Cuisine is a significant aspect of food culture which represents the special types of ingredients and foods, their combination, methods of manipulation of the ingredients, and rules of preparation and consumption. Not only is cuisine central to the concept of gastronomy but gastronomy has undeniable links to hospitality and tourism, with the meanings associated with hospitality often being mediated through gastronomic messages. Focusing on the food-focused communications including covers, the recipe titles and information in recipe columns, advertisements, and letters to the editor, this study aims to address two main questions; what is the advocated cuisine in the three select magazines of New Zealand representing the gourmet, current affairs, and women’s genre? What values have affected the advocated cuisine in these magazines?

Using a qualitative approach to content analysis, four elements of the concept of cuisine (i.e. basic foods and ingredients, dishes and food items, meals, preparation) were investigated in three major magazines in New Zealand; Cuisine (gourmet magazine), Listener (current affairs), and New Zealand Woman’s Weekly (women’s magazine). The timeline of the thesis was divided into two timeframes of 1955-1986 and 1987-2016 as the introduction of Cuisine in 1987 has been mentioned to be of major impact in the food scene of New Zealand. Applying the methods of systematic purposive sampling to select the magazine issues and systematic content sampling to select the units of communications, a sample of more than 3500 units of analysis was accumulated and analysed. The created codebook was based on both previous literature and generated data.

This thesis depicted how different facets of cuisine and aspects of food culture have been portrayed, reinforced or trivialized, and marketed to the audience; how such representations differed from one magazine to the next or throughout the timeline; and how the food-focused notions of hospitality have been exchanged through the mass mediated messages. The results also clearly displayed the elevation of the status of food from just a matter of biological sustenance to a topic worthy of interest.

In the earlier years (i.e. 1955-1986), food was a biological need, and the magazines generally refrained from introducing the novel and advocated a more homogenous cuisine to the supposedly ‘unadventurous’ reader who accepted the Anglo-American canon and revered the French cuisine. The ingredients, methods, and technology were what was accessible to the ‘typical’ reader. Food communications in the magazines centred the family’s everyday needs and were heavily concerned with the cost of food and thriftiness to create energy-dense food conveniently. The cuisine of the magazines in later years (i.e. 1987-2016) encompassed two poles; the ‘humble’ everyday fare of the woman’s magazine and the ‘prestigious’ fare of the gourmet magazine. The cuisine of the current affairs magazine stood between these two. Although different in execution, both the ‘prestigious’ and ‘humble’ cuisines valued the ‘high status’ food cultures of the Anglo-American or European origin while the lower status ethnic and indigenous (Māori) cuisines were added to spice up the magazines’ cuisine. The commonness of the ingredients was a quality revered in the ‘humble’ cuisine and disapproved in the ‘prestigious’ cuisine. However, the cooking techniques and technology that were accepted and known to the ‘typical’ reader were similar in both and advocated.

The magazines constantly negotiated between the values that affect food choice and cookery. Tradition, for instance, trumped the value of novelty or exoticism. Inconvenience in shape of extravagance with relation to time and effort added value to the food as it made it less mainstream and accessible, yet, more suited to host and impress the guest (i.e. the other). Cost of food lost its importance during the years while issues of health were often appealed to as a bonus. While enough economic capital was needed to purchase the ingredients, the status of food came from its cultural capital, rarity, and exoticism. Although men have entered the food scene, foodies have emerged, and gender stereotypes have been subtly altered in 1987-2016, still the stereotypic portrayals validated and reinforced power inequality between men and women. The responsibility of cooking both for high holidays, guests, and everyday has remained in women’s domain. Convenient recipes, therefore, were advocated more often by women for women while men occasionally visited the kitchen.

This thesis, with its interdisciplinary approach, yet still within the boundaries of hospitality studies, contributes to the existing body of knowledge on gastronomy and hospitality management and studies, in several ways. This research explored the changes in social attitudes, social relations, and consumer motivations with regards to hospitality over time. The mediated cultural meanings of hospitality, which could stimulate demand and affect host-guest relationship, have been investigated. Reception of such messages, to a certain degree through analysis of the contents of the letters to the editor, too, has been researched. Although this endeavour to discuss hospitality as a human phenomenon could potentially liberate hospitality from its functionalism and the boundaries of commercial domain, the findings of this research could still be of use to the notion of hospitality management and have implications for the sector given that mass mediated messages can affect consumption. The methodological approach would be specifically of value to studies of gastronomy in the field of tourism and hospitality as much of the existing literature is quantitative. The findings provide insight into aspects of the New Zealand food culture which had been neglected otherwise and would be of benefit to the international food studies that have been commonly Northern American or European centric. Finally, this study identifies some areas for the future research.