Culinary Tourism

Abstract

AbstractA product of both world history and contemporary mass culture, culinary tourism is a scholarly field of study that is emerging as an important part of the tourism industry. Also known as gastronomic tourism, tasting tourism, and simply food tourism, culinary tourism refers to adventurous eating, eating out of curiosity, exploring other cultures through food, intentionally participating in the foodways of an Other, and the development of food as a tourist destination and attraction. In culinary tourism, the primary motivation for travel is to experience a specific food. Culinary tourism parallels the globalization of food production and consumption and reflects issues inherent in tourism. It has the potential to address some of the controversial issues in tourism in general, such as questions of authenticity, commodification of tradition, identity construction, intellectual property and intangible heritage, as well as the ecological, economic, and cultural sustainability of food cultures in response to tourism.