In this thesis, I discuss the approaches of ethnomusicology and food studies to the interrelated literatures on identity formation, tourism, authenticity, and cosmopolitanism. While the scholarship in these two disciplines may run parallel at the moment, by analyzing each field's approaches to these issues, I gain an understanding of possible points of contact and divergence of the fields. The primary purpose of this project is to provide a basis for potential future research merging the cultural productions and use of music and food.

My primary research questions center around how the fields of ethnomusicology and food studies do overlap in theorizations of identity formation, tourism, and authenticity. How might cosmopolitanism be a useful concept in discussing music, food, and identity formation of middle class U.S. Americans? As an ethnomusicologist, what methodologies might be useful in such a project and can food studies offer us new methodologies?

In the first section, I compare the influences of formative identity theorists in both ethnomusicology and food studies disciplines, noting the significant contributions of these scholars to both fields in establishing the significance of music and foodways in creating and sustaining group identities, such as nationalism. In the next section, I focus on music and culinary tourism, exemplifying the concerns of each field in terms of how tourists interact with the cultural identities of others, the staging of cultural minority identities, and the constructed values of authenticity. I also provide an explanation of the terms "ethnic food" and "Americanization", both frequently used by food studies scholars. Finally, I look at the literatures on world music and ethnic cookbooks as a means to explore ideas of appropriation and cosmopolitanism in consuming the other.