globalization of culture as a highly unequal process dominated by powerful capitalist interests based in wealthy countries”. But the work of scholars such as Ugo Pagano (2007), Mohammed Zayani (2011), Marza Jan (2009), Mir et al. (2014), Sheffield and Griffin, Wang (2007) and others establish a ground for understanding the process of globalization and the aspects that it undertakes. In 1961, the world globalization entered for the first time the American English dictionary (Scholte, 2002). Many authors broadly defined globalization as a process of integration, as McGrew (1992) describes it:

“Globalization constitutes a multiplicity of linkages and interconnections that transcend the nation-states (and by implication the societies) which make up the modern world system. It defines a process through which events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world can come to have a significant consequence for individuals and communities in quite distant parts of the globe”.

In her work, Mirza Jan (2009) argues that globalization is often portrayed as a positive process, unifying widely different societies, integrating them into a “global village” (Jan 2009, p.66). Supporting that argument, Mir, Hassan, and Qadri (2014) add that globalization is a multifaceted wonder which incorporates financial, social, political, and mechanical measurements. In any case, globalization includes major developments in the social, social-political territories (Mir et al., 2014, p.607). Globalization isn't a comprehensive or dynamic type of internationalism, rather it progresses as a monoculture of thoughts, legislative issues, and monetary models. It might be considered an effective development on a world size of specific localisms of a social, financial, and political associations, which are neo-liberal and entrepreneur in character ( Mir et al., 2014, p.608). The blend of material and ideological components make globalization an authoritative procedure.

While all the scholars discuss the globalization of cultures, Yi Wang (2007) tackles the sense of the diversity of the cultures involved in globalization processes - “in the new era of globalization, people become much more concerned about the uniqueness and particularity

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova of their own culture” (Wang 2007, p.83). That notion of unique culture reflects a process opposite to globalization, one that can be called anti-globalization.

Ugo Pagano (2007) reflects on the processes of globalization in a more cultural perspective and describes it as a process that “overcome national cultures in the name of global culture”, and that beholds a paradoxical continuity between nationalism and globalism (Pagano 2007, p.650). Similarly, Wani (2011) discovers the existing relation between culture and globalization, but he emphasizes on the fast pace of the process, which is a concern for many nations. The rapid spread of ideas, logic, substances, genders from one part of the world to another, not only homogenizes the culture all across the world but rather it represents the “Americanization'' of world cultures (Wani, 2011, p.36). The concept of Americanization refers to the spread of American cultural impact on the local cultures of not so Westernized world. Food is considered one of the most significant parts of cultural globalization in which food and food media play a critical role. Every country has its own cultural preferences in food, which reflects its cultural integrity. It is proven through processes such as ‘Americanization’ food can transmit not only taste and ingredients, but cultural values and ideas (Wani, 2011, p.36).

The exchange of food across regions, nations, and continents has occurred for centuries, although the study of the relationship between food and globalization is relatively new to many fields, including Media and Communication studies. The term ‘food globalization’ had minimal results in the search of the literature for this paper. The notion is first discovered in the text by Lynne Philips (2006) and it is described as a process of global food regime that has explained the adoption of standardized planting, picking, and packing practices in agriculture around the world (Philips, 2006, p.39). The concept also sheds light on increased global sourcing for and distribution systems and standardization of production industries. As involving many factors, according to Grew (2011) food appeared to be an especially productive theme in investigating the significance of globalization. The subject of food is attached to financial turns of events and environment, political strategy and religion, taste, and custom (Grew, 2011, p. 210). Supporting that opinion, Kennedy,

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Nantel and Shetty (Kennedy et al. 2004) share that the wonder of globalization is majorly affecting food frameworks around the world. The progress of food frameworks is usually related to urbanization, expanding wages, advertised progression, and outside direct speculation. Globalization alludes to decrease in boundaries to the cross-outskirt development of products, administrations, and capital; an expanded progression of products, innovations, data, money related capital, methods of dispersion and promoting; and, partially, relocation of people groups and work (Kennedy et al., 2004, p.13).

The reviewed literature presents the aspects and factors of globalization that are key to this study. It nods affirmatively to the ongoing processes of globalization and highlights the food and cultural factors involved. While some belief in the positive outcome others argue about the negativity and the damages it can cause on cultures and individuals - erasing their originality and uniqueness (Wang. 2011). The media has a main role in spreading those processes, this paper focuses on finding evidence of how food media portrays signs of globalization processes.

4.2 Identity As it appears from the selected texts, identity is a multifaceted term, it exists within culture, within the individual and the collective. Understanding better the meaning of different facets of identity, one must set a definition as a starting point of the investigation. Voicu and Cuza’s (2013) text talks about identity as a social category or, the sense of personal identity, that forms the basis of an individual’s dignity or self-respect. To further explore the term within cultural studies, Friedrich Krotz (2007) argues that the notion of identity is observed as the production of cultural knowledge and in the process of constructing cultural identities through discursive formations and cultural symbols (Krotz, 2007, pp. 226). Usually, identity requires a collective, as Jacob Svensson defines it “being alone can hardly make a meaningful identity; we need others in order to be ourselves.”(Svensson, 2014, pp.352). Here comes the notion of the collective identity and the relation between the collective and the individual. Voicu and Cuza (2013) argued that collective identity cannot compete with individual identity because it does not have “deep-rooted memories

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova that can induce a sense of loyalty the same way individual identity does”, but they can coexist (Voicu and Cuza, 2013, p. 170).

Another aspect of identity is cultural identity. Forming it involves taking on worldview beliefs and engaging in behavioral practices that unite people within a community, passed on from generation to generation, such as eating, dressing, working, as well as transitioning life events such as graduating from school, marriage or having children (Jensen, 2003, p. 190). Cultural identity is constructed by a broad range of beliefs and behaviors that one shares with members of its own community. Often religious and moral beliefs and behaviors are crucial elements in peoples’ understanding of their cultural identity ( Jensen, 2003, p. 191).

According to Assmann and Czaplicka (1995), the collective memory could be understood as a term closely related to history. To elaborate this argument the authors are saying that “a group bases its consciousness of unity and specificity upon this knowledge and derives formative and normative impulses from it, which allows the group to reproduce its identity”. The concept of the cultural memory, containing the elements of images, texts, rituals specific to society, serves to convey the identity of the society through its cultural heritage (Assmann and Czaplicka, 1995, p. 128). As cultural identity usually means to be part of a group or collective, it is often related to the term collective identity which appears in some scholarly articles of cultural studies. Types of collective identity – class, gender, race, religion – may overlap or combine with cultural and national identity. National identity is focusing upon culture, ideology, identity, class or modernization is to neglect The fundamental focus of national identity is culture, ideology, identity, and class which neglect nationalism that as a political ideology concerned with power.

The article by Voicu and Cuza (2013), argues that cultural identity is one’s perception of their position in the spectrum of cultures and purposeful behavior directed towards acceptance into a particular group, as well as certain features of the character that automatically assigns a group membership. According to Voicu’s research, there are two

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova models of cultural identity. The first one is based on race, ethnicity, social and economic status, gender, religion, ability/disability, or language, where those categories represent a group within an individual can take part. The second model observes cultural identity as belonging equally to the past and to the future, constantly evolving within time, place, history, and culture: “matter of ‘becoming’ as well as of ‘being”. Scholar, David Winterstein (as cited in Voicu and Cuza, 2013), identifies four types of cultural identities: nested or embedded identities, ‘marble-cake’ or mixed identities, cross-cutting or overlapping identities, separate or exclusive identities.

Diversity is a concept related to representation and cultural identity in texts by Stuart Hall. In an interview together with Paul Gilroy (Goodman, 1993), Hall discusses media representation as what society knows and what it feels about certain subjects. A subject of representation could be the identity, which according to Hall is “ a ‘production’ which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation”. He observes cultural identity in terms of one, shared culture, reflecting on common historical experiences and shared cultural codes (Hall, 2014 pp.223). Hall argues that the phenomenon of cultural identity is constructed by four main axes - inclusion, exclusion, identification within a culture’s value system, and association of a cultural group with a specific territory. The first and the second axis demonstrate the relation of the individual to the group, where the third and fourth work as identification within a culture’s value system and association of a cultural group with a specific territory.

4.3 Representation in Food Media A milestone for representation theory is Said’s book “Orientalism”, which discusses the Orient and Orientalism, East and West their representations. It considers the creation of the notion "Orient" as a result of cultural imperialism, industrial capitalism, mass consumption, and colonialism in the nineteenth-century. The trends in Europe, at that time, for materials and objects from the Middle East and Asia, such as porcelain and carpets, and the ability for Europid races to purchase those objects confirms imperialism in Europe. Nineteenth century art highlights the use of representations of the "Orient”, which

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova from scholar perspective are challenging the ways that the “West” represented the “East,” and complicating the misconception of a “unidirectional westward influence”.

Following the concept of ethnic representation, Hodkinson discusses the representations of marginalized groups in mass-media channels and the consequences of those representations - being the withdrawal of some ethnic groups from mainstream media (Hodkinson, 2007, p.224).

The interest in the topic of food has been present for a long time, but food issues have largely been examined within the context of relatively closed systems of production—in households, in local communities, and in ethnic groups. To build an understanding of how representations are used in media, and more specifically in food media, a fruitful text is Joanne Hollows’, paper regarding Jamie Oliver’s TV show, focuses on “Leisure, labor and domestic masculinity”. The text emphasizes the opposition of female and male representation in Jamie Oliver’s TV show, but it also mentions the representation of ‘traditional’ British fare like English breakfast or ‘British’ dishes associated with ‘memories of childhood’ (Hollows, 2003, p. 235). She also discusses the sense of a nation as multiple times referring to “Britishness” and “Italianicity” composing the image of the main character. Britishness is vital for building Oliver’s identity and the Italianicity signifies masculinity. Another reference to the representation of nations in the TV show is the associations to ‘national’ cuisines, where ‘French’ is understood as signifying ‘posh’, while ‘Italian’ - ‘everyday domestic cookery’ (Hollows, 2003, p.235). The author also draws on the relation between food and Bourdieu’s habitus and theory of cultural capital, denying the labor involved in acquiring culinary cultural capital - “Bell (2000) (as cited in Hollows, 2003) argues that television chefs, like gourmands in general, inhabit the paradoxical position of ‘marking distinction while also democratizing tastes’” (Hollows 2003, p.231).

5. Methodology The methodology implemented for this paper follows the Grounded theory approach. As the processes from gathering the data, observing it, coding, analyzing it, and relating it to

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova theories construct the fruitful steps of building the research design, they will be discussed in the section below.

5.1 Research Design

- Step 1 / Formulation of the research question In order to specify the research problem, Pruulmann-Vengerfeldts’ pyramid (Figure 5) is taken into consideration to specify a research question. As a first step is the initial phenomenon of cultural globalization through which lens the project will be observed. Following the path of the pyramid, the next section (tools and technology) can be narrowed down to Food Television, in the specific context of culinary shows. As a last step in the pyramid, the research area can be further narrowed down to the portrayal of cultural globalization in the documentary “Ugly Delicious”. As the research question has been modified several times in the process of writing, it is important to acknowledge that the findings and the data itself have contributed to the formulation of the question.

Figure 5. Left: Slide from Johan Farkas lecture / Right: Adapted graph to the research area of my choice

- Step 2 / “Line-by-line coding” (Appendix 10.2) Identifying the method used in the paper as a Grounded theory approach, categorizes and codes are identified by locating patterns related to the theoretical concepts. To begin with, coding the given amount of data is used the approach, described as “line by line coding”. For many grounded theorists, line-by-line coding is considered as the first step and means naming each sentence of the text (Glaser, 1978, as cited by Charmaz 2009, p. 259). This

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova practice leads to a very detailed depiction of the text and allows us to notice ideas that might be missed in broader coding. Inspired by Glaser (1978) line-by-line coding with gerunds, “is a heuristic device to bring the researcher into the data, interact with them, and study each fragment of them. This type of coding helps to define implicit meanings and actions, gives researchers directions to explore, spurs making comparisons between data, and suggests emergent links between processes in the data to pursue and check.”(Charmaz 2009, p.252). The aim with “line-by-line” coding is to establish whether or not a relationship between food media, represented by TV shows, and cultural globalization exists. Observing closely helps discover themes, patterns, and ideas that otherwise might have left unseen.

As the data for this paper is video material, each episode of the second season of “Ugly Delicious” has been transcribed with the line-by-line coding method. After coding the whole season, a brief focused coding of the season one followed, in order to observe if there will be any significant data to support the codes and the ideas shared in the second season.

- Step 3 / “Focused coding” (Appendix 10.3, table 1) “Focused coding” (Charmaz, 2014, pp. 282). Finding the overall purpose of the episode and setting its themes and finding repeating patterns. In order to proceed with further research and get closer to answering the main questions, focused coding helps to identify codes or themes that repeatedly appear or have better significance than others (Charmaz 2009, p.283). The process of refining the codes, starts with the transcribed line-by-line codes, which are highlighted by answering the question: what kinds of theoretical categories do these codes indicate? The colors used to highlight the line-by-line codes have served as indicators of a pattern or similar meaning, which has then evolved in a focused code. Example of that can be the codes “Tracking the paths of immigration and the spread of curry”, “Showing how curry is used Caribbean food”, “Showing how curry is used in Japanese miso”, “Including the German curry sausage” and their merge into “Indian influence through immigration” (Appendix, 10.2)

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Analyzing the episodes of season two by discussing them in detail and describing the discussed topic from which the focused codes has arisen. This type of analysis is crucial for the paper in order to build proof for the origin of the codes for anyone who has not been able to watch the show. It provides detailed insights into the ethnicities of the characters involved, the locations they visited, and the opinions they shared throughout the length of the episodes. Furthermore, the focused codes are discussed in a context of cultural globalization and theoretical concepts, to draw the relation between them.

- Step 4 / Analysis (Appendix 10.3, table 2) The Analysis part is divided into three main stages. The first stage is named Formal Analysis and is a descriptive, formal analysis of each episode of the second season, accompanied by a short sum-up of the first season in order to support repetitive themes. The emphasis throughout this stage is not to apply any biased opinion nor interpretation beyond the most basic articulation of the main scenarios showcased in the episodes, visible to every viewer’s naked eye. This first stage could be considered as a content analysis of sorts. The next stage involves consideration for the context of the main concepts, where a broader look at the piece, including examples of focused codes that can be translated as a sign of cultural globalization. In this section, it is presented the logic of how the codes have been referred to the theoretical concepts. As the last stage of the analysis is focusing on the representation used to showcase the main concepts, it is important to understand the significance of the concepts, in order to make a conclusion.

- Step 5 / Discussion Building the logic between the food media field and its effect over cultural globalization processes. Establishing a relationship between grounded theory and theory. As a Grounded theory in the current paper is used as a research method of analyzing data it needs theoretical support. The process of forming the basis of this relationship starts by carefully observing the focused codes and the discovered patterns in the content of the

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova documentary “Ugly Delicious”. Considering cultural globalization as a center of interest in this paper it is important to understand how this process is happening and how it is described in the data. Using the definition of it, constructed from theory and literature, one can find codes that interpret the notion in the data. After the relationship between data and theory has been established, the next step is to take examples that build logic on how food media, represented by the documentary “Ugly Delicious” is portraying the cultural globalization process.

- Step 6 / Conclusion After analyzing and discussing the findings, the information gathered is summarized and presented in the conclusion section. Its aim is to answer research questions.

5.2 Constructivists paradigm In addition to observing the data as a media text, and the use of Grounded theory this thesis requires a logic of inquiry through which the data can be analyzed. To sum up the purpose of the four logics, Blakie and Priest (2007) description has been used: Inductive logic produces generalizations from data; Deductive logic tests theories by testing hypotheses derived from them; Retroductive logic proposes causal mechanisms or structures and tries to establish their existence; and Abductive logic generates social scientific accounts from everyday accounts. It is important to note that Abductive logic answers research questions differently to the other three logics (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p.118) and consists of many layers.

In respect of using the Grounded theory approach, the choice of the constructivists’ paradigm aligns with qualitative data analysis. The use of this paradigm is described by Collins (2010, p.38) as the “lens through which we view the world” and influence the way of making sense of things. The constructivist perspective shreds notions of a neutral observer and value-free expert, it is based on the researcher’s subjectivity, and construction and interpretation of the data (Charmaz, 2014, pp. 55). As constructivism uses the

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova epistemology of abductive logic, it derives from social actors’ behavior in their everyday activities. The material selected for this paper is staged and produced media ‘text’, therefore it is hard to claim its nature as an everyday activity. The focus will then rather be on the social actors’ behavior, meaning what they say, their body language, and the motives and intentions, directing their behavior. Referring back to Roland Barthes’ (1968) description of what constitutes a text, there are various other possibilities than our own, for interpretation of those actions, which naturally results and contributes to constructions of theories out of those ‘texts’.

The constructivist paradigm in the context of Grounded theory approach is used to describe these activities and meanings, and deriving from them build categories reflecting theoretical concepts that can form the basis of an understanding of the problem at hand. (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p.120). The social scientist working with abductive logic, the task is to use people’s behavior to discover the symbolic meanings, intentions, and rules, which provide the orientations for their actions (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p.117). What is considered to be a constructivist's view is that “human beings, selected to be the focus of research, produce various truths and knowledge in their actions” (Constructivism - Jyväskylän yliopiston Koppa, 2020), which correspond to the data for this paper, collected through a documentary TV series where the main characters are actual human beings. As their actions in the show, one can consider their ideas transmitted through talks, facial expressions, and reactions. Much of those social-life activities are routine, conducted in a taken-for-granted, unreflective attitude. It is when others, such as social scientists/researchers are observing and questioning social actors' behavior that they are forced to construct meanings and interpretations. The role of social scientists is to encourage the process of discovering meanings and theories. To begin with, a researcher needs to both discover the everyday concepts - which in this paper’s case are the ‘line-by-line’ codes, used to typify features of the surrounding world and discover the meanings around them. Following its task, the researcher has to report the concepts in language that stays as close as possible to that of the social actors, that’s why the use of gerunds is the most suitable as it keeps the sense close enough. After the discovery of the 31

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova everyday concepts, meaning, and motives the next step when using a Grounded theory approach is the ‘focused’ coding. It is done by identifying patterns through the use of theoretical concepts. Later, when conducting the analysis the ‘focused’ codes will be used as an example to develop arguments for answering the main research question.

6. Ethics

Considering the nature of this paper as qualitative research, ethical concerns such as anonymity, confidentiality, and informed consent should be taken into account (Richards & Schwartz, 2002). There are also basic ethical considerations, valid for every researcher, besides the method they use. Those issues lay in the way of communicating the results and plagiarism.

This paper does not involve interviews, surveys, focus groups, or any other direct participant communication. It is based on information that is available for the public on the streaming platform ‘Netflix’ in exchange for a subscription. As official Netflix show ‘Ugly Delicious’ is created for the subscriber-audience and, Netflix’s consent that the content might be analyzed or recorded is implicit. Therefore, the ethical issues of consent do not require special attention to this particular study.

As this thesis uses the work of others as a base, it is crucial that all the sources used will be assigned correct accreditation through the use of in-text citations, quote marks, and a detailed bibliography. Literature review and reflecting and interpreting the work of others mitigates the risk of a researcher being accused of assigning another’s work as his or her own.

As the main data is video content, this paper includes a visual analysis of the episodes and participants. As such, a certain level of interpretation must be granted, in order to identify any potential meanings within the scenes. Conducting the analysis through a constructivist viewpoint suggests that multiple meanings may exist, which would allow another scholar to 32

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova produce a similar research project but offer a different interpretation. However, there has been no intentional misrepresentation of data, and this thesis aim is offering an unbiased analysis of ‘Ugly Delicious’ and the way it portrays globalization through the meaning of food.

Lastly, when listing ethical considerations, it is important to mention that gender, race and ethnicity could be perceived as an issue. Gender is not the only significant difference to which research may be insensitive. There are other important differences among groups, including indications that variables such as race, ethnicity, rural and urban background, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation should be considered in research studies. The way a research addresses those groups has to be non-bias and politically correct.

7. Analysis and Findings “Ugly Delicious” has a total of 12 episodes with an average duration around 50 minutes. The primary focus of this thesis is the second season of the show. The overall mood of the series is serious as it is a documentary at the first place, but adding the subtle playful melodies between scenes and doodle graphics here and there, breaks the seriousness and turns into a more welcoming and friendly environment. Features of coastlines, mountains, sunrise, cityscapes, and landscapes capture the viewer's attention and set the mood. Filming does not happen at one steady place but rather takes place worldwide (Berlin, Istanbul, Tokyo, New York, Mumbai, and many others), which tends to switch around during the episodes. Although the action is developed around the world, the main scene is the U.S. which shows the Western perspective and uses western terms such as the ‘Middle East’. The content seemingly represents the standpoint of the participants and follows the main protagonists’ opinion. The following paragraph will give a brief introduction to the main subjects of the four episodes of the focused season and draw connections to the first season when and if relatable. After that, some of the focused codes related to the context of globalization and identity will be discussed, and last but not least there will be an analysis of the use of representations to portray globalization.

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

7.1 Formal analysis As the main theme of the first episode, named “Kids menu”, is the universal, life-changing event of becoming a parent. The episode features faces from the culinary world, such as Mary Sue Milliken, Helen Jo, Johnny Leach, Tom Colicchio, Reem Assil, Peter Cho, and many others, sharing their busy schedule as being a parent and a full-time head chef. Many of them had to adapt their life so they can successfully and simultaneously be parents and chefs. Like many other jobs, being a chef is requiring a lot of hard work, devotion, and long hours. Being a parent and finding the balance between job and family can be hard, and many of the participants’ experience can confirm that. Besides the difficulties, everyone agrees that being a parent is worth every sleepless night. A sub-theme is the misconceptions about food indulgence during pregnancy as well as the process itself. Although the characters describe pregnancy as being beautiful, they agree that the process can be hard and at times lonely. Furthermore, women chefs share the level of expectations they receive when having a child - being responsible for the family, for the employee, being a new parent, while still doing their job. The last sub-theme included in the first episode” is the food culture in schools. School food is a topic, highly discussed all over the world as being neglected beside the major importance it has on the growing children who consume it. As it appears from the American schools’ example, it is challenging to prepare food for kids, following the guidelines, while making it appealing and also trying to incorporate as many healthy products. The reward of the process is when kids enjoy the food. When it comes to Japanese schools, what seems interesting is that they not only focus on the quality but also on the importance of food as a way of learning how to be responsible, accountable and appreciate what you eat. Japanese institutions also have restrictions for school food, meaning that the challenge to prepare delicious food that kids can enjoy is similar to the one in the States and presumably all around the world. The episode ends with Grace giving birth.

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

The second episode is centered on the Indian cuisine and culture. The main focus falls on David Chang diving in the Indian origins and learning more about Indian food through his friendships and travels. From his friends, David is able to see customs, traditions, and habits related to food in India. A major sub-theme of the episode highlights the importance of India for the global export of food goods. As in season I, here the theme about immigration influencing cuisine around the world is present. Due to a large number of Indian immigrants ‘curry’ is present in many dishes, considered ‘local’, in places like the Caribbean, Japan, and Germany. Another important perspective that the episode reveals is the complexity of Indian cuisine, which is a major reason for the culture to be globalized. As an internationally successful chef, from Indian origins, Floyd Cardoz opened his restaurant in Mumbai, his mission was to take the local flavors and try to redefine what Indian food means. Because what usually foreigners can recognize is the so-called ‘Punjab’ food which usually includes rice and some kind of sauce with meat - an example is ‘chicken curry’. There is also the sub-theme of extracting the food and goods from their culture and appropriating them to a trend or other culture, without acknowledging their origins. Indian staples recognized by Westerners are ‘Ayurveda’, ‘yoga’, and ‘turmeric’. In Indian culture, those notions have a different value and are not a symbol of ‘healthy lifestyle’. They have been promoted as a way to achieve economic capital, by promoting a ‘healthy lifestyle’. Another sub-theme that appears in the episode refers to history and more precisely to colonization. The term ‘curry’ is a generalized word, given to Indian food by the British colonizers, 1600 (Jaffrey M, season 2, ep.2 27:24). British colonizers brought a piece of Indian culture home and by 1950 in London there were ten Indian restaurants. Compared to the recent days where this number has grown thousand times and British foreign minister has declared “Chicken Tikka Masala” Britain’s national dish. What seems to be happening is Britain being colonized by India through their food.

Episode three has the name “Steak” which makes it fairly obvious that the main subject of discussion will be meat. It explores steak, its presence in the global food scene, its

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova importance in the environmental ecosystem, alternative and sustainable ways of production, as well as its symbolic meaning. One of the episode’s sub-themes is tied to the stigma about ordering “Medium-rare vs Well-done” steak, which is usually related to economic and cultural capital. For chefs, it has a huge role in making perception about the person ordering it. The reality of ‘food people’ is different from everyone’s reality and judging people by how they prefer to eat their steak should not be as important as if one enjoys the food. Digging deeper into what can stand behind the choice of what steak one prefers, the episode shows that the reason for the choice may lay in culture or religion. Meat and steak by themselves are food, but in a culture they tend to be related to masculinity, manliness, and testosterone. The inherent gendering and the media history of using those stereotypes to create advertisements that market to men with misogynistic messaging, which contains the oppression of women in its strategy - is another of the topics presented in the episode. In the course of the episode, the last theme discussed focuses on sustainability in meat consumption, the impact of the meat industry, the quality, and future of meat. The scenes showcase alternative meat products, created as an option to prolong the existence of real meat. As cattle ranching has been proclaimed destructive for the planet because of the level of cruelty, the scale it is done, the methane emissions and environmental impact it has, the show is presenting sustainable farms, managed in a manner that is not causing massive damage to the environment. It appears that ‘steak’ is not an easy way to talk about someone’s politics, economics, and socioeconomics without talking about it.

The last episode of the season carries the name “As the meat turns'' representing the food cooked on a vertical spit. The main focus of the episode is exploring ‘Middle East’ cuisine. As a sub-theme the origin of the globalized term ‘Middle East’ is discussed as created by colonizers, unifying the cuisine of countries such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia under the same denominator. Immigration and food hybridity are some of the topics that take place in the last episode. The storyline refers to tragic historical events that cause mass waves of immigration and refugees to have a huge impact on the spread of the culture. Before Syrian uprising, Syrian

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova food was not that common, but with all the refugees it gained some more popularity in the media and it reached a bigger audience. Immigrant cuisine is presented as a tool for finding commonality and proving that people, despite their origin are the same, the more one can be open to accepting the differences in religion or political values. Commonalities in how and what people eat, lead to the realization that everyone wants to eat well and everyone classifies certain food for ‘rich’ or ‘delicious’. It means that globalization and cultural merging is happening, but that does not erase the national heritage. Another sub-topic appearing in the episode is racism. Ever since the 1930s Arabic ethnicity has been vilified in American media, portrayed as racists, hating women and Islamophobia is a massive obstacle for Muslim cuisine in the States. This invention has traveled a long way till the recent days where it is mostly associated with Middle Eastern cultures and has been devalued due to cultural misunderstanding or possibly racism (Dave Cheng, s.2, ep.4 41:54). The last topic discussed is the “white” chef’s appropriation of ethnic food and separating it from the origins. An example of that is the ‘hummus’ which has become a global sensation, but not popularized by the Arabs. It is important for a nation to receive credits for their food since that's the last marker of ethnic identity (Reem, s.1, ep.4 26:09).

In comparison to the second season, where the episodes feature more universal topics, season one explores dishes or ways of cooking. There are many similar themes repeated through both seasons, such as immigration, cultural differences, and similarities. Immigration plays a significant role in the process of cultural globalization. Being an immigrant and carrying one’s cultural identity to a foreign culture could translate in many ways - can overcome the original cultural identity and replace it with the new culture’s habits and customs or keep the original cultural identity and try to integrate in the new place together with it.

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7.2 Contextual Analysis In this section of the analysis, I will separate the two contextual standpoints, forming the term cultural globalization - globalization and culture. Using the examples of focused codes, this section is aiming to describe how the show is portraying cultural globalization.

As discussed by many scholars and theorists, the process of globalization is an existing phenomenon. Globalization is the overall notion that includes subcategories such as cultural globalization and food globalization. Cultural globalization is a process which is unifying different cultures, by sharing values, traditions, habits( Pagano, 2007, Wani, 2011). This unification is achieved through media, communication, tourism, and politics. In this particular paper, the focus is on how the food media is involved in this process. Cultural globalization has been referred to as the process by which one culture’s experiences, values, and ideas are disseminated throughout the world through various means (Cultural Globalization: Definition, Factors & Effects, 2017). It perhaps can be due to the mixed origins of the host, but ‘Ugly Delicious’ manifests global tastes, as each episode uses depictions of different cultures, locations, cooking techniques,s or social-life matters that are related to the same topic. Analyzing the ‘focused’ codes, evolved from “Ugly Delicious” can serve as arguments in the context of cultural globalization. ‘Being a parent’ is a global denominator that unifies many people, despite their race or culture (Appendix 10.4), by sharing the same experience, the same views, and being able to feel empathy. The code ‘Balancing work life and parenthood’ is directly related to the act of being a parent, and it is a universal issue, recognized by people from any professional background or culture. Going further in observing the food habits presented in episode one, important to mention is the global stigmas of pregnancy and the habits of #momshaming - where mothers or mothers to be are criticized by the parental choices they make - from eating sushi, drinking coffee to and occasional glass of wine. The overall message, deriving from those codes, in the context of globalization is that the value of family and being a parent is something that translates the same in any culture or ethnic group. It makes people see other people beyond the color of their skin or the political views they have but as parents. Parenthood is a part that constructs one’s cultural identity and furthermore is a signifier of cultural globalization,

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova by the depiction (“different cultures uniting under the same ‘global’ denominator”) of its definition. The location of filming also has an impact on the TV as a vehicle of globalization. Showing different locations around the globe - some recognized by the mass, other new and exotic - within seconds from one another, gives the viewer short-cut access to the culture and takes it to step further into the globalization process. Most of the world's spices come from Kerala, India. The city has a major impact on the spice trade and the discovery that David makes when visiting Kerala is that spices have a global impact on the food worldwide. The first wave of Indian food dominance are the spices, taken just black pepper on its own and removed from the world it affects the cuisine worldwide.

A huge part of Indian identity is related to food, and food has proven to be an ambassador for understanding Indian culture around the world. But according to my observation from the content presented in episode 2, it is hard to talk about cultural globalization between India and the rest of the world. Although immigration has allowed mergers between Indian and foreign culture, the diversity and complexity of Indian history and tradition are hard to be globalized. As the history of the East has been through a lot, there has been a significant amount of immigrants and refugees traveling the world and sharing their cuisine. Immigration is the main reason for the popularity of dishes like the ‘shawarma’. Being an immigrant and having food knowledge as basic “expertise” is an easy option for capitalization when in a foreign country. Besides the monetary value that it can bring to the one practicing it, it adds value to the community by sharing a piece of home. Many immigrants have the hope that by communicating in the common language of food (Cramer et al., 2011), locals will empathize with them and accept them despite the existence of stereotypes. Hybridity as a term in the culinary industry is also a byproduct of immigration. Leaving the home urgently does not allow preparing ingredients, so when arriving at a new location the obstacles require adaptation to what is local, so what happens is combining traditional and conventional.

From a cultural perspective point of view, the show includes a variety of cuisines including American, Indian, Lebanese, Korean, Palestinian and etc. Some of them are well-known to 39

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova the public such as the American, but others such as Lebanese and Indian are still not fully globalized due to stigmas and complexity. Another example is the school eating habits, represented by American and Japanese schools. When filming in the American school, the focus was mostly on food and whether or not the kids like it or approve of it, wherein Japan food is used as part of the education - teaching the young students of respect, responsibility, skill development, and focus. Despite the differences, the importance of providing good school food and following the restrictions when preparing it is a common goal. As mentioned above in the text, Americanization is a strong example of how a culture could be transmitted, accepted, and practiced by other cultures around the world. There are means such as food that are transmitted easier than others such as religion. ‘Ugly Delicious’ uses food as a means presumably recognized by everyone and having the same translation around the world- episode three, serves as an example. It has its focus on ‘steak’, which is a globally known dish. In many cultures, as mentioned by the participants in the episode, eating a steak is related to the celebration, which is tied with the reason why steak signifies high economic capital or high social status. But in recent days, some places around the world, like Australia, have normalized the consumption of steak as a daily meal. No matter the regularity of having a steak it is considered communal experience, as what makes it special and adds more value to it is sharing with someone.

7.3 Representation To finalize the analysis before getting into the discussion, this part will serve as a perspective on how focused codes are represented in the show so it can portray cultural globalization. There are two main areas of representations that will be the focus of this part: the host/characters and the food/locations.

The way a TV show/documentary is produced is a big part of its influence on the watchers. Having this in mind it is important to notice that the first episode presents the host - David Cheng in a personal light, sharing his story, family, doubts, and feelings. This, in my opinion, is strategically used to build relationships with the audience, in order for it

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova to relate to him and in the further episodes to trust his opinion and sympathize with his choices. The episode is focused on the main theme of ‘Life-changing event of having a child’, which is a universal moment in human life and part of one’s cultural identity (Jensen, 2003, p. 190). Having in mind that the show goes around the host’s ideas, life, and questions, he plays an important role in transmitting the messages of the show. David Chang is a well-known culinary name, but in ‘Ugly Delicious’ he is not represented only by his culinary endeavors, but his persona is built by showcasing his roots, his family, his personal life, and social opinions. The choice of language, even clothing, signifies a regular person, which in my opinion is a way of eluding the audience to relate to his character and sympathize with his points of view. His origins of first-generation American-Korean and his multicultural friendships, presumably are used in order to support diversity, contradict racism, and spread the message of global acceptance. Similarly, the rest of the participants - fellow-colleagues, friends, or relatives to the host are represented as ‘ordinary’ people, some of them showcased in their own homes, together with their family which shortens the distance with the viewer and invites him/her to their culture.

As a documentary, by genre, the show presents a solid piece of historical background for the cultures represented in it. Starting in the first season, when introducing a country or a topic related to immigration, there were historical facts to support the statements regarding the food transformation. The features of different cultural habits, traditions, cultural heritage are crucial for understanding one’s cuisine and its development. Episode 1, in front of the second season, has an example of David and Grace’s moms showing the ‘parents-to-be’ typical Korean dishes and explaining the traditions behind the preparation. This almost “direct” access to cultures, such as Korean, through food is enriching the viewer’s cultural knowledge.

As a signifier of cultural identity, representations of food stand-in for people, place, and experience, the familiarity of home and the exotism of far-away places (Kelly, 2007, p. 9). When hearing ‘Middle Eastern’ cuisine many people imagine ‘shawarma’, ‘kebab’ or

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‘falafel’, and relating it to countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and etc. But in fact, those countries have very different and diverse foods from one another. For natives, it is really important to carry the traditions and not lose the origins of food. As similar to cultural appropriating Indian food, Middle Eastern food has also the tendency to be appropriated or extracted from its roots. Many dishes such as hummus have been popularized as a ‘healthy food’, without being tracked and accredited to a specific nation.

As repeated multiple times throughout the paper, food is a construction of identity (Frye & Bruner, 2013) and represents one’s culture, but besides that, somehow food has been gender divided. In pop culture and media, meat is presented as a sign of masculinity. Many commercials, movies, and other types of content aim to attract men audiences by using for example images of steak, burgers, bbq, etc. On the other side is femininity represented through salads and other types of light food, usually excluding meat. The division of genders when it comes to food is not only identified by the products each gender is believed to consume but can be found also in the concept of the most famous and prestigious chefs being male and female-being related to domestic cooking. “Ugly Delicious” tackles this problem in a gentle way by the repeated scene of two men and two women, authoritarian names in the culinary world, sitting around a table discussing the topic ‘steak’. This scene represents the equality of both genders and the shared access and knowledge on a topic that is considered to be men “only”.

There are many misconceptions about meat, but one is very much present in the third episode of “Ugly Delicious”, as well as it is widespread around the world - and it is, to sum it up - medium rare vs. well done. As mentioned above eating the steak is related to high economic capital, but ordering a steak ‘medium-rare’ adds high cultural capital as it is believed to show knowledge and intellectual capacity. In comparison to ordering a ‘well-done’ steak which is a culinary disgrace, according to many chefs, it is a reason for judging the customer. But a reason for the choice of ordering a certain type of steak could play one's feature of cultural identity - religion (Jensen, 2003, p. 191). As discussed in the

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova show, the main Jewish law forbids the consumption of animal’s blood, and although it is a well-known fact that the red juice of a medium-rare steak is not blood, the choice can be justified and accepted.

7.4 Discussion In this section, I would like to draw together the concepts fed into the analysis, by bringing the question that motivated it. The research question, as stated originally in the introduction: How does “Ugly Delicious” use representations to portray cultural globalization? In order to find an answer as to how ‘Ugly Delicious’ uses representations to communicate cultural globalization, let’s take Stuart Hall’s (2001) notion conceptual map as the beginning. This conceptual map allows us to make sense of the world around us on an immediate level. When it comes to food the conceptual map is represented by taste and vision - when taking a bite, our tongue can recognize the taste of ‘black pepper’, and seeing a piece of meat signifies for our brain - ‘steak’. Shared language system as the second element to interpreting meaning, he does not mean only the written or spoken language, but also the collective presence of ‘signs’ which relate to each other to create meaning from context (Barthes, 1968). According to Roland Barthes (1968) the term ‘text’ can be understood as applying to anything that can be read, that is, anything that transmits meaning. Therefore having in mind that the video material - ‘Ugly Delicious’ is transmitting meaning it is considered a ‘text’ which sets the beginning of the coding process. As a first process in the Grounded theory approach, Charmaz (2014) recommends the ‘line-by-line’ coding using gerunds. Transcribing every action and using the set of pre-defined theoretical concepts helps to identify actions that can be related or signify the same concept and further be merged under the same ‘focused’ code. If we take each of the episodes consisting of the second season and support them with findings from the first season, one may end up with a representation system of the shared language. Each episode can be treated separately and be understood on a basic level as simply observing scenes involving people, food, and travels. The only way for the conceptual map to start functioning is when we consider how

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova the different elements in episodes support each other and create a bigger meaning. It is important to note the distinction between two main categories of ‘focused’ codes, both having an impact on portraying cultural globalization. The ones are related to social events or activities, the others to food, ingredients, or taste. Codes such as ‘Becoming a parent’ or ‘Pregnancy’ signify the same in every culture.

In order to answer how ‘Ugly Delicious’ portrays cultural globalization, it is the definition and the factors that need to be considered first. As the website Study.com states it: “Cultural globalization is the process by which one culture’s experiences, values, and ideas are disseminated throughout the world through various means”. Usually, globalization is discussed by scholars, such as referring to Western (Jensen, 2003) values, ideals, or products are transmitted and accepted among other cultures. However, the show presents arguments that globalization does not simply turn around the Western world, many products such as ‘curry powder’, ‘black pepper, ‘hummus’, and practices such as ‘yoga’ originate from the Far East and are as equally globalized as, for example, McDonald’s’ cheeseburger. What could be noted as a difference is that those items are usually separated from their roots? The work of Wang (2007) unfolds the aspect that some people might be concerned about the uniqueness and particularity of their own culture. That notion can be referred to as anti-globalization and is represented in the text as native Middle Eastern chefs’ concern of their food being gathered under the same denominator, being described typically as ‘shawarma’, or not receiving credits for globalized dishes. People from different sense-making systems based on their lived experiences (Hall, 2001) though maintains that two people from the same cultural background will share broadly the same conceptual map. That is why the use of global food names or events is of significant importance. That way the content will be able to transmit the same values and relate to the same experience in order to portray cultural globalization.

According to my observation, the show uses two main forms of representation - the host/characters and the food/locations. They create the potential for meaning creation, allowing the viewer to recognize the signs for globalization. Creating meaning in the

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova context of cultural globalization is done by choosing how the viewer will receive the text - using intercultural locations at a specific time, produced in a specific way to include the viewer as an ‘insider’ who is joining the journey. The various cities included in the content can be observed as a representation of the multicultural nature of the show. Based on the notion of the conceptual map (Hall, 2001), viewers in Europe will most likely have a different conceptual map than people in Asia. That is why the use of global food names or events is of significant importance. That way the content will be able to transmit the same values and relate to the same experience in order to portray cultural globalization.

Although using representations of many cultures, as well as social actors from around the world, one can not only speak about how that symbolizes the unification of cultures. Many of the participants in the ‘text’ are concerned about the originality and the future of their roots in this time of advanced globalization. Therefore the concept of anti-globalization has been pointed out in the definitions section. Perhaps the aim of the show is to place a distinctive line between different cultures rather than help merge them into a ‘global’ one. Taking the concept of ‘taste’ as central to food culture and media, referring back to Bourdieu and Adorno, ‘taste’ is perceived as cultural divider and disposition of habitus. ‘Taste’ signifies practices that give distinction to community or culture, or in other words “creates hierarchical distinctions between culturally contingent food rituals, elevating relative distinctions to the universal coordinate of differences” (Kelly, 2017, p.8). The conceptual map by Hall (2001) can also be a reason for ‘taste’ differences, but despite the variations of ‘taste’, there are some that signify global meaning. Globalization of ‘taste’ can be viewed as a “common point of identification, the foundation of a common set of everyday rituals, organized around familiar ingredients, people and behavior” (Kelly, 2017, p.5). Those types of globalization have rather positive outcomes, compared to globalization, where food and traditions have been extracted from their origins and used as tools for capitalization.

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7.4.1 Recommendation for further research Considering the limitation of this study and the potential ideas for further research, there are some recommendations for investigation on the research gap presented in this paper.

As this paper is meant to focus on a single aspect of the relation between food media and the processes of globalization, it could be interesting to investigate further ethnical stereotypes in culinary shows. The current paper mentions briefly the use of cultural and ethnic representation, but more extensive research could be done by juxtaposing the representation in the shows versus stereotypes in order to justify whether or not stereotypes are confirmed or a myth, using deductive logic. Another perspective to this recommendation could be comparing cultures, f.x. Middle Easterners vs. Westerners and is there cultural imperialism in Food TV? Although Media and Communication studies explore the role of media in shaping culture and society, zooming on the field of Food media and ethnicity could provide an interesting angle for investigation.

Based on the limitation of the time frame and space, an interesting topic appearing in this paper, after the creation of focused codes is “Food in Gender stigmatization”. It opens a discussion of how food can be gender-defying and work as a division marker (Kelly, 2017, p.6). In episode three ‘Steak’ had a small part dedicated to the stereotypes related to what food is masculine and what feminine. Analyzing food television or culinary shows through the lens of feminism can be another interesting topic. As feminism being part of the Media and Communication course theory, there is a lot of work covering gender representations, but not as much in the context of Food Media. I find “Ugly Delicious” as an interesting show to observe the dynamics of male and female chefs’ representations and if there are any differences based on gender.

7.5 Limitations A limitation of this thesis is the impossibility of generalizing the findings as they have been interpreted and followed the logic and perspective of one person.

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As mentioned above, the firstly attempted solely content analysis as a research method was not fitting the given content. The initial idea was to create variables and try to identify them in the data, but it appeared hardly possible to use predefined categories. The process with this type of method would have required a bigger capacity of the paper as well as time. Another limitation worthy of mentioning is the main focus emphasizing the second season of the show. As each episode of the data observed is with an average duration of 50 minutes, it took repetitively watching each episode until able to produce ‘line-by-line’ codes and then refine it to get to ‘focused’ codes. Having that in mind for the time frame given for this paper it was at a later stage of the research, when the thought of checking for the same patterns/codes, in the first season, was developed. Therefore having to ‘line-by-line’ code all the episodes appeared not necessary. To back up the findings of the show’s spread across the globe, statistics from the paid subscribers of Netflix has been provided, together with the growth from the previous year. However access to statistics regarding the viewers of ‘Ugly Delicious’ was very limited, and if available requested subscription. Therefore there is just a single statistic to support the reach of the documentary and its spread across the continents.

8. Conclusion Food media is a global power in transmitting messages across cultures. The presence of food, something so ordinary, but so unique is what makes this medium so likable and relatable. The representation used in the documentary proves that food is a ‘global language’ and despite the difference in our conceptual maps when it comes to food we all are the same. Food is subject to a number of factors, including the social environment, politics, ecological, and technological. What is happening around the world could affect the perception of certain cultures or ethnicities and that could result in changing the behavior towards their food. Global social events are not the only factor in which influence is noticed. History has its own place in food development and hybridization.

This thesis aimed to examine how representations are used in order to portray cultural globalization. The research gap between Food media and the processes of globalization has

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova been discovered in the field of Media and Communication studies. Therefore this paper is aiming to cover it. To do so a research question has been formulated and used as guidance for the investigation: How is cultural globalization portrayed in Netflix’s culinary show “Ugly Delicious”? According to the findings, the way cultural globalization is portrayed is by the use of representations of different cultures and codes signifying ‘global’ meanings. The framework of overall methodology was conducted through a constructivist paradigm which was crucial for studying not only the visual part of the content but constructing meaning from the actors’ behavior and action. The main findings from the analyses show the significant opposition of food is a tool for cultural globalization but also signifying anti-globalization. The research started with the mindset that food media (more specifically - culinary documentaries) serves as help spreading globalization, by introducing the public to new cultures and territories. As I was convinced of the food being tool for cultural globalization, I chose to explore how the text is conveying the message of merging cultures by using codes observed through the lens of theoretical concepts. Coding the text and going through a significant amount of literature and theory, it seemed that to a certain extent my assumptions were about to be confirmed. But after halfway through the research, it became obvious that food besides a ‘common language’ is moreover a marker of cultural identity and heritage, and some cultures find it important for the rest of the world to be able to recognize their origins - be it through their food, traditions or history.

Another critical point to mention is the entertainment nature of TV shows. Although the documentary description, Netflix and Television production in general are made to entertain the viewer. As much as ‘Ugly Delicious’ is transmitting serious matters and trying to address cultural misconceptions, it includes comedy scenes and to keep the viewer’s attention and its entertainment value. Choosing a content such as a documentary show can have its weaknesses as it has been produced and created to specifically transmit certain ideas and values. Having that in mind the finding can not be generalized but rather be accepted for the context of the specific media text. To be able to generalize the portrayal of

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova cultural globalization in the larger context of food media, there has to be more content analyzed and compared with one another.

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10. Appendix

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10.1 Codebook/ Season 1

Episode 1 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “Pizza”

Italianicity Italian-Americans the new pizza maestros Pizza observed as bread with topping- is it just Italy who came with this concept What is authentic pizza?

Episode 2 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “Tacos”

Immigrants history Taco as representation of Mexican culture Authenticity ?

Episode 3 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “Home cooking”

Family The importance of roots origin Cultural heritage Food transition

Episode 4 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “Shrimp and Crawfish”

Vietnamese culture Vietnamese immigrants Sustainability of sea WASP food culture “White people” Vietnamese refugees and KKK “Vietnamese rednecks”

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Dave Chang “The way you make someone more open to accept the differences between races and cultures is food” Generation of vietnamese food evolved with immigration and meeting different cultures and ingredients

Episode 5 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “BBQ”

Bbq described as very american thing

Episode 6 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “Fried chicken”

“Universal” The stigma connecting fried chicken with black people’s culture Every culture has discovered the ‘deep frying’ method KFC being very popular in Asia / China / Fried chicken as food for everyone Brock \ 03:27, ep 6 s 1\ “And food is the getaway, is the link, is the connecting piece that allows people to share their realities and perspectives. So hopefully racism, hopefully that behavior changes when there’s more knowledge there, there’s more compassion there, there’s more empathy there.” Overcoming cultures and differences for the sake of food

Episode 7 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “Fried rice”

Fried rice is traditional Chinese dish People not understanding chinese cuisine Chinese-American cuisine as depiction of what dishes Americans accept from Chinese cuisine Racism in chinese kitchen Why would chinese chef come to America, where everyone thinks Chinese food is supposed to be “cheap”? Due to asians being some of the first immigrants, their cuisine has adapted to the western tastes

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Lately people has become more globalized, especially in big cities

Episode 8 / Season 1 “Ugly Delicious” “Stuffed”

Debating between stuffed pasta (italian) and dumplings (asian) Tortellini, dumplings, samosa, momos - all stuffed food Dave \34:49 ep 8 s 1\ “What I have been looking for is a commonality on the creative end. Some kind of universal emotions” Tradition is constantly evolving New dishes don’t exclude old ones Tradition is transferring emotional experience from generation to generation (08:33, ep 8 s 1) If you treat America as one big Italian region and use all its ingredients to cook Italian food - isn't it authentic?

10.2 Codebook / Season 2, episode 2 (example)

Episode 2 / Season 2 “Ugly Delicious” “Don’t call it Curry” 50 min

Dave explaining about people not knowing what to order in Korean restaurants He is comparing himself to those people when it comes to Indian restaurants He is admitting that he never cooked Indian food at home Dave saying he doesn’t know anything about Indian food He is presenting Indian food as one of the oldest, richest and most delicious NEW YORK Dave meeting Padma (friend) an Indian woman The Padma talking about India Padma explaining that majority of people know only North-western / Punjabi food Both agreeing that Indian food is the epitome of “ugly delicious” CHARLOTTE, NC Dave visiting Aziz Ansari (actor) house and family Aziz’s mom preparing Indian food

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

Everyone engaging in conversation about the differences in Indian cuisine Everyone eating with hands Dave sharing his struggles about eating with hands Dave planning a trip to Mumbai Dave admitted that India is intimidating to him MUMBAI Dave and Aziz arriving in Mumbai’s food market Meeting Vikram (food writer) to explain to them about the variety of products Talking about the different type of bananas All discussing the difference between “American” bananas and local bananas Talking about Indian cuisine is varied and hard to be standardized for the rest of the world Vikram, Dave, and Aziz visiting a local restaurant Discussing the popularity of curry Exploring the nature of the use of curry Bringing the importance of the role of a cow (as meat, as milk, as dung etc) Dave mentioned the richness of Indian culture Tracking the paths of immigration and the spread of curry Showing how curry is used Caribbean food Showing how curry is used in Japanese miso Including the German curry sausage Talking about the heritage, the nature, and history of curry in different cultures NEW YORK Padma preparing for cooking Padma saying that curry powder has nothing to do with curry leaves Padma cooking Dave mentioned the minority of Indian chefs trying to breakthrough Introducing Floyd Cardoz MUMBAI Visiting Floyd’s restaurant in Mumbai Floyd explaining the cuisine (regional Indian) they prepare in the restaurant Using some traditional stuff and playing with tastes Preparing a dish and discussing the traditional way of making it Chefs describing their job as redefining what Indian food means Showing service in the restaurant Indian chefs talking about the vast Indian land and culture

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

LUCKNOW Floyd and a man visiting Lucknow Eating Indian street food Learning about Indian food Making “potli” Floyd describing his goal as showing the world regional Indian food Madhur Jaffrey explaining the history of Indian cuisine in England Britains adopting Indian food Madhur talking about the spread of Indian cuisine features in British food habits Dave meeting with three Indian food writers Discussing the origins of Indian cuisine Indians in Silicon Valley SAN FRANCISCO Visiting “Indian” restaurant in the US A native Indian-American admitting how much of the food is known to her Traditions or food or ingredients being separated from its originating community Talking about capitalization on Indian dishes while removing the Indian from them Padma defining 3 top moments for India First being when Beatles visited India Madonna popularizing yoga Turmeric powder being used without knowledge on how to use it Ayurveda describing the science of life Dave and Aziz meeting Ayurveda “doctor” Dave comparing religious food to limitations Ayurveda using food as a tool to influence emotions MUMBAI Meeting a local guide to explore night street food Eating on the top of a cab Setting up the table on top of the car Tasting the food, comparing it to taco Being surprised by the amount of food Padma reflecting on why people don’t know the ‘real’ Indian food She is finishing her dish Both Dave and Padma eating with hands Padma saying that most of the world’s spices come from India/ Kerala Dave visiting Kochi, Kerala

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

COCHIN, KERALA, INDIA People drying ginger Seeing black pepper being dried Dave is reflecting on taking black pepper as granted Dave and Asha trying the black pepper Dave concluding that the first wave of Indian food dominance are spiced Removing the black pepper from food changes the course of history Dave and Asha crashing a wedding Asha explaining the wedding traditions in India Dave and Asha checking the catering of the wedding food Catering chef saying sometimes they have 15 weddings a day - approx 20 000 people Dave is making the comparison of people in America not going to the wedding for food while in India they do. Dave concluding that Indian food is ‘global’ superpower Taking away Indian spices, the world will be a boring place to eat Dave breaking Indian food in 3 waves - 1st wave spice trade 2nd wave - culture - without yoga, without the Beatles we have no well-being movement 3rd - what is food now and how Indian food merge with local cuisines Dave appreciating Indian food and traditions

Focused coding: Episode 2

- Colonization - Indian influence through immigration - Misconceptions about Indian cuisine - Globalized indian food - Global vs local - Indian traditions and history - Food and politics - India as source of global ingredients - Indian food capital

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

10.3 Focused codes

Table 1. Focused codes, identified after ‘line-by-line’ coding of Season 2 ‘Ugly Delicious’

Season Episode Title Focused codes Protagonists Locations # #

- The life-changing event of having David Cheng USA: 2 1 ‘Kids menu’ a child Grace Cheng Virginia - Balancing work life and Chang family Washington parenthood Emily Los Angeles - Being a parent as “title” that Tom Colicchio New york unites people Floyd Cardoz Portland - Korean food traditions Fany Gerson Japan: - Pregnancy process and stigmas Nancy Mozza Tokyo - School food Paul Carmichael Reem Assil Johnny Leach Sun Young Park Peter Cho

2 2 ‘Don’t - Colonization David Cheng USA: call it - Indian influence through Aziz Ansari New York curry’ immigration Padma Lakshmi Charlotte, NC - Misconceptions about Indian Priya Krishna Sonia San Francisco cuisine Chopra India: - Globalized Indian food Floyd Cardoz Mumbai - Global vs local Asha Gomez Kerala - Indian traditions and history Lucknow - Food and politics - India as a source of global ingredients - Indian food capital

- Steak as a sign of economic David Cheng USA: 2 3 ‘Steak’ capital and social status Paul Carmichael New York - Food in Gender stigmatization Kylie Javier Ashton Charlstone - Meat and politics Lolis Elie Detroit - Meat and religion Angie Mar Marin Country

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

- Meat as a global product Helen Rosner Washington - Eating as a communal experience Edi Patterson Australia: Jeff Fradley Sydney Danny McBride Japan: Gia McBride Tokyo Bill Simons Spain David Choe Emily Contois David Hagedorn

- Losing the origins of food David Cheng USA: 2 4 ‘As meat turns’ - Anti-globalization Chris Ying Oakland - Immigrant food as signifying Reem Assil New York home Anissa Helou Seattle - Hybrid cuisine as a result of a Nathan Myhrvold Los Angeles mixture of cultures Gemre Narin Michigan - Food as an easy way for Mehmet Gurs Lebanon: immigrants to capitalize Diep Tran Roumieh - Middle eastern cuisine being Ali Houssaiky Beirut underestimated Hassan Houssaiky Turkey: - The stigma of representing Middle David Choe Istanbul Eastern cultures in the West Nabih Bulos Germany: - Food as a common language Abu Waseem Berlin - Multiculturalism Malakeh Jazmati

Table 2. Repeated themes in relation to the main concepts of the paper

Repeated themes, identified in the focused codes

Immigration Food as symbol of Global terms Stigmas in food culture

- Immigrant food as - Korean food - Meat as a - The stigma of signifying home traditions global product representing Middle - Hybrid cuisine as result of - Indian - India as - Food in Gender mixture of cultures traditions and source of stigmatization - Food as easy way for history global - Pregnancy process and immigrants to capitalize - Indian food ingredients stigmas - Indian influence through capital - Life changing immigration - Steak as a event of sign of having a child economic - School food

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova

capital and social status

10.4 Episode 1/ Season 2

MA Thesis Media and Communication Preslava Petkova