How Countries Use Food to Win Friends and Influence People

The spa­cious ground-floor space in the for­mer res­i­dence of the Span­ish ambas­sador in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., was packed with peo­ple. All around the walls, large, col­or­ful, artis­tic pic­tures of Span­ish ingre­di­ents and spe­cial­ties revealed what the event was all about: Span­ish food. The audi­ence was com­posed of pro­fes­sion­als and enthu­si­asts who had come to hear a…