The Foreign Service Journal, March 2019

TheSoft Power of SuperChef Panama GATHER THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2019 41 David Searby, the creator of Super Chef Panama, is a retired Foreign Service officer who joined the Foreign Service in 1988 and spent most of his career in the Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau. Beginning as an economic officer, he transitioned into public diplomacy. He helped develop public-private and civil society partnerships promoting sustainable development, includ- ing a tour as the working-level representative of the United States with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the United Nations Development Programme and the U.N. Population Fund. A former public affairs officer in Panama, Mr. Searby is now the president of BeachCorps, a social enterprise company creating a new kind of impact travel in the Dominican Republic. The author thanks Francisco “Paco” Perez, the current public affairs officer at Embassy Panama City, for his extensive contributions to this article. Readers may contact Mr. Searby (david@beachcorps.com ) or Mr. Perez (PerezFP@state.gov) for information on how to create their own “Super Chef.” This dynamic and engaging program goes a long way in meeting mission goals. And it is ripe for replication. BY DAV I D SEARBY ON CULINARY DIPLOMACY SPOTLIGHT A nervous young contestant enters the theater carrying her dish of chicken and shrimp jambalaya. The suspense- ful music and quick camera cuts add to the tension as she addresses the unsmiling panel of chef judges. Are we watching the Cooking Chan- nel?The Food Network? No, it is “Tu Mañana” on Telemetro, the top-rated morning TV show in Panama, whose audience in the hun- dreds of thousands is generally middle to lower-middle class, not foodie elites. We are watching “Super Chef Panama,” an unlikely creation of U.S Embassy Panama City that for the past six years has been a hit in Panama. Why in the world would a U.S. embassy be involved in a foreign reality TV cooking show? From its beginnings in 2012, the Super Chef programproved to be an effective and efficient tool to advance American soft power in Panama while supporting hard- nosed strategic objectives. Embassy Panama City worked with partners from the private sector, the government of Panama and dozens of other sponsors to develop Super Chef Panama, now under the direction of the Restaurants Association of Panama. Each year Panamanian youth from government vocational training programs (and often from