Gastronomic Experience Research Articles

METAVERSE EXPERIENCE: MEASURING PRESENCE IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF GASTRONOMY

The aim of this study is to measure the sense of presence in virtual environments that can provide a different gastronomic experience in the metaverse by using new technologies. In the scope of the study, a virtual restaurant was created via digital platforms as a virtual environment design for the metaverse experience and it was experienced by the participants with the help of virtual reality glasses. The universe of the study consists of instructors involved in the educational and training activities of the General Directorate of Special Education and Guidance Services. It was applied face-to- face with thirteen of the trainers who were invited to Ankara within the scope of the "Material and Content Development for the Digital Game Project in Special Education " study carried out on May 23-27, 2022. After the practice, the “Sense of Presence Scale” was applied to the participants. In addition, an interview consisting of three items was conducted in order to obtain detailed information about the experiences and opinions of the participants. The results of the study indicated that the participants were inclined to prefer virtual restaurants in their daily lives and they believed that the communication established in the metaverse environment was healthy. It is recommended that the study be carried out under conditions that can provide a more realistic experience with the support of technical infrastructure. It is believed that the study will contribute to businesses and the field that aim to offer different services in the gastronomy sector.

Chinese red wine and cheese pairings: A preliminary study of consumer perception using check‐all‐that‐apply and hedonic tests

AbstractFood and wine pairing has been studied in marketing, sensory science, and hospitality fields to evaluate the gastronomic experience of consumers. In this study, three Chinese red wines (Cabernet Gernischt: CG, Marselan: MS, and Vitis amurensis Rupr: VR) were paired with two French cheeses (Brie and Camembert) and two Chinese cheeses [sweet cheese (SWC) and salty cheese (SAC)]. The physicochemical properties of wines and cheeses were determined. Also, sensory profiles of wine and cheese samples were collected using 100 participants by a check‐all‐that‐apply (CATA) test, and the ideal pairing of wines and cheeses was evaluated using hedonic, flavor intensity, and body‐to‐body relationship tests. The results showed that VR wine presented a sweet flavor and full body. MS and CG wines have a strong, bitter taste and a hot and rough mouthfeel than VR wine. The flavors of Camembert and Brie cheeses were richer and more complex than those of SWC and SAC. The textures of Camembert and Brie were elastic, smooth, creamy, fatty, and soft. VR wine enhanced consumer preference for all four types of cheeses (each combination liking score is more than six). Wine characteristics were suppressed and not enhanced by pairing with cheese. The ideal pair evaluation in terms of flavor intensity and body‐to‐body relationship confirmed that wines dominated these two aspects for cheese‐wine pairs.Practical ApplicationsCATA questions conducted with consumers are popular to profile and characterize food and beverage products. This investigation helps validate CATA method applications in food and wine pairing areas. In addition, the hedonic, flavor intensity, and body‐to‐body tests of Chinese wine and Chinese cheese pairing are helpful in promoting the development of the Chinese wine and cheese industry. The findings provide future research directions in pairing principles of food and beverages.

Influence of gastronomic motivations, satisfaction and experiences on loyalty towards a destination

PurposeThe main objective of this research is to establish an integrated model of gastronomy tourism to help some of the main public and private stakeholders design strategies to improve tourists' gastronomic experience and satisfaction, taking gastronomic motivations as a starting point. Furthermore, the difference between destination satisfaction and gastronomic satisfaction has been established in order to determine the degree to which each one influences loyalty towards the destination.Design/methodology/approachAfter detailing the theoretical framework for the development of the hypotheses, the study was carried out using a quantitative methodology based on structural equation modelling (SEM). The final sample consisted of 710 tourists who visited Córdoba, Spain – a world heritage city of international renown.FindingsResults indicate that gastronomic motivations, gastronomic experience and destination satisfaction have a direct influence on loyalty towards a destination. Also, destination satisfaction is found to play a mediating role in the relationship between gastronomic experience and loyalty towards the destination. Differences between destination and gastronomic satisfaction have been evidenced. For fostering a tourist's loyalty towards a destination, gastronomic satisfaction alone is not enough; other elements inherent to the destination itself are necessary for full loyalty, whether attitudinal or behavioural.Originality/valueCorrectly identifying tourist motivations can help managers of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to develop tailored marketing and communication campaigns that boost return visits to the destination or recommendations to family and friends. DMOs need to be aware that DMOs cannot overlook elements such as safety, hospitality or destination cleanliness at the expense of gastronomic satisfaction.

Autochthonous Cultures to Improve Safety and Standardize Quality of Traditional Dry Fermented Meats

Traditional dry fermented meat products are obtained artisanally in many countries, where they represent a gastronomic heritage well distinguished from industrial counterparts. This food category is most often obtained from red meat, a food commodity that is under attack because of evidence of increased risk of cancer and degenerative diseases with high consumption. However, traditional fermented meat products are intended for moderate consumption and gastronomic experience, and, as such, their production must be continued, which would also help safeguard the culture and economy of the geographical areas of origin. In this review, the main risks attributed to these products are considered, and how these risks are reduced by the application of autochthonous microbial cultures is highlighted by reviewing studies reporting the effects of autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB), coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS), Debaryomyces hansenii and Penicillium nalgiovense on microbiological and chemical safety and on sensory attributes. The role of dry fermented sausages as a source of microorganisms that can be beneficial to the host is also considered. From the results of the studies reviewed here it appears that the development of autochthonous cultures for these foods can ensure safety and stabilize sensory characteristics and has the capacity to be extended to a larger variety of traditional products.

Examining the relationship between gastronomic experience, revisit intention, destination image and destination brand love: a moderating role of cewebrity reviews

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the gastronomic experience and the revisit intention using a moderated serial mediation approach. The Stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) is a theoretical lens to explore the novel relationship of experience-image-love-intention. A total of 448 responses were collected from a structured questionnaire distributed among domestic tourists on gastronomy tours. A moderated serial mediation model was performed using SmartPLS 4. The relationship between a gastronomic experience (GE) and revisit intention (RVI) was positive and significant. The mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between GE and RVI was partially mediated by destination image and destination brand love. The results of the moderated mediation indicated that cewebrity reviews moderate the relationship between gastronomic experience, destination image, and revisit intention. This research provides ways for marketers to improve gastronomic experiences through specialized gastronomic routes and itineraries to encourage tourists to revisit a destination.

Analyzing Tea Tourism Products and Experiences From India and Turkey

Tea is considered an important symbol of expression of socio-cultural heritage, community bonding, ethnicities, and customs to strengthen local place identity. Tea tourism offers an engaging and enduring gastronomic experience due to the active participation of tourists. This study aims to identify the key destination tea tourism products or experiences. This study uses a qualitative research approach to identify the prime tea tourism products and experiences from two important tea-growing nations, i.e., India and Turkey, ranked second and fifth in global tea production, respectively. The research findings present four main categories: facilities, activities, tours, training, Observation, and twenty-five sub-categories relating to tea tourism products and experiences. This study also strives to discover the contribution of tea tourism products or experiences in the tours conducted by Indian and Turkey travel agencies. This study is one of the first studies to examine the selected elements of tea tourism at the destination. The results will contribute to several theoretical and practical implications concerning tea tourism in tea-producing countries. The study will also offer essential insights into how travel agencies may use tea tourism products and experiences efficiently in packaging their tours.

Key dimensions of memorable gastronomic experience: application of Q-methodology

ABSTRACT Gastronomy is considered a vital resource and is a key component of a memorable tourism experience. Some studies have explored memorable gastronomic experience (MGE) but have been unable to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic. The purpose of this research is to advance knowledge in relation to MGE. The Q-methodology of research synthesis (QMRS) was applied to identify MGE dimensions and support qualitative and quantitative approaches within the research process. The findings of the study contribute to a greater understanding of MGE by providing a conceptual model.

Antecedents of Gastronomy Destination Brand Equity: An Examination of Gastronomy Experience, Motivation, and Destination Satisfaction

This paper aims to test the relationships among gastronomic experience, motivation, destination satisfaction, and gastronomy destination brand equity. Data (n:600) was gathered from domestic visitors visiting Gaziantep in March, April to May 2018. Scale development to measure gastronomy experiences and scale adaptation process of destination brand equity were carried out. The relationships among the variables were examined with structural equation modeling. According to the findings, except H5 and H8, all hypotheses are significant in the research model. At the end of the study, significant theoretical and managerial implications were provided for the tourism providers and destination marketers, and managers.

특급호텔 고객의 미식관광동기, 미식경험, 충성도 간의 구조모델 분석

This study conducted an empirical study on the relationship between gastronomic tourism motivation, gastronomic experience, and loyalty of gourmet tourists using five-star hotel restaurants. As a result of the empirical study, it was analyzed that the consideration and sensory effect of gastronomic tourism motivation factors had a statistically significant effect on gastronomic experience, and gastronomic experience factors had a statistically significant effect on loyalty. However, it was analyzed that the health consideration and sensory effects constituting the gastronomic tourism motivation factor had a positive (+) effect on loyalty, but the standardized path coefficient value was very insignificant and statistically insignificant. Referring to the empirical analysis results between gastronomic tourism motivation, gastronomic experience, and loyalty, these findings suggest that five-star hotel restaurants are worth academic research as tourist destinations along with previous studies focusing on existing tourist destinations. In addition, a five-star hotel restaurant is considered to be worth researching in a niche market as a research subject for gourmet tourism or food tourism. As a practical implication, first, it is necessary to develop a 「to go」 product as a way to induce customers' motivation for gastronomic tourism in five-star hotel restaurants. Second, in order for the sensuous influence of five-star restaurant tourists through gourmet experiences to be made into gastronomic experiences, five-star hotel restaurant officials should make continuous efforts to improve the overall quality of gastronomic and induce customers to accept higher gastronomic prices.

The integrated power of gastronomic experience quality and accommodation experience to build tourists’ satisfaction, revisit intention, and word-of-mouth intention

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate a comprehensive multidimensional model of the gastronomic and accommodation experiences of domestic tourists, their links to satisfaction, trust, revisit, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intention in Bangladesh. Moreover, the present research examines the mediating impacts of tourists’ satisfaction and trust by applying the stimulus-organism-response framework as its theoretical ground. An online survey was conducted to collect usable 365 cross-sectional data and is analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM). Results confirm that gastronomic experience quality and accommodation experiences, accompanied by several sub-dimensions, have a significant impact on tourists’ satisfaction, trust, and promote repeat visits and WOM intentions. Our results evidenced that satisfaction and trust play important mediating roles, although trust has a few exceptions. This study suggests that industry managers should adopt content marketing strategies and policies that consider various sub dimensions of the gastronomic and accommodation experiences to provide valuable and relevant experiences for psychometric perceptions of tourists, which in turn allows the tourism business to achieve long-term goals and ensuring sustainability in this sector. Tourists’ perceptions of the quality of their gastronomic and accommodation experiences are offered as a tool for strategic experience design, and a model that explains their interactions with accommodation and gastronomy providers is provided.

Gastronomic Experience and Consumer Behavior: Analyzing the Influence on Destination Image.

Gastronomy experiences are becoming a fundamental factor that influences the making of a decision regarding choosing a travel destination, as well as being a crucial factor in shaping tourists' satisfaction regarding their overall travel experience. The aim of the study is to identify and explain the simultaneous impact of the key factors that influence a gastronomic experience and their impact on tourists' satisfaction with a trip and the destination's brand. These issues were addressed within the context of Ukraine, as this is an overlooked area of academic research, and an online survey was conducted, targeting domestic and international tourists. Structural equation modeling was used to assess and reveal the proposed hypotheses in the model. The study contributed to the theoretical understanding of the key factors that increases the occurrence of a memorable gastronomic experience and the relationship between the experience of food and its role in the satisfaction of and the perceived brand of a destination. Moreover, the finding showed that past experience and prior knowledge have a positive influence on the gastronomy experience, while tourists' prior knowledge effects the perceived quality of a destination's cuisine, as well as the food activities in the destination. Linkages in the model were empirically supported by statistical analyses. Nonetheless, the various level of the tourists' involvement with gastronomy might be used as an input to examine and improve the memorable gastronomic experience on-site. The research simultaneously highlighted the importance of gastronomy to tourist destinations for positioning on international and domestic markets. The paper not only provides theoretical but also practical implications. The hospitality and tourism businesses benefit from acknowledging the importance of local food and the local food market. The findings of this study are also deemed to assist destination marketers who observe that tourists have become more demanding in search of unique experiences offered by destinations.

Understanding the relationship between gastronomic experience, satisfaction, and revisit intention

Understanding the relationship between gastronomic experience, satisfaction, and revisit intention

Bioluminescence experience in the holistic cuisine: Making contact through living light and sound

The holistic cuisine is an interdisciplinary work in gastronomy to understand food and gastronomic experiences in different ways. It encompasses different fields and knowledge from natural to social science. This concept created by Rasmus Munk, the chef from Alchemist restaurant in Copenhagen, shows how different fields can work together. Inspired in the concept of alchemy, the chef brings a new vision of gastronomy, understanding the world holistically. Since alchemists tried out to distill light from fireflies, the chemiluminescence phenomenon has been intensively studied by scientist nowadays. It can be defined as the emission of light resulting by chemical reaction between a protein called luciferin and an enzyme called luciferase. Many different microorganisms have the capacity to produce light, like the Dinoflagellates, Pyrocistys lunula (algae). This study measured the capacity of this algae to grow at two different temperatures. It was found that at 21 °C, pH 7 and 35% of salinity was the optimum conditions for the highest growth. Searching for the highest luminosity of the algae by acoustic wave stimulation, it was found that at 18 Hz, algae showed the most. Curiously, 18 Hz appears to be one of the frequencies in which the musical note G is emitted. To see the effect of the blue bioluminescence emitted by applying the musical note G, it was measured the emotional response of a bioluminescent experience. The sensory analysis showed how the blue light evoke curiosity, expectancy, interest, surprise, or admiration. Blue light might be used in a gastronomic experience due to the emotions that evoke, but also in other applications in order to handle emotional challenges and regulate mood over time.

Customer experience management strategies in upscale restaurants: Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic

This study addresses customer experience management (CXM) in upscale restaurants. Specifically, it examines restaurateurs’ perceptions of customers’ changing needs following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, it identifies restaurants’ CXM strategies that are being used now and could be retained in the future to provide memorable customer experiences. A qualitative study was conducted via in-depth interviews with managers of Michelin-starred restaurants in 12 countries. Lexical analysis was used to examine customers’ needs and reflexive thematic analysis to identify CXM strategies. Before the pandemic, customers sought “immersive” and “amazing” experiences, while after, they craved “reassuring”, “sociable”, and “unparalleled” gastronomic experiences, as well as an experiential home service delivery. In addition, previous CXM strategies (i.e., customer experiential immersion, engagement, intrigue, and listening) have been superseded by reassurance, conviviality, gastronomic experimentation, and home luxury gastronomic experience delivery. This study provides a model of CXM to support restaurant managers in creating memorable CX.

Gastronomy Motivations as Predictors of Satisfaction at Coastal Destinations

Local gastronomy is a strategic vector for the sustainability of coastal destinations. The present study had the following objectives: first, to establish the motivational dimensions based on the gastronomic demand in a coastal destination; and second, to identify the motivational dimensions that predicted satisfaction with gastronomy. The study was carried out in the city of General Villamil Playas, a sustainable seaside destination characterized by its gastronomy based on fish and shellfish. It is part of Ecuador’s National System of Protected Areas. The results showed three motivational dimensions: cultural, physical, and social. Physical motivation was the main factor that predicted satisfaction with the gastronomic experience, followed by social motivation. The findings will contribute to the academic literature on coastal gastronomy. They will be helpful for food and beverage service providers to improve tourist satisfaction and stays.

Spices, Seasonings, and Flavors — Achieving the Desired Result

Creating a meat entree that provides a pleasant gastronomic experience is a combination of art, science, and technology. Spices and flavorings are used to achieve that experience, each contributing to the overall taste that is often unique to the region of its origin. Flavorings have the ability to be tailor made and offer the unique ability to provide a taste that cannot be easily developed through preparation processes.

A sentiment analysis of Michelin-starred restaurants

PurposeWith the growing popularity of social media, it has become common practice for consumers to write online reviews to share their opinion and experience as well as consider others' reviews to inform purchase decision-making. This study investigated how online review sentiments towards four key aspects (food, service, ambience and price) change after a restaurant is awarded a Michelin Star to shed light on how the award of a Michelin Star affects online reviews as well as what factors contribute to positive online restaurant reviews.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a sentiment analysis of online restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor. A total of 8,871 English-written reviews from 87 restaurants located in Europe were extracted using a web crawler developed by Beautiful Soup, and data were then processed using Semantria.FindingsThe study findings revealed that overall sentiments decreased after restaurants were awarded a Michelin Star, in which service sentiment was the most affected aspect, followed by food and ambience. Yet, price sentiment showed a prominent increase. This provides valuable insights for Michelin-starred restaurant operators and owners to create a unique and compelling gastronomic experience that triggers positive online reviews.Practical implicationsThe results of this study argue that consumers tend to hold higher expectations for this type of upscale restaurants given its recognition and quality assurance, so they are more likely to have negative feelings when their expectations are disconfirmed. Therefore, restaurants should continuously improve their food and service while paying attention to small details such as ambience, through creativity and innovation. Also, high-end restaurants, especially Michelin-starred restaurants, usually have the edge in premium pricing, yet competitive pricing may backfire considering its perceived luxurious values.Originality/valueThis study analyzed changes in customer sentiments when a restaurant is awarded a Michelin Star through text analytics. Through the lens of online restaurant reviews, the study findings contribute to identifying aspects that are most or least affected by the award of a Michelin Star as well as highlight the role of ambience in customer satisfaction which might have been overlooked in previous studies.

Intentions’ Determinants of Malaysian Muslim Travellers to Patronize Restaurants in South Korea

Observations of Muslim travellers have shown their interest in travelling in Muslim minority countries, particularly South Korea. However, the number of Halal Certified Restaurant (HCR) is inadequate, restricting their gastronomic experience. Another alternative is restaurants that do not have Halal certification but also provide Halal food, known as Muslim Friendly Restaurant (MFR). Thus, the intention of Malaysian Muslim travellers to patronise the restaurants was investigated by applying the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Through the distribution of questionnaires, 310 data were successfully collected. However, after the data screening process, only 292 data were found to be valid for further analysis using SPSS 26 and SmartPLS 3.2.8. The three factors in TPB, namely attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, were significant and positively related to the intention to patronise HCR and MFR. However, religiosity and restaurant attributes did not significantly impact the intentions.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ПЕРЕКЛАДУ КУЛІНАРНОГО ДИСКУРСУ

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of culinary discourse translation into Ukrainian on the example of culinary recipes. The aim of the research is to analyze the translation of culinary discourse texts on the example of recipes from the book “Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals”. The urgency of the work is due to the growing scientific interest in the translation of culinary texts in connection with the development of communications, due to which the gastronomic experience of different countries is rapidly spreading around the world, so culinary texts need adequate translation. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that the recipe as one of the key genres of culinary discourse has certain discursive features, a specific structure; however, modern recipes acquire certain genre modifications. An analysis of the translation of recipes revealed that the most commonly used grammatical transformations, represented by literal translation, syntactic transposition, grammatical permutations and substitutions, as well as addition and omission. It is determined that lexical transformations occur with medium frequency, such as: differentiation of meaning, partonymic and equonymic substitutions, concretization and modulation. The least common are lexical and grammatical transformations — holistic transformation and compensation for translation losses. It is established that the transformations used by translators allow better understanding the recipe, to understand the measures of the product, the ingredients. On the other hand, incorrect use of transformations leads to conceptually unsecured translation errors: the incorrect or incomprehensible name of ingredients, free interpretation of measures in the recipe, unnecessary clarifications leading to tautology were identified.

Train Tourism in the Context of Experiential Tourism: The Example of the Touristic Eastern Express Travel

Businesses focus on the concept of customer orientation in order to plan their activities correctly in the modern market. The concept of consumption experience has emerged in the modern marketing approach and the experiential tourism understanding has become widespread in the field of tourism. In this direction, the research focused on the concept of "train tourism", which is one of the alternative tourism types that the experiential tourism phenomenon is adopted as an approach. Moreover, the research aimed to develop a substantive theoretical model in order to determine the experiences of the individuals participating in the Eastern Express and Touristic Eastern Express travels. In the study using the grounded theory research design, the data obtained were analyzed using the constant comparative method, the three-step coding method and the coding manual. As a result of the analysis, a theoretical model named "Train Tourism Experience" and having a substantive nature was revealed. As a result of the research, eight components that generate the train tourism experience and named as "Emotional Experience, Gastronomic Experience, Hedonism, Innovative Experience, Authenticity, Popular Culture, Symbolism and Social Interaction" were revealed.