ABSTRACT
Culinary practices in our everyday lives have been analyzed in a great deal of researches arguing that food and drinks are essential parts in identity construction. The main function of culinary practices is to establish a sense of belonging in a particular environment. One of the tools in disseminating information about culinary practices whilst constructing one’s cultural identity through culinary practices is social media, in this case Instagram. Through a Cultural Studies perspective, this research investigates how Panggang Ucok, a culinary business in Jakarta, relies heavily on culinary innovation mixing localities from all over Indonesia to sell its products. At the same time, through its Instagram account, there are multiple strategies used to construct personalized images by emphasizing on the owner’s family as well as close and friendly relationships with the employees and customers unlike other Instagram pages owned by other culinary businesses, which focus solely on the products. In other words, in the dynamic relationship between the business owner and the ‘imagined audience’ of the Instagram page, Panggang Ucok is constructing an ideal image of a traditional-modern, commercial-private, and local-global articulation of identity.
