'Understanding a Culture through Food'

How can a nation's food describe its place in the world?
There are some countries for which the project of becoming more established in nationhood can be read through food. In Israel, for example, you see shirts, postcards, dedicated to promoting the falafel as the national food. The Arabs, of course, say that's utter nonsense. The food that is designated the national food says
France is a country that invests so much of its capital into food definitions: what is a French baguette? They have all these protocols that brand it. Same thing with appellation of specific grapes. If you call just a regular sparkling wine 'Champagne,' they go nuts. It's a very difficult country to work with because of the way it views itself and in its role in Europe and elsewhere. But the fact that it protests something as silly as the definition of French bread gives an indication of other things they'll defend with equal silliness.
Can food attitudes in different countries be an indicator of future conflicts or resolution of current ones?
Saying food is predictive might be a bit contrived, but food is one of the symbols that nations employ. When we look at countries and how they think about their food, it tells us what they think is important. It tells us a bit about their history and in some sense, about their future.