Ethnic foods as unprepared materials and as cuisines in a culture-based development project in southwest China

In contemporary China, urban consumers often imagine that the unprepared foods produced in rural areas (often less developed and occupied by ethnic minorities) are pollution free, healthy, and environmentally friendly. During a recent culture-based development project in southwest China, villagers in several ethnic minority villages proposed that local foods could act as cultural resources for rural development. However, instead of highlighting the ethnic affiliation of their unprepared foods, villagers insisted on marketing their cuisines (cooked or prepared foods) under the new brand name of nongjiale (“farmers’ joy”). My argument is that the ethnic titles of these minority groups have been closely associated with negative connotations and so-called “unusual cuisines” (yiwei). This association cannot be easily removed. It is already rooted in public discourse and present throughout historical documents. However, the rebranding of restaurants as nongjiale has brought local villagers a new, positive marketing strategy. In urban and mainstream Chinese cultural areas, nongjiale connotes that food is organic, nutritious, ecological, and part of a return to nature.