Eating potatoes is patriotic: state, market and the common good in contemporary China

Klein, Jakob A.

Abstract

The article explores recent materials, including cookbooks and a television documentary, backed by the state to promote the potato as a Chinese staple food. These materials attempt to convince would-be eaters that the tuber is a highly nutritious food, suited to modern lifestyles and health concerns, and that it is both cosmopolitan and embedded in Chinese regional food traditions. They articulate a moral economy of food in which the market is a key mechanism for achieving the greater good of national grain security and a healthy population, and in which state and citizen are jointly responsible for “nourishing the people.” Consumers are encouraged to purchase potatoes and potato foods not only to cultivate their own health, but also out of a duty to the well-being of the country. In framing potato-eating as a patriotic act, potato campaigns chime with emerging practices in China of “ethical food consumption.”

Citation

Klein, J. A. (2019). Eating potatoes is patriotic: state, market and the common good in contemporary China. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 48(3), 340-359. https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102620907239

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 21, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 20, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 31, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 3, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
• Print ISSN: 1868-1026
• Electronic ISSN: 1868-4874
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 340-359
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102620907239
• Keywords: potato promotion, moral economy, ethical consumption, food security