Food and gastronomy research in tourism and hospitality: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

This study examines the evolution of food and gastronomy research in hospitality and tourism (H&T) in the 40 years between 1976 and 2016, highlighting emerging research themes; methods; possible national, international, and interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary collaborations; and prolific food and gastronomy researchers and institutes in the H&T field. For this purpose, 16 leading H&T journals from 1976 to 2016 were analyzed using advanced bibliometric analysis, and a total of 5333 food-related published documents, including management, organization, and finance were identified. After further re-analysis and elimination, 462 articles were identified as food and gastronomy research articles. The research findings reveal that popularization of this theme increased after 2000; however, the total number of published articles in H&T journals are still behind the other disciplines. Most studies were empirical and conducted via quantitative methods, but scarcity in the advanced methodological approach still exists. Although international and national collaboration of food-related management, finance, and marketing topics have been growing among different institutions in the H&T field, only a limited number of articles seem to address food and gastronomy themes. This is the first study to offer a bibliometric analysis of food and gastronomy research in the H&T field with specific theoretical and practical implications.