Masterchef Colombia: Modernity, Globalization and the Depiction of a Fragmented National Cuisine, A Food Systems perspective

This paper analyzes the construction of A National identity through food production in the reality TV Program Master Chef Colombia (MCC). MCC aired on prime time (9pm) in 2015 in the second largest TV channel by market share in the country. I explore the negotiated identities that arise from the adaptation of an international TV franchise for the national media and how the local and the global is represented in the display in order to locate the National cuisine in an international network of established chefs. I reflect on the relationship between modernity and national identity. For this I analyze (1) how is the food provided and which are the discourses that are present there. (2) How is the food prepared and what are the differences between the amateur chefs (contestants) and the professional chefs (judges) and how those differences are highlighted by gender differences in which the male chef is contrasted with the female chef. (3) how is the food presented? For this this I the socioeconomic and regional class differences that arise in the program as well as the settings in which the program takes place, in particular the shows that take place outside the MCC kitchen. I question the tensions that arise from the construction of a national cuisine through the exaltation of the regional differences and a discourse of local ingredient rediscovery. I argue that the image that is represented in MCC is a highly centralized version of the nation that depicts a modern nation in the supermarket as the modern place to obtain food, a dominant male urban chef, and urban areas that entitle themselves with a sense of omnivorousness when it comes to international and national food knowledge. The image of National cuisine that arises is a fragmented and skewed one that doesn’t take into account the rural, the female chefs and the regions.