Handbook on Food Tourism 1803924160, 9781803924168

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HANDBOOK ON FOOD TOURISM

RESEARCH HANDBOOKS IN TOURISM Series Editor: Robin Nunkoo, University of Mauritius This timely series brings together critical and thought-provoking contributions on key topics and issues in tourism and hospitality research from a range of management and social science perspectives. Comprising specially-commissioned chapters from leading authors, these comprehensive Research Handbooks feature cutting-edge contributions and are written with a global readership in mind. Equally useful as reference tools or high-level introductions to specific topics, issues, methods and debates, these Research Handbooks will be an essential resource for academic researchers, practitioners, undergraduate and postgraduate students. For a full list of Edward Elgar published titles, including the titles in this series, visit our website at www​.e​-elgar​.com​.

Handbook on Food Tourism Edited by

Eerang Park Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer of Tourism, School of Business & Law, Edith Cowan University, Australia

Sangkyun Kim Associate Professor of Tourism, School of Business & Law, Edith Cowan University, Australia

RESEARCH HANDBOOKS IN TOURISM

Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA

© The Editor and Contributors Severally 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing Limited The Lypiatts 15 Lansdown Road Cheltenham Glos GL50 2JA UK Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. William Pratt House 9 Dewey Court Northampton Massachusetts 01060 USA A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Control Number: 2023952159 This book is available electronically in the Geography, Planning and Tourism subject collection http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781803924175

ISBN 978 1 80392 416 8 (cased) ISBN 978 1 80392 417 5 (eBook)

EEP BoX

Contents

About the editorsvii List of contributorsviii Forewordxii 1

Introduction: the endless journey through our imagined curiosities, our tasteful stories Eerang Park and Sangkyun Kim

PART I

1

(RE)THINKING AND (RE)EVALUATING FOOD TOURISM

2

Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions Lucy M. Long

3

Building an imagined sense of place and resurrecting memories with food tourism Sally Everett

4

Characteristics of place for food destinations: a foodscape perspective Andy Widyanta and Eerang Park

5

Zorba’s kitchen: consuming Greekness in tourist-oriented restaurants in Greece 61 Michal Rozanis and Nir Avieli

6

Food for thought: tourism, eating and the consequences of everyday decisions Tracy Berno

73

7

There’s no place like food: instant noodles, instant elsew(here) Desmond Wee

86

PART II

18

33 48

FOOD TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND STAKEHOLDERS

8

The notion of local in rural food tourism: insights from the Swedish context Josefine Östrup Backe

9

Regenerative practices and the local turn: food tourism in rural regional context 117 Maree Gerke, Can-Seng Ooi and Heidi Dahles

10

Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development: the case of South Africa Hennie Fisher and Gerrie du Rand

133

11

Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability: a supply-side discussion of noodle experiences in Suzhou Denian Cheng, Joanna Fountain, Christopher Rosin and Xiaomeng Lucock

150

v

103

vi  Handbook on food tourism PART III TRENDS, INNOVATIONS, AND NEW FOOD TOURISM ATTRACTIONS 12

The homeland of Sanuki udon: unconsolidated placemaking processes in a food tourism destination Kyungjae Jang, Sangkyun Kim and Timo Thelen

13

From a newspaper page to a must-visit food tourism attraction Francesc Fusté-Forné

182

14

Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan David J. Telfer and Atsuko Hashimoto

194

15

From watching to eating: food tourism perspectives on Japan’s ama divers and their catches Timo Thelen

209

16

Learning to eat and eating to learn: unpacking co-created tourism experiences at a wild food festival Ingrid Kajzer Mitchell and Will Low

226

17

Evaluating the value creation of memorable or extraordinary gastronomic tourism experiences: a case study approach Paul Strickland and Kim M. Williams

244

167

PART IV PROSPECTS AND OUTLOOKS FOR NEXT GENERATION OF FOOD TOURISM 18

Food taste experiences and gastrophysics: gender matters? Sangkyun Kim, Min Xu and Eerang Park

19

Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience to the new post-crisis scenario from a resilience approach Rocío González-Sánchez, Sara Alonso-Muñoz, María Torrejón-Ramos, Fernando E. García-Muiña and María-Sonia Medina-Salgado

20

What we know of food tourism: systematic review of the literature using informetric analysis and directions for future research Eerang Park, Sangkyun Kim and Anton Klarin

259

272

288

Index307

About the editors

Dr Eerang Park is Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow of Tourism at Edith Cowan University. Her research interests include community engagement in tourism development, place making, slow city and tourism, food tourism, and tourist experience, and her research involves multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. Her research on food tourism delves into the complexities and dynamics of food in society and food tourists as co-creators and their engagement with the local foodscape through the circuit of production and consumption. She is a co-editor of Food Tourism in Asia (2019). Dr Sangkyun Kim is Associate Professor of Tourism and Creative Industries at the School of Business and Law in Edith Cowan University. His work is international and interdisciplinary at the boundaries of social psychology, cultural studies, media studies, geography, and tourism. He is Associate Editor of Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research and sits on the editorial boards of International Journal of Tourism Research and Tourism Management Perspectives. He is an editor of Film Tourism in Asia: Evolution, Transformation and Trajectory (2018) and Food Tourism in Asia (2019). He is a Visiting Professor at the School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam.

vii

Contributors

Sara Alonso-Muñoz is PhD lecturer and researcher at Rey Juan Carlos University in the Department of Business Administration (ADO), Applied Economics II and Fundaments of Economic Analysis. She is developing professional activities in teaching and research. Her main research fields are focused on circular supply chain, sustainable tourism and waste management. Nir Avieli is a professor of anthropology at Ben Gurion University, Israel, studying food culture, tourism, gender, and leisure, in Vietnam, Israel, Zanzibar and Greece. His books include Rice Talks: Food and Community in a Vietnamese Town (2012, Indiana University Press), and Food and Power: A Culinary Ethnography of Israel (2017, University of California Press). Tracy Berno is professor at Auckland University of Technology in Auckland. Her interests include the relationship between agriculture, tourism and cuisine, sustainable food systems and food politics in the South Pacific and Asia. She has researched and published widely on these topics and has co-authored three international award-winning books in this area. Denian Cheng obtained his PhD degree from the Department of Tourism, Sport and Society of Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Lincoln University, New Zealand. He is a lecturer at Nanjing Forestry University, China. His current research focuses on food/culinary/ gastronomic tourism, authenticity (authentication), and sustainability. Heidi Dahles, MSc, PhD, Radboud University, Netherlands, is adjunct professor at the School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania. She was Head of Department at Griffith Business School (Australia) and Vrije University Amsterdam (Netherlands), visiting professor at the Cambodia Development Research Institute (Phnom Penh) and a member of the Griffith Institute for Tourism (Gold Coast, Australia). Gerrie du Rand is an associate professor in the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa now in a post-retirement position. She is recognised academically as a researcher and expert in the field of food and hospitality-related consumer behaviour. Her specialty area of interest is food tourism and the use of local foods in culinary mapping. Her current involvement with postgraduate students focuses on consumer food practices and behaviour, culinary practices, innovative culinary product and recipe development and food tourism. She is also affiliated with WFTA as the academy director. Sally Everett is professor of business education and Vice Dean (Education) at King’s Business School, King’s College London. Sally is a National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Sally has published widely on food tourism and resistance to events, and also writes about inclusive education. Hennie Fisher is a culinary arts lecturer (Department of Consumer and Food Sciences). He holds a PhD in Food Management for which he validated a food literacy measurement instruviii

Contributors  ix ment. His research involves cultural food, e.g., chikanda, tiger nuts and indigenous flowers, as well as sensory research, e.g., mogodu. Joanna Fountain is associate professor and the director of the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Tourism at Lincoln University, New Zealand. Her research explores food and wine value chains and consumer behaviour, from production and distribution to the potential of food, wine and agri-tourism to enhance rural resilience and consumer experiences. Francesc Fusté-Forné holds a PhD in tourism (University of Girona) and a PhD in communication (Ramon Llull University). His research is focused on food and rural marketing and tourism. He also conducts applied research on the role of gastronomy in relation to mass media and as a driver of social changes. Fernando E. García-Muiña is full professor and vice-rector for research, innovation and transference at Rey Juan Carlos University. He has a PhD in management and business administration sciences. His field of research focuses on strategic management and knowledge management. He is author of numerous Journal Citation Reports (JCR) publications, and he is main researcher in many European projects. Maree Gerke is an experienced educator who has held senior roles within the Tasmanian public service in training and education, working closely with the tourism and hospitality industry to identify and implement strategies and initiatives to address industry and workforce needs and challenges. The research at the centre of his chapter was undertaken as part of a master’s of tourism, environmental and cultural heritage programme at the University of Tasmania. Rocío González-Sánchez, PhD in business organisation from Rey Juan Carlos University, is currently the Deputy Director of the Business Administration Department. She is the author of several scientific papers in JCR journals such as Tourism Review, Service Business and British Food Journal. Her main research fields are sustainability, circular economy and waste management. Atsuko Hashimoto is professor in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, Brock University, Canada. Her research interests are human aspects of tourism development, especially in Japan. She has researched Japanese culinary traditions and tourism, agriculture and tourism, and green tourism projects. She also teaches culinary tourism. Kyungjae Jang is associate professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. He holds a PhD and MA in tourism studies from Hokkaido University. Dr Jang has conducted participatory research on transnational popular culture and tourism in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Ingrid Kajzer Mitchell is an associate professor in marketing at Royal Roads University. Her research areas broadly focus on marketing’s impact in society, advancing sustainable business practices and purpose-driven brands, alternative production and consumption practices with a particular interest in alternative food movements. Sangkyun Kim is an interdisciplinary researcher in tourism, specialising in film tourism, food tourism, community empowerment and quality of life, tourist experience, and visual and mixed methods.

x  Handbook on food tourism Anton Klarin, PhD, University of New South Wales, is an interdisciplinary business and society scholar interested in innovation, technology, sustainability, industrial policy, international business, and tourism research. Lucy M. Long, PhD, Folklore, University of Pennsylvania, teaches adjunct at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. She also runs the independent non-profit Center for Food and Culture. She has published extensively on food and tourism, including Culinary Tourism (2004) and The Food and Folklore Reader (2015). Will Low is professor of sustainable business practice at Royal Roads University. He trained as an economist at the University of British Columbia and London School of Economics. He is internationally recognised for research which helped to define the field of fair trade studies, and he also works on labour rights and alternative food networks. Xiaomeng Lucock is a senior lecturer in agribusiness management at Lincoln University, New Zealand. Dr Lucock specialises in interdisciplinary research within agribusiness systems, with a particular focus on the impact of cultural norms on the decision-making within these systems. María-Sonia Medina-Salgado is coordinator of business administration degree and associate professor at Rey Juan Carlos University. She has a PhD in business administration from University Rey Juan Carlos. Her extensive teaching and research experience has developed in strategic management and information systems management. Her current research is focused on sustainability, circular economy and tourism. Can-Seng Ooi is a sociologist and professor of cultural and heritage tourism at the University of Tasmania. His areas of research include place branding, tourism and community development, food tourism, the creative industries and cross-cultural interaction. He often relies on empirical evidence to draw comparative lessons from countries like Australia, Singapore, Denmark, Malaysia and China. His personal website is www​.canseng​.ooi. Josefine Östrup Backe is a tourism researcher and senior lecturer at the Department of Service Studies, Lund University, Sweden. Her research focuses on sustainable tourism and destination development, and particularly in understanding the role of local food in tourism in rural and urban contexts. Eerang Park is a tourism researcher with a specific focus on food, culture, gastronomy, and destination foodscape. Her research projects investigate the complexities and dynamics of food, travel and society from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. Christopher Rosin is a senior lecturer at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Society in Lincoln University, New Zealand. His research focuses on agri-food systems as a key context within which social activity is integral to ecological dynamics from the perspective of social theories of human–environment relations. Michal Rozanis is writing her PhD in anthropology of food, concentrating on the interactions between food, tourism and national identity in Greece. Paul Strickland is a senior lecturer in tourism, hospitality and events at La Trobe University. Paul has a vast background of job titles in industry from around the globe. His research inter-

Contributors  xi ests include wine marketing, ethnic restaurants, fashion trends, Bhutanese studies and space tourism. Paul completed his PhD specialising in wine marketing and events. David J. Telfer is professor in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, Brock University, Canada. His areas of research include the linkages between tourism and development theory, and heritage, culinary and rural tourism. He has also been studying green tourism in Japan. Timo Thelen is assistant professor at the Faculty of International Studies in Kanazawa University. He has studied Japanese studies and cultural anthropology in Dusseldorf and Tokyo. His research focuses on media tourism and rural culture. His first monograph, Revitalization and Internal Colonialism in Rural Japan (Routledge), was released in 2022. María Torrejón-Ramos is a PhD student at Rey Juan Carlos University. She is tourism graduate and she obtained a master in tourism marketing and a master in business organisation. She is currently professor in the Department of Business Administration at Rey Juan Carlos University. Her research focuses on the tourism sector and sustainability. Desmond Wee is professor of culture, consumption and mobilities at CBS Cologne (Germany) and Vice-President (Europe) of Euro-Asia Tourism Studies Association (EATSA). His research explores everyday culture, leisure practices and global mobilities using visualities and reflexive methodologies to incorporate identity and imagination in spaces of performance. Andy Widyanta is a senior tourism specialist in the Deputy for Tourism Product and Events, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Republic of Indonesia. His research interests include topics related to community empowerment and tourism, destination management, tourist experience, and special interest tourism, notably food tourism and adventure tourism. Kim M. Williams is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Higher Education at William Angliss Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Kim lectures in event management and human resources. Her research background is diverse, but tends to focus on human resources issues, with a prime emphasis on professional development and training. She is also interested in event management, gastronomy, fashion and wine tourism. Min Xu is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Yangzhou University in China. Her research interests focus on media and everyday life. She has published her research in journals such as Media, Culture & Society, Chinese Journal of Communication, Celebrity Studies, and Tourist Studies.

Foreword

The Handbook on Food Tourism is a timely endeavour that should sate the hunger of researchers for new knowledge, at a time when tourism is being pushed into rethinking itself as the long shadows of the pandemic fade. As the authors hint at in the introduction to the volume, food is inextricably tied to touristic narratives, with links to authenticity and culture, in particular. The terms gastronomy and culinary tourism can be used interchangeably with food tourism because, collectively, they draw on the links between people and place, and the underlying distinctions that their food traditions make to the reinforcement of sense of place, identity, culture, and lifestyle, among a plethora of related essential ingredients. The pull of food or gastronomy as an underpinning motivation that drives visitation to countries is redolent and evident across the global tourism landscape. Former Secretary General of the UN World Tourism Organization, Taleb Rifai, captured the centrality of food in the minds of travellers when he said (World Tourism Organization, 2012, p. 4): For many of the world’s billions of tourists, returning to familiar destinations to enjoy tried and tested recipes, cuisine, gastronomy has become a central part of the tourism experience. Against this background, food tourism has gained increasing attention over the past years. Tourists are attracted to local produce and many destinations are centering their product development and marketing accordingly. With food so deeply connected to its origin, this focus allows destinations to market themselves as truly unique, appealing to those travelers who look to feel part of their destination through its flavours.

Decades of post-World War II migratory patterns, and other similar waves of international migration, have further propelled the proliferation of food traditions and culinary exchanges, the world over. Food has arguably aided the bolstering of productive cross-cultural interactions and very often acts as the gateway to foreign cultures, and a precursor for more abundant and closer human relations. Food as the essence of people and place, and central to the cultural backdrop is considered to abide by “cultural anthropology through understanding the interactions of tourists with place through the medium of food” (Ellis et al., 2018, p. 261). Moreover, “food functions as a metaphor for the construction and expression of ethnicity and cultural identity, and we human beings connect food and eating to rituals, symbols and belief systems” (ibid). Notwithstanding, beyond food as an interlocutor underlining the quintessence of people and place, the proliferation of gastronomy and food in popular culture as seen in mainstream television and the cookbook genre has given people culinary knowledge that their forbears would have struggled to match. The likes of Rene Redzepi (2017), a contemporary culinary torch bearer and founder of Noma, the renowned Copenhagen restaurant, and the many others that emerged around the globe, has led the renaissance of food in the everyday. In promoting his global culinary tours, Redzepi quipped: From our team’s travels across Scandinavia to relocating our restaurant to Tokyo and Sydney, our international journeys have helped expand our minds and our tastes and influenced the creativity of the Noma kitchen.

xii

Foreword  xiii Literary and media influencers promoting food and culinary cultures to mainstream audiences, like Redzepi, have also propelled the place of food in the contemporary imagination. Another is the legendary Anthony Bourdain (2000), who took his audience around the globe with him through his ever-popular TV series No Reservations, and in the process introduced hitherto unknown places to the tourist gaze. Tourism has profited from these entreaties, enticing visitation, and tempted by the promise of culinary discoveries, alongside the lure of sun, sand and sea, and other typical touristic pursuits. Apropos, the Handbook on Food Tourism sets out to capture the enormity of food tourism and its various constituent parts and put forward cutting-edge updates that contribute new knowledge to the scientific scrutiny of the multiplicity of topics that have emerged. As the editors of this volume query at the outset: “Why does food matter to us? What is food tourism? How is food experienced and what does food experience tell us about the place and its peoples, cultures, and environments? What are newly emerging trends that shape and transform non-food tourism places into new food tourism locations or attractions?” In all, the production of this book is both ambitious and timely. With 20 contributions to the volume, examining contemporary trends, stakeholder sentiments, innovations, and prospects, among other exigencies, this book serves as a buffet for the literary smorgasbord therein. Prospective audiences for this handbook should be licking their lips in anticipation, as authors take them on a food tourism journey. Finally, while food tourism is splendiferous and enticing, offering a world full of promise to those who imbibe in it, spare a thought for the producers, the cooks, and the servers who enable food tourism experiences. As Tony Naylor articulated, for culinary purists, food tourists present somewhat of a dilemma – food as spectacle for tourists, or food as the embodiment of purpose, identity and sustenance: If people save to come here, it’d be rude for me not to say hello. It’s called hospitality. But I’m a working chef. By 11.30pm on Saturday night, I’m drained. I’ve spilled shit over my jacket. I might be bollocking someone. It’s a working kitchen. I hope you enjoyed yourself. Here’s a menu. But I don’t pretend to be a host. I’m a chef.

At the time of writing in 2023, Rene Redzepi has famously decided to step away from culinary superstardom, citing that he could “no longer afford to produce showstopping cuisine while also paying his nearly 100 employees a fair wage and serving diners at a price they find reasonable”. Redzepi is arguably reflexive about sustainability and well-being issues, as well as removing himself from the commodification of food and food traditions merry-go-round that is evident in food tourism. These and other critical deliberations and theoretical interventions are fundamental ingredients of the Handbook on Food Tourism and the endeavour appropriately sets the scene for future research on the topic. In closing, the final word on what food tourism is goes to the World Food Travel Association: The act of traveling for a taste of place in order to get a sense of place.

Joseph M Cheer Ph.D. School of Social Sciences Geography Tourism and Planning Western Sydney University, Australia

xiv  Handbook on food tourism

REFERENCES Bourdain, A. (2000) Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Bloomsbury Publishing. Ellis, A., Park, E., Kim, S., & Yeoman, I. (2018) What is food tourism? Tourism Management, 68, 250–263. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1016/​j​.tourman​.2018​.03​.025 Leasca, S. (2023) World-Renowned Restaurant Noma Closing After 20 Years – But the Story Isn’t Over. Food & Wine. 9 January. Accessed on 25 July 2023 https://​www​.foodandwine​.com/​noma​-closes​ -copenhagen​-7092823 Naylor, T. (2019) The problem with food tourism: the chefs fighting to keep their restaurants special. The Guardian, 24 June. Accessed on 25 July 2023 https://​www​.theguardian​.com/​food/​2019/​jan/​24/​ the​-problem​-with​-food​-tourism​-the​-chefs​-struggling​-to​-keep​-their​-restaurants​-special Redzepi, R. (2017) Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine. Phaidon. World Food Travel Association (2023) What is food tourism? Accessed on 25 July 2023 https://​www​ .worldfoodtravel​.org/​what​-is​-food​-tourism World Tourism Organization (2012) Global Report on Food Tourism, UNWTO, Madrid.

1. Introduction: the endless journey through our imagined curiosities, our tasteful stories Eerang Park and Sangkyun Kim

1. INTRODUCTION Let’s start with our stories. The editors themselves are food enthusiasts or so-called ‘foodies’ and are fairly (or more precisely ‘very’) obsessed with local food, travelling with a short or long list of must-eat on their holidays. The leading editor vividly recalls an experience during her holiday to Croatia of the Croatian traditional dish, peka. Arriving at Zagreb in Croatia as her first destination, she already pictured the dish and eagerly searched for places to sample peka but failed. It was okay not to tick off a must-eat on the first destination, but by the middle of her travel itinerary, she started worrying that she might not be able to taste this dish. From the north to the south of the country, she and her companion had little luck in finding any restaurants serving peka. They asked local people and hotel staff in Rovinj in the west and Zadar down south, and at Split, but no one could let them know where peka was served. Even worse was the discovery that not many local people were knowledgeable about peka and some locals even looked at them as if they were strange tourists looking for unknown (or more precisely, rare) foods the locals usually do not eat. At her last destination, Dubrovnik, she was finally able to taste this dish thanks to a hotel front desk staff who was born and grew up there. From him, she learned that it was a disappearing (and almost non-existent) traditional food that is hard to find in big cities, because not many people can cook or want to cook as it needs special equipment, called peka, which is a terracotta or iron lid. Also, it requires someone to keep stoking the fire with wood for long hours to secure the burning embers (see Figure 1.1). Food cooked under a peka over burning embers is generally called peka. Likewise, as one may imagine, it is not easy at all to cook via this ancient method in today’s modernised kitchen. Finally, she and her companion felt accomplished, having their wish list fulfilled. Similarly, Fijian lovo, New Zealand’s hangi, and Hawaiian imu are iconic food(ways) in each named destination which are not often found in everyday dining settings; in fact, they were originally for special occasions. Lovo, hangi, and imu all refer to the traditional below-ground oven cooking methods, and the remains of cooking pits found in the Pacific islands, is a key sign of human settlement (Thomas, 2021). Regardless of taste, many tourists including the editors wish to try, and whilst the food may taste of nothing special, it still has a special meaning and becomes a unique, authentic, and/or memorable holiday experience. As such, food matters in our everyday life and becomes a different matter when it comes to one’s travel. The subject of food tourism, or the close relationship between food and tourism, has been growing in the tourism research space since Belisle’s exploration of tourism and food production in 1983. However, its unprecedented growth and popularisation in the tourism literature has been witnessed in more recent years (2008–2021) (also refer to Chapter 20 in this handbook). Arguably, this is not a new phenomenon, as the world’s oldest restaurants, 1

2  Handbook on food tourism

Figure 1.1

Traditional Croatian peka in Dubrovnik

such as Restaurante Botin (1725) in Madrid, have influenced people’s mobility and tourism from almost as early as the 18th century. Throughout the centuries, many noteworthy authors, such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, have travelled to dine in Restaurante Botin. Similarly, the acclaimed two oldest Japanese udon noodle shops in the Mizusawa region of Japan, Tamaruya and Shimizuya, boast a history of more than 400 years of fresh udon noodle-making, serving millions of tourists, including the royal family, as their regular patrons (Kim & Iwashita, 2016; Kim et al., 2019). Both traditional and everyday food can be consumable, authentic cultural artefacts as a tourist’s quest for otherness. Food tourism is considered a tasteful experience of the ‘other’ through food-related activities, whereby cultural learning and knowledge transfer of the destination and its people are facilitated (Horng & Tsai, 2010). Nowadays, food (tourism) is the third most important motivation for taking a holiday (UNWTO, 2017). According to the World Food Travel Association, around 53 per cent of holidaymakers are food travellers. It is also claimed that now is the perfect time to be a food tourist, thanks to the proliferation of food-themed media such as TV shows promoting food travel, celebrity chefs, travel guidebooks, and social media that provide (hidden) local restaurant information and reviews as well as updated lists of top restaurants and/or food-related activities in loco (Broadway, 2017). This is particularly noticeable in Asia (Park et al., 2019). For example, Ganso Sapporo Ramen Street located in the Susukino district in Sapporo, Japan, is the place for filming Sapporo ramen (see Figure 1.2). This narrow alley is known as a popular tourism attraction, especially for Japanese ramen enthusiasts from Japan and other countries. Food at destinations comes to all kinds of tourists. All the food stalls in airport duty-free shops encourage tourists to buy food souvenirs, and such shops are the showcase of national and regional food culture (see Figure 1.3). Many tourists also enjoy food souvenir shopping in local supermarkets. Sometimes it is not necessarily the traditional or contemporary food of domestic people –­­ for instance, today’s

Introduction  3

Figure 1.2

Ganso Sapporo Ramen Street in Hokkaido

tourists are privileged to sample and buy all kinds of fruit-flavoured coffee in Thailand, which is specially made as tourist souvenirs and which local Thai people would never drink. This is what’s happening with food (production and consumption) in tourism. Food souvenirs help our ordinary cooking life at home become enriched and more vibrant (Park et al., 2023). We

4  Handbook on food tourism

Figure 1.3

A food souvenir shop displaying Hokkaido local and regional signature dishes at New Chitose Airport, Japan

can easily access foreign ingredients and sauces in our pantry, and the exotic packages play a role in reminiscing about our holiday memories and thus let us feel emotionally and psychologically closer to the travelled destinations (Lin & Mao, 2015). Such feeling acts as a sensory stimulus and sometimes a psychological relief in non-travelling situations, such as the unprecedented worldwide lockdown period associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. What do those unextinguished food-related desires and spin-offs around ‘food for tourism’ mean? And how can we approach ‘food in tourism’ and offer a better and perhaps more nuanced understanding of the complexity and dynamics of the food tourism phenomenon, given the rapid, unprecedented transition from ‘food for tourism’ to ‘tourism for food’? These are some fundamental questions. This handbook provides timely, important contextual backgrounds to answer such questions. More importantly, theoretical and conceptual contributions will be provided, which will inform how this handbook approaches, understands, and discusses the phenomenon of food tourism.

2.

FOOD IN TOURISM AND FOOD TOURISM RESEARCH

Food consumed during one’s travel should be safe, delicious, exotic, and informative enough to be regarded as an authentic experience of the otherness, which is the basis of (food) tourism

Introduction  5 (Long, 2004). Yes, food is said to represent culture and identity, which is an old but valuable cliché worthy of mention in the tourism context, in which every encounter via (in)tangible food artefacts forms the core of the food tourism experience. Food, as it relates to a singular place, is not only about a collection of the best ingredients and delicious sustenance the place has to offer but is a cultural and societal representation of the socio-cultural, economic, political, and ecological framework that exists within the population of the place (Lang et al., 2009). Thus, food is considered an ‘expression of local ways of consumption and of the local growing or manufacturing praxis linked to the territory and to its history’ (Cianflone et al., 2013, p. 336). Likewise, the food tourism experience is the voluntary exposure to and learning of the food culture of others’ societies which a food tourist temporarily visits and experiences. Through the lens of cultural anthropology, foods and foodways, or foodscape as a more holistic concept, become the experience of the other to the outsider, as well as the construction of a marketable and publicly attractive identity to insiders (Long, 2004). Experiencing the foodways of other societies is assisted through the communication of social and cultural elements of food that signifies the local culture and identity (Ottenbacher & Harrington, 2013). The complexity of the social, cultural, and geographical evolution of the foodways concerns the outsiders’ imaginations, desires, and expectations regarding local food as an artefact and its taste as a sensorial experience, which is believed to be different from those of the outsider’s usual, mundane experience (Heldke, 2015). Food in tourism is, therefore, essentially and inevitably tied to geography and associated culture and identity. The local food concept is often conceived as being authentic (Cook & Crang, 1996). Authenticity tied to the tourist’s quest for otherness (MacCannell, 1973) creates local food as a manifestation of a local’s identity by positioning them against ‘the other’ (Ellis et al., 2018), and part of the process of place-labelling (Feagan, 2007), through which gastronomic or culinary imageries for a place and emotional ties to the place develop a sense of place (Kim & Ellis, 2015; Kim & Iwashita, 2016; Tuan, 1977). Through this complex process, the local population commodifies their typical food(ways) and food culture for marketable authentic (re)presentation to outsiders (Everett, 2016). In this regard, our understanding of and approach to a destination’s foods and foodways requires a more holistic lens (Park & Widyanta, 2022). In the early stage of food tourism research, food in tourism was a cultural heritage experience (for example, Bessière, 1998), and with growing recognition of food as a cultural resource, food became a frequent topic of rural tourism development or rural social studies (for example, Everett & Aitchison, 2008; Schluter, 2011; Sidali et al., 2015; Spilkova & Fialova, 2013; Staiff & Bushell, 2013). Various terms, including culinary, gastronomy, taste, cuisine and so on, appeared in research regarding food and tourism linkages and widened the scope of food research in tourism. A critical comprehensive literature review conducted by Ellis et al. (2018) identifies the three most commonly used terms, namely culinary tourism, gastronomy tourism, and food tourism, and they proposed that a subtle difference was found from different perspectives based on the host–guest relationship of the tourism system. In previous research, culinary tourism was more often used from the tourist-centric approach and regarded food activities as cultural consumption of the host destination; meanwhile, gastronomy tourism explicitly presented a host-driven focus, and the term gastronomy refers to the place of food. The most generic term, food tourism, was rather used from both host- and tourist-driven research and referred to activities and behaviours (that is, visitation to food-related locations) motivated

6  Handbook on food tourism by a desire to engage with the destination’s local food and foodways. Beyond academia, food tourism today is appealing; encompassing the act of travelling for a taste of place in order to get a sense of place, and food tourists are referred to as participants in food experiences other than people dining out (World Food Travel Association, n.d.). Arguably, the terms have never shifted from cultural perspectives, providing an anchor for food and tourism, and increasingly focused on the subjective meanings and personal(ised) experiences of food in relation to the people and place of a food tourism destination. However, a great tendency of pragmatic scholarly approach, predominant in tourism and its related management disciplines, has put food into the category of consuming or consumed items, which results in food in tourism separated from the associated social and cultural contexts and its detachment from symbolic functions and meanings in relation to the people and place. It is important to note that food is contextual rather than factual and thus, knowing more about why, when, and how to eat, informs us of the food experience, including perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours (Perullo, 2016) that collectively form the food tourism phenomenon. However, growing food-related research in tourism largely loses its interest in the contextual complexity of food in the tourism setting, and there has been little clear boundary between what ‘food tourism’ research is and what it is not. Having acknowledged the above, the editors herein echo the earlier conceptualisation of Ellis et al. (2018), and this handbook approaches, understands, and discusses the phenomenon of food tourism as follows: Food tourism is about cultural anthropology, through understanding the interactions of tourists with place, through the medium of food. If food tourism is predominately about cultural anthropology, those in policy and business are [therefore] managers of cultural resources from users, an image, sustainability, development and profit perspective (Ellis et al., 2018, p. 261).

Given this conceptualisation, it becomes far clearer that food tourism is within the cultural system, and partly contributes to shaping our social world. Food tourism research is therefore about questioning and understanding the (close) relationships between people, place, and food. However, the past and recent surging tourism research on food (tourism) still evolves from the concepts of consumer choices or behaviours and consumable cultural items of visited destinations.

3.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

It is timely to rethink, reframe, and broaden our understanding of food tourism research in terms of its scope and disciplinary approach. This handbook aims to provide an up-to-date comprehensive overview of the past, present, and future of research traditions, perspectives, and issues and concerns on the food tourism phenomenon in various research contexts by leveraging multidisciplinary approaches to food tourism. This handbook, consisting of four parts, is intrinsically designed to develop the historical and anthropological understanding of the nexus between food, society and tourism that underpins the current divergent business and marketing efforts in all tourism areas. This collection covering the breadth and depth of food tourism research would benefit a wide audience ranging from students to (early career) researchers of food tourism to researchers in wider food and tourism studies.

Introduction  7 3.1

Part 1: (Re)thinking and (Re)evaluating Food Tourism

The first part of this handbook is devoted to collectively offering a theoretical and conceptual foundation for food tourism research from a variety of disciplinary areas, of which, cultural and folkloric studies, geography, sociology, and anthropology are some. In Chapter 2, Lucy Long (who popularised the use of the term ‘culinary tourism’ to describe the food tourism phenomenon) thoroughly reviews the intersections of tourism with food festivals from the folkloric perspective. Her chapter offers a typology of rituals to describe and analyse food and its role at festivals. Her approach to food, festivals, and tourism enlightens us about multiple functions of food in the foreground and background of festivals that food tourism and event research often overlooks. Events and festivals thematically often include a food (taste or consumption) component, and even if not the primary theme, food has always played a symbolic or ritualistic role in festivals and is part of inducing event tourism. In Chapter 3, Sally Everett provides a geographer’s view of place-making through the lens of food tourism. Her longitudinal collection of data and reflection on a series of fieldworks, together with self-critical reflections on theories, inform us of how sensory engagement in food tourism evokes constructed place through our memories and nostalgia. Food for constructing space and connecting time past is embodied experience itself, and her chapter precisely highlights the underlying values of examining the ways in which food constructs our myths, memories, and attachments to a place in the context of food tourism. In Chapter 4, Andy Widyanta and Eerang Park continue in the theoretical dialogue of place-making of food tourism, yet from a foodscape perspective. Foodscape is a dynamic social construct, relating food to specific place(s), people(s), and meanings (Johnston & Baumann, 2014). Foodscape is not static but fluid and constantly changing alongside food choices, eating and other elements which initiate and generate any kinds of relationships with food production and consumption (Brembeck & Johansson, 2010). As part of the social phenomenon, tourism, being one of the major forces of modern-day cultural transactions between social groups via the journey of commodities and travellers (Appadurai, 1996), is essential to the formation and evolution of local foodscapes. In this context, Widyanta and Park critically discuss the absence of the notion of foodscape in the previous food tourism research, limiting our understanding of the evolving role and meaning of food in contemporary society, and they attempt to identify key attributes of foodscape that shape destination food experiences, confirming that narratives and social interactions about the physical, social, and cultural landscape of food significantly form the local food experience in the context of food tourism in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Food is informed and learned through various media channels, and thus the mediatised imagery or media representation is important in our understanding of tourism, including food tourism (Park et al., 2019; Xu et al., 2020). In Chapter 5, Michal Rozanis and Nir Avieli bring the anthropologist’s approach to longitudinal ethnographic research on international tourists’ perceptions of local food in a liminal space of Greece, between East and West, and between past and present. They discuss that Greek tourist-oriented culinary establishments serve surprisingly repetitive, uniformative, and narrow menus to international tourists, enthusiastic about their culinary experiences in Greece, because their perception and expectation of authentic local Greek food are simple, fresh, and healthy instead of more gourmet, sophisticated cuisine, informed by the predominant image of Greeks’ iconic ‘noble savage’, Kazantzakis’ Zorba. Their findings are interestingly connected to and echo Everett’s constructed food place (Chapter 3) and Widyanta and Park’s foodscape concept (Chapter 4), whereby even before the

8  Handbook on food tourism actual taste in situ embodied food experience in the imagined place drives tourists’ motivation and constructs the place in relation to a certain stereotype of food(ways) regardless of the complexity and diversity of the local foodscape through which tourists and the destination can co-create local food experiences. Experiencing the unprecedented global lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been awakened to the urgency of sustainable food supply, food self-sufficiency and the related food matters of everyday life (for example, Klarin et al., 2022). In Chapter 6, Tracy Berno makes an urgent call for a more critical thought for food, recognising that food and tourism, an interlinked system, generates more societal implications and consequences beyond the tourism experience and tourism management and marketing. Applying a critical food studies lens to the role of food in tourism, she discusses the consequences of tourists’ everyday decisions about food when they travel, which have been largely ignored in the relevant literature, whilst full attention has been given to food as a vehicle for destination branding and marketing and tourist motivations, focusing on food within the tourism context. She also questions the notion of ‘eating local’, which has been believed to be at a high level of responsible and sustainable food choice and consumption but still does not solve our food-related problems and issues such as food waste. Then eating as a problem is introduced as an alternative and perhaps more eco-culinary gastronomy. On the other hand, the recent global lockdown due to the pandemic has dramatically changed the global foodscape to cooking and eating at home (Repko, 2020). There was also an unprecedented increase in takeaway food, where people still appreciated the taste of non-local food but without the experience of the local environment. For example, the estimated market size for online food delivery worldwide is around US$107.44 billion for 2019 and anticipated to be US$154.34 billion by 2023 (Statista, 2021). Through this rapid transition, a hyper-mobility mode of international culinary adventure also became actualised by watching food channels, practising culinary activities via social media, with virtual tastings of cooking and eating in the digital space (Levine, 2020). Arguably, food connects people to places regardless of physical travel restrictions in this case, because food travels to us, as shown in the supermarket shelves which offer a wide range of international foods and ingredients that enable us to cook and experience others’ foods and foodways in our own geographical domain. Whether in situ or not, food, place and people are interconnected (Mikkelsen, 2011). Realising such a perfect circumstance of food travel and mobility, Desmond Wee in Chapter 7 addresses and argues that ‘food tourism’ is about the agency of food as embodied, place(d) mobility in which the destination is where the food is. Using instant noodles as a metaphor for travel, to encompass emergent identities and create representatives, he demonstrates food in everyday spaces of familiarity that may contribute to food tourism further. This certainly provides a new perspective on the scope and approach of our past and current food tourism research. 3.2

Part 2: Food Tourism Development and Stakeholders

The second part addresses the multistakeholder nature of tourism and its significance in the context of food tourism development: who is involved, and how are they interconnected in food tourism development? Compared with the rich documentation of tourist-focused research, the local stakeholders’ perspectives are still missing in the relevant literature. The contributing authors in Part 2 explore supply-side stakeholders’ views and their practices

Introduction  9 of conceptualising local food and the transformation of local elements to the food (tourism) experience on different scales. Indeed, local food (items) is at the centre of the food tourism experience, and at the global scale, multidirectional interpretation is possible given the contextual factors (Feldmann & Hamm, 2015). These include certificate systems indicating origin, practised in many European countries (for example, French baguette, Napoli pizza); the construction of place identity through national or regional dishes (for example, Korean kimchi, Vietnamese pho), or disputes over ownership of popularised dishes (for example, Belgian French fries). At the national or regional scale, growing concerns about sustainable food practices, sometimes in relation to the slow food movement (Klarin et al., 2022), have enabled people to source daily food from the local farms and markets, which supply fresh produce and ingredients from local farmers and producers, through which geographical proximity (and food network as well as food miles) has become the key concept of local food and local food branding and labelling for place marketing (Bowen & Bennett, 2020). Of the many ways of defining local food, a mix of the origin, specialty, regionally branded, and food prepared from local ingredients are selling points to tourists that enable narratives and stories for the reason to visit (Sthapit et al., 2019) and offers entertainment and learning about the local culture (Suhartanto et al., 2018). Josefine Östrup Backe, in Chapter 8, analyses how the notion of ‘local’ is employed in rural food and food-related activities in Swedish local and regional communities and discusses the potential and challenges in packaging the ‘local’ into a tourism product. The ‘local’ on the surface looks to fulfil the overall ideal shape of a food destination by assembling unique local elements and food production communities to form a common narrative of the destination food experience. However, this is at the risk of increasing ‘standardisation’ of the local food concept through clichéd images, elements and descriptions of experiences, which is perhaps a new version of ‘McDonaldisation’ or ‘homogenisation’ of local food (concept), and as such, the slow food movement developed as an alternative to the globalised homogenisation of the eating and living environment (Ritzer, 2011). On the other side of the world, a rural food and wine community ‘down under’ also forms its own local food concept with the locals. In Chapter 9, Maree Gerke, Can-Seng Ooi, and Heidi Dahles report an in-depth investigation of a case with a theoretical reflection on Bourdieu’s capital theory and offer a new insight into the value of food and the local food network as ‘local capital’. The case of Timbre restaurant in Tasmania exemplifies that local authenticity is created through its sourcing of local ingredients, which fosters a connection to local networks and is place-based. Leaning towards sustainable food tourism, closer to regenerative food tourism, the authors argue that our culinary standards or habitus can be reshaped by a range of resources such as gastronomic competencies (cultural capital), recognised reputations (symbolic capital) and social capital in the form of multi-layered networks far beyond local communities. The transition is wrought with tensions between stakeholders caused by deviating food practices and tastes and the appreciation of economic capital. Meanwhile, Hennie Fisher and Gerrie du Rand, in Chapter 10, examine South Africa’s high-end restaurants in Western Cape where chefs perform as innovators in developing menus that inform the national cuisine. The authors analyse the food and menu development practices and the involvement of multiple stakeholders in South Africa, from chefs to social media creators to food media stakeholders, and conclude that by adopting indigenous ingredients, produce, and traditional dishes, chefs reimagine and reinterpret the ingredients and produce at their disposal, to create unique dishes referencing the South African cultural food heritage,

10  Handbook on food tourism which is the key to food tourism (re)development. Food heritage in this context is again confirmed as a ground of heterogeneous local identity in the rapidly increased homogenous world of our society. Tourism is beneficial for the local economy and sustaining regional identity but cannot satisfy all stakeholders. In Chapter 11, Denian Cheng, Joanna Fountain, Christopher Rosin, and Xiaomeng Lucock investigate food suppliers and tourism providers of Suzhou noodle tourism in China and reveal the unequal distribution of benefits among restaurants, noodle makers, tour guides, and local authorities. Tensions and conflicts exist around noodle recipes and whether to protect them as intellectual property and lack of social capital development due to a widely practised personal relationship-oriented business in China. The authors argue that the socio-cultural lens is prioritised in food tourism development and evaluation and call for future research on ‘who benefits and why’ in food tourism. 3.3

Part 3: Trends, Innovations, and New Food Tourism Attractions

Part 3 is concerned with food in the social and cultural contexts and how (food) tourism is inseparable from the social and cultural fabric of a tourism destination. Also, food as a contemporary facet of destinations is illustrated, through which the important role of individual restaurants, chefs and practitioners in offering immersive food tourism attractions and experiences is explored. For example, Park et al. (2019) addressed that ‘tourism for food’ is a more recent Asia-specific food tourism trend. In this context, food is the ultimate goal and the main motivation for travel, similar to the editors’ own story of peka in Croatia mentioned earlier. However, tourism for food is not necessarily concerned with the traditionally understood tourist motivation and purpose of food but rather represents societal changes in Asia. The food tourism discussed so far in the previous literature seems to be bound by destinations known for their superiority, uniqueness, or authenticity of food. As discussed earlier, food tourism is indeed bound by already developed or well-known food destinations. In this regard, ‘tourism for food’ in their earlier work is associated with the ways in which unplanned food destinations, thought of more precisely as food spots rather than destinations with complete tourism services, are created by the mobility and fluidity of consumer demand for food, which has a significant impact on the wider societies of such destinations. Part 3 asks and answers, ‘what’s been further studied in the field of food tourism?’ In Chapter 12, through the lens of place-making, Kyungjae Jang, Sangkyun Kim, and Timo Thelen reveal how the region under investigation turns its unique local food into a tourism resource and creates a food tourism place from two different perspectives, namely public and private sectors. While both the public and private sectors have capitalised on the region’s udon noodle as a symbol for the region’s food-based destination image and as a significant tourism resource to create a unique food tourism experience, the unconsolidated place-making processes inevitably result in confusions and conflicts between the players. From a public sector perspective, Kagawa Prefecture in Japan temporarily used the Sanuki udon as the regional signature dish in their place-making strategy and replaced it with more generally appealing tourism resources, that is, contemporary art. In contrast, the local businesses forming the private sector collectively used their local and regional identity associated with the strong food culture and foodways to demonstrate a greater emotional and psychological attachment to their staple food, which is the Sanuki udon noodle. The chapter shows how place-making evolves in the promotion of diverse sectors around tourism using a single food item as a resource.

Introduction  11 Francesc Fusté-Forné, in Chapter 13, analyses media representations of chefs drawing from the award ceremonies of the Michelin Guide and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. The aim of this chapter is to examine the potential of Spanish culinary identities for food tourism in relation to celebrity chefs; annual food awarding ceremony events; and food narratives in media content such as newspapers. Indeed, as mentioned elsewhere (Frost et al., 2016), chefs have a central role in shaping the storytelling of contemporary interest on gastronomy. Celebrity chefs have been largely mediatised during the last two centuries, whereas food journalism is an alternative avenue to describe how a place is tasted through its food features. In this sense, chefs are celebrities who, as human brands, are also part of the destination management and marketing strategies to attract media-induced food tourists. In Chapter 14, David Telfer and Atsuko Hashimoto reflect constant changes in our culture, society, and social needs with increasing social concern on deteriorating human interaction reflected in the rise of ‘non-human’ interactions in restaurants, using Japan as a research context. Food providers including restaurants and cafes are designed to offer contactless service for those anxious about interacting with others, such as robotic restaurants. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing of social distancing restrictions on social interaction and new trends in culinary offerings coincided with leaning towards less human interaction. However, the irony is that due to social media, these innovative restaurants, and eateries, which were originally meant to include people who have a social phobia or inability to connect with other human beings, are now becoming new popular (food) tourist attractions. As claimed in this chapter, social media, vloggers, culinary manga, and anime have played a significant role in introducing these novelty culinary experiences in Japan to a global audience. These novelty restaurants are gaining popularity among Japanese citizens and international tourists, while at the same time focusing on minimising human interaction. Exemplified cases throughout this chapter reflect Japan’s efforts of repositioning food as a creative industry. More and more, the service-scape has been adapted to provide a multisensorial food experience for (food) tourists. These innovative and unique oddities are being shared widely on social media and through popular culture, including manga and anime, influencing international tourists to imagine these experiences for their next holiday. Timo Thelen, in Chapter 15, shows structural changes towards supporting food tourism have been implemented in rural Japan from the perspective of the affected local community, using the case of Wajima’s ama (female divers) and their catches, such as abalones and seaweed. From the perspective of local community whose food production process is designated as cultural heritage and based on environment-friendly working traditions, the local community is reluctant to actively evolve into tourism. As a result, the strategic shift to food tourism proves to be challenging. This interesting chapter also discusses how the stereotyped image of ama divers as primordial and sexualised women emerged, and how this was exploited for the purposes of multiple tourism activities such as sex tourism and food tourism. Since the 2000s, the public image of ama divers has profoundly changed. In this context, ama diving became internationally acknowledged as so-called satoumi, that is, an environment-friendly profession of fisheries deeply rooted in spirituality and traditional practices of sustainable resource management. Abalones are no longer important as precious ritual gifts, but they have been reinterpreted as a gourmet food item that reflects the ama divers’ eco-friendly, sustainable, and traditional profession. This change in attitude – which also took place in the context of tourism, where expectations shifted from ‘watching ama’ to ‘eating ama-caught food’ – supports the preservation of ama diving. Therefore, a strategic move towards food

12  Handbook on food tourism tourism, in combination with a cultural heritage designation, can be an effective way of reconfiguring local touristic opportunities while supporting the local community. This alerts us to rethink the complexity and dynamics of food tourism development, acknowledging the local circumstances and peculiarities. Based on a case study of the Local Wild Food Challenge (LWFC) in Edgarton, Martha’s Vineyard, USA, in Chapter 16, Ingrid Kajzer-Mitchell and Will Low investigate how food festivals could offer multisensory experiences through which participants can ‘learn to eat and eat to learn’ by sharing knowledge and skills related to foods and food systems. The authors adopted the value co-creation as the focal theoretical lens to examine how learning occurs through food tourism experiences in the setting of festival like LWFC. The participants act as passive and/or active resource integrators, one-to-one or one-to-many, sharing and combining knowledge and skills about foraging, cooking techniques, and local food traditions. Considering the exploratory nature of their study, the authors propose to undertake more in-depth investigation of individual food tourism actors’ capabilities and motivations in terms of how these in turn influence, and are influenced by, the way they attend the food tourism experience, not only in situ but pre- and post-event. Drawing from the same theoretical lens of value co-creation in the context of food tourism, Paul Strickland and Kim Williams, in Chapter 17, identify the importance of planning and developing gastronomic experiences, offering hedonic and pleasurable tourist offerings which are considered by the enterprise and the consumer as creating further intrinsic values to be recalled later by the food tourists. In their chapter, the authors propose a term ‘gastro-tourism’ that is a specific market segment related to travel which is associated with memorable culinary experiences. That is considered a sub-group or sub-set of food tourists who are keen to seek out extraordinary or memorable gastronomic tourism experiences. In this regard, an important aspect of evaluating value co-creation is to review the authenticity or the extraordinary experience composed by the overall quality of the cuisine, quality of services, the novelty and/or risk-taking elements of experiences. Relevant stakeholders can be benefitted by creating additional values, considering a growing demand for such experiences which are economically, socially, and environmentally conscious. In their discussion, multiple case studies are used, such as a degustation delight at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) (Tasmania), Dinner in the Sky (offered globally), Nox Dine in the Dark (Singapore), Mount Buffalo Cliff Picnics (Australia), and the Disaster Café (Spain). 3.4

Part 4: Prospects and Outlooks for Next Generation of Food Tourism

The final part offers new insights for future food tourism research. This requires new prospects and outlooks to investigate an individual’s tasting experience of food tourism, which extends from sophisticated daily food taste, resulting in consciously and unconsciously educated, trained food tourists in contemporary society and a more uncertain world experiencing a pandemic. Food is physiological, psycho-sensorial, social and symbolic (Bessière, 1998). The first three parts deeply explore social and symbolic aspects of food, but lesser-known physiological and psycho-sensorial aspects of food tourism remain. In Chapter 18, Sangkyun Kim, Min Xu, and Eerang Park investigate what mechanism works behind a multisensory food taste experience, adopting the gastrophysics concept in the context of a food museum as an ever-growing food tourism attraction. The term ‘gastrophysics’, coined by Charles Spence (2017, p. 17), refers to ‘the scientific study of those factors that influence

Introduction  13 our multisensory experience while tasting food and drink’. This is rooted in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience and can explain multisensory food taste experiences and subsequent evaluations. The authors, in this chapter, highlight that little has been known about how a food tourist forms and perceives its food taste experiences in a food tourism destination/ attraction. They also point out the fact that the role of gender in this context seems to be the least examined. While the key findings can be found in detail later, the authors offer a new avenue and perspective to (re)think and (re)evaluate food tourism with particular attention to the food taste experiences in food tourism destinations and attractions and the gender role in this regard. It is the first of this kind to our knowledge in the context of food tourism, and thus their study acts as a springboard for a better understanding of food tourists’ taste experiences and its consequences for the next generation of food tourism. In Chapter 19, Rocío González-Sánchez, Sara Alonso-Muñoz, María Torrejón-Ramos, Fernando E. García-Muiña, and María Sonia Medina-Salgado analyse the resilience strategies that 83 Spanish Michelin-starred restaurants have implemented in response to the new post-COVID environment, given that this sector of food tourism has been hit hard by COVID-19. The findings suggest three resilience strategies, namely, return, adaptive, or disruptive. According to the authors, most of the studied samples opted for adaptive resilience, mainly complying with health protocols and guidelines. The adaptive resilience involves gradual change, as a newly adapted business concept may emerge from an incremental learning process. The second most adapted type of resilience was return, which entails a reversion to the previous state of perceived ‘normality’. While the disruptive resilience was the least adapted overall, it was most prevalent in the regions of Valencia, Madrid, and Catalonia, where the highest number of Michelin-starred restaurants is concentrated. The disruptive resilience means reaching a completely different format, breaking with the pre-crisis concept of business, that is, one that was not considered in the company’s strategic plan. This type of behaviour is related to an innovative management style and internal strategic decisions, including new products, new businesses or changes in opening hours, for example. In the final chapter of this handbook, Chapter 20, Eerang Park, Sangkyun Kim, and Anton Klarin systematically and synthetically map out the existing literature of food tourism to diagnose what we (do not) know of the food tourism phenomenon and offer five key interwoven directions for future research. Using the established scientometric and informetric methods, this chapter visualises the literature into three interrelated clusters – (i) food tourism varieties, boundaries, and implications; (ii) food tourism experience and destination marketing; and (iii) gastronomic tourism and regional development. The scholarly findings are then compared with more general mass media or stakeholder-oriented publications to identify five key interwoven directions for future research in this important scholarship. The directions for future research the authors propose are five-fold. First, future studies should investigate business models and development of the opportunities within the industry. Second, food tourism and its connections to agriculture and food production and consumption need more academic and practical attentions. Third, it welcomes further research into wider stakeholders involved, including hospitality and events, in creating best values in food tourism. Fourth, and related to the above, stakeholders value beverage-related tourism (that is, wine and brewery tourism) proportionally more than is currently recognised in the scholarly work, and thus further academic attention is recommended to fill this gap. Lastly, micro niches that create idiosyncratic and utterly authentic travel and tourism experiences associated with food (and beverage) can be an interesting path for further research.

14  Handbook on food tourism

4.

CONCLUDING REMARK

To conclude, this handbook presents empirical research conducted by not only quantitative and/or qualitative methodological approaches, but also conceptual and/or theoretical papers and critical literature reviews utilising archival research methods or informetric mapping and analysis of secondary data taken from social, political, and environmental sources. The editors are confident that the rich information and data contained within this handbook regarding diverse socio-cultural, environmental aspects as well as heterogeneous cultures, consolidate the foundation for studies of food tourism globally and provide a benchmark for future research. Thus, each reader and supporter of the handbook is recommended to respond to the fundamental questions this handbook elicits and to seek answers to contextual backgrounds. More importantly, you are cordially invited to imagine and envisage the futures of food tourism on your own.

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Introduction  15 Kim, S., Park, E., & Lamb, D. (2019). Extraordinary or ordinary? Food tourism motivations of Japanese domestic noodle tourists. Tourism Management Perspectives, 29, 176–186. Klarin, A., Park, E., & Kim, S. (2022). The slow movements: Informetric mapping of the scholarship and implications for tourism and hospitality. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. https://​doi​.org/​ 10​.1177/​10963480221116049 Lang, T., Barling, D., & Caraher, M. (2009). Food policy: Integrating health, environment and society. Oxford University Press. Levine, I. S. (2020, May 12). Reinventing the future of food tourism. Forbes. https://​www​.forbes​.com/​ sites/​irenelevine/​2020/​05/​12/​reinventing​-the​-future​-of​-food​-tourism/​?sh​=​53aaa5be3486 Lin, L., & Mao, P.-C. (2015). Food for memories and culture – A content analysis study of food specialties and souvenirs. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 22, 19–29. Long, L. M. (Ed.). (2004). Culinary tourism. University Press of Kentucky. MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings. American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603. Mikkelsen, B. E. (2011). Images of foodscapes: Introduction to foodscape studies and their application in the study of healthy eating out-of-home environments. Perspectives in Public Health, 131(5), 209–216. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1177/​1757913911415150 Ottenbacher, M. C., & Harrington, R. J. (2013). A case study of a culinary tourism campaign in Germany: Implications for strategy making and successful implementation. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 37(1), 3–28. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1177/​109634801141359 Park, E., Kim, S., & Yeoman, I. (2019). Eating in Asia: Understanding food tourism and its perspectives in Asia. In E. Park, S. Kim, & I. Yeoman (Eds.), Food tourism in Asia (pp. 3–13). Springer. Park, E., Muangasame, K., & Kim, S. (2023). ‘We and our stories’: Constructing food experiences in a UNESCO gastronomy city. Tourism Geographies, 25(2–3), 572–593. Park, E., & Widyanta, A. (2022). Food tourism experience and changing destination foodscape: An exploratory study of an emerging food destination. Tourism Management Perspectives, 42, 100964. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1016/​j​.tmp​.2022​.100964 Perullo, N. (2016). Taste as experience: The philosophy and aesthetics of food. Columbia University Press. Repko, M. (2020, December 29). The pandemic’s new chefs and foodies: How the health crisis shaped what we cook and crave. CNBC. https://​www​.cnbc​.com/​2020/​12/​29/​even​-after​-pandemic​-companies​ -may​-have​-to​-cater​-to​-a​-nation​-of​-aspiring​-chefs​-foodies​.html Ritzer, G. (2011). The McDonaldization of society. Pine Forge Press. Schluter, R. G. (2011). Anthropological roots of rural development: A culinary tourism case study in Argentina. Tourismos: An International Multidisciplinary Journal of Tourism, 6(3), 77–91. Sidali, K. L., Kastenholz, E., & Bianchi, R. (2015). Food tourism, niche markets and products in rural tourism: Combining the intimacy model and the experience economy as a rural development strategy. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(8–9), 1179–1197. Spence, C. (2017). Gastrophysics: The new science of eating. Penguin. Spilkova, J., & Fialova, D. (2013). Culinary tourism packages and regional brands in Czechia. Tourism Geographies, 15(2), 177–197. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1080/​14616688​.2012​.726268 Staiff, R., & Bushell, R. (2013). The rhetoric of Lao/French fusion: Beyond the representation of the Western tourist experience of cuisine in the world heritage city of Luang Prabang, Laos. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 8(2–3), 133–144. Statista (2021, August 14). Global online food delivery market size 2023. Statista. https://​www​.statista​ .com/​statistics/​1170631/​online​-food​-delivery​-market​-size​-worldwide/​ Sthapit, E., Coudounaris, D. N., & Björk, P. (2019). Extending the memorable tourism experience construct: An investigation of memories of local food experiences. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 19(4–5), 333–353. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1080/​15022250​.2019​.1689530 Suhartanto, D., Chen, B. T., Mohi, Z., & Sosianika, A. (2018). Exploring loyalty to specialty foods among tourists and residents. British Food Journal, 120(5), 1120–1131. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1108/​BFJ​ -09–2017–0485 Thomas, N. (2021). Voyagers: The settlement of the Pacific. Head of Zeus. Tuan, Y. F. (1977). Space and place. University of Minnesota Press. UNWTO. (2017). Second global report on gastronomy tourism. UNTWO.

16  Handbook on food tourism World Food Travel Association. (n.d.). What is food tourism? https://​www​.worldfoodtravel​.org/​what​-is​ -food​-tourism Xu, M., Kim, S., & Reijnders, S. (2020). From food to feet: Analysing A Bite of China as food-based destination image. Tourist Studies, 20(2), 145–165.

PART I (RE)THINKING AND (RE)EVALUATING FOOD TOURISM

2. Festivals as culinary tourism1 destinations and attractions Lucy M. Long

1. INTRODUCTION Festivals are large-scale, complex, public events usually having a celebratory purpose. Set apart from everyday life, as “time out of time” (Falassi, 1986), they do not follow the usual norms for behavior so can be spaces for trying new things, challenging the status quo, or simply escaping the confines of ordinary routines. Festivals include numerous activities and components, enabling individuals to participate according to their own interests, values, and comfort levels. They also function as rituals, and the polysemic nature of symbols allows for multiple interpretations by participants. Since they are public, festivals are seemingly open to everyone, allowing for intermingling of “outsiders” and community members. They are staged, intentionally showcasing a group’s identity and practices, but they also emphasize commonalities that can unite audiences. These qualities make festivals ideal attractions for tourists. Food and beverages are oftentimes part of these events. They can simultaneously be included in hospitality services, play a symbolic or ritualistic role, and even be the featured theme. It is not surprising then that festivals play a significant role in culinary tourism and that they are oftentimes included as destinations or added attractions for tourists primarily interested in food. They offer opportunities to try new dishes, ingredients, or eating experiences in casual, playful settings in which the usual rules of etiquette or even norms for eating are suspended. Such settings may encourage tourists to feel more adventurous about exploring novelty and less concerned about breaking the normative rules of behavior, such as evaluations attached to portion size, healthfulness, or proper etiquette. Also, since festival food is by definition out of the ordinary, there is perhaps less at stake socially in responding negatively to it, allowing individuals the freedom to try new things. While there is extensive scholarship on the separate subjects of festivals, food, and tourism, there is relatively little on the intersection of tourism with food festivals. A survey of this scholarship identifies characteristics of this tourism niche and some of the issues connected with it. This chapter offers a typology of rituals to describe and analyze food in festivals. It then introduces the concept of the folklife festival as a model for addressing cultural concerns.

2. SCHOLARSHIP Scholarship on food festival tourism draws from disciplines in both the humanities and social science. These approaches frequently overlap, and some current research integrates a variety of perspectives, making overviews of this scholarship “messy.” O’Sullivan and Jackson delineated four approaches to food festival tourism scholarship: sociological, leisure participation, 18

Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions  19 community development, and tourism industry perspective (2002, p. 326). Hall and Sharples pose that event management and food and wine tourism come together in this scholarship, but also contain numerous smaller niches (2008, p. 4). Laing and Frost’s collection of essays represents a range of research on rituals and traditional events around the world (2015); and Laing calls for post-disciplinary research encouraging new methodologies, topics, and ways of thinking about the subject (2017). This chapter addresses scholarship in three fields: festival, food, and tourism studies, focusing on materials available in English. 2.1

Festival Studies (Ritual, Public Display, Holidays)

The study of festivals is a sub-discipline of cultural anthropology, folkloristics (folklore studies or ethnology), and sociology. Picard defines two primary interpretive lenses: the first approaching such events as enactments of collective consciousness; the other recognizing their complexity as symbolic performances reflecting power relationships (2006, p. 4). The latter is relevant to culinary tourism since it addresses the dynamic and political nature of festivals. Scholarship by folklorists incorporates this approach. Drawing upon additional theorists, such as Mary Douglas (1966, 1972, 1984), Falassi (1986), Turner (1969), and Van Gennep (1960), this work has a sociolinguistic foundation for interpreting festivals as a form of public artistic communication and performance of both individual and group identities (Abrahams, 1982, 1987; Babcock, 1978; Foster, 2013; Gabbert, 2018; Santino, 1994; Stoeltje, 1983; Stoeltje & Baumam, 1988). As an ethnographic field (Santino, 2019), folkloristics emphasizes the situated and contextualized meanings of such events, and the possibility for multiple, conflicting interpretations by participants and spectators. Recent scholarship also emphasizes the transformative power of such events, a “ritualesque” dimension involving the intention to change behaviors or attitudes (Santino, 2011, 2019). Such recognition moves festivals from a peripheral activity oftentimes romanticized and dismissed to one at the center of social, cultural, and political life (Saltzman, 2020). Much of this scholarship recognizes food as part of festivals and rituals (Santino, 1994; Stoeltje, 1983), and food festivals have been included in ethnographic studies primarily as symbolic expressions of and mediums for constructing or maintaining community identity and heritage (Brown & Mussell, 1984; Humphrey & Humphrey, 1988; Jones, 2007; Jones et al., 1983; Kalcik, 1984; Lockwood & Lockwood, 1991; Long, 2003; Neustadt, 1992; Prosterman, 1995). These studies oftentimes emphasize the liminal and festive aspect of these public events as “third spaces” for negotiating identity and meaning (Long, 2022b). Festival and ritual studies scholarship historically tended to ignore tourism since most culture-focused fields interpreted tourism as inherently exploitative and threatening to the vitality and authenticity of cultural practices and groups. Such attitudes linger, but scholarship has begun to acknowledge the complexity of tourism as both an industry and a human impulse (Bruner, 2005; Kirchenblatt-Gimblett, 1998; Wilk, 2006). The work of folklorists such as Michael Dylan Foster shifts questions around authenticity from etic and official definitions of festive events, forms, and practices to subjective interpretations of both visitors and hosts (2013).

20  Handbook on food tourism 2.2

Food Studies

Food studies emerged in the mid-2000s. While it has not paid much attention to festivals, it has attended to the ritualistic aspects of food and eating in studies of commensality, particularly in relation to the role of eating together in building and maintaining community (Julier, 2013). Meaning is attached to food through rituals, and the sensory nature of food as “material considered appropriate for ingestion” (Long, 2015) tends to make those meanings embodied so that they seem natural. Rituals can render food symbolic, so that incorporating them into large-scale public events lends those meanings to those events. Similarly, food is an aesthetic experience that engages all of the senses (Korsmeyer, 2005), making it central to individual and collective memories and the ways in which we interpret the past to construct heritage and identity. Festivals and the foods included frequently play a role in creating both memories and identities (Forrest & de St. Maurice, 2022; Long, 2022b). Food studies has had an ambiguous relationship with tourism, interpreting it as either inherently exploitative and harmful or as a potentially positive force for validating food cultures, enabling economic development of regional or local food systems, and even supporting environmental or socio-cultural sustainability. The original humanities meaning of culinary tourism (Long, 2004) has been widely adapted in the field as a framework for studying both individual and collective explorations of the “Other” through food. Scholars now acknowledge the colonialist and capitalist contexts that have enabled culinary tourism to emerge as an industry, analyzing the impacts of tourism on the meanings of foodways, changes in the foodways system, and their implications for local cultures. They also emphasize the need to address the diverse perspectives of the host cultures in any critique of tourism (Wilk, 2006). 2.3

Tourism Studies

The Western tourism industry and tourism scholarship has always included food as an aspect of hospitality services but did not treat it as an attraction in its own right until the late 1990s and early 2000s (Ellis et al., 2018). Shifts in paradigms around both food and tourism (Long, 2022a; Richards, 2015) and changing “tourism taste-scapes” (Everett, 2019) brought recognition of food as a motivation for tourists and a potentially significant industry niche. Since then, it has emerged as a subfield with different names oftentimes used interchangeably. These terms reflect different disciplinary foundations and geographic usages: gastronomic tourism (Hjalager, 2002) is common in Europe; food tourism (Hall et al., 2003) in the UK and the Antipodes; and culinary tourism (Long, 2004) in the US. The first two reflect social science approaches and concerns, while the last draws from the humanities and describes tourism as an attitude rather than actual travel. Festivals as a subject within tourism studies began in the 1980s as part of event management. Surveys of this scholarship (Dychkovskyy & Ivanov, 2020; Ellis et al., 2018; Hall & Sharples, 2008; Laing, 2018; O’Sullivan & Jackson, 2002; Getz, 2010; Wilson et al., 2017) note the bifurcated nature of the field with the two approaches differing in methodologies, theoretical orientations, and purposes. The first takes a management approach emphasizing the profitable execution of such events. This orientation includes: “how to involve volunteers; how to market and image festivals; how to deal with health and safety issues; how to ‘produce’ social coherence; how ultimately to make an ‘economic impact’ and generate ‘profit’” (Picard & Robinson, 2006, p. 3). Furthermore, typologies of festivals, tourist motivations, place

Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions  21 branding (Blichfeldt & Halkier, 2014), event evaluation, visitor response (Cela et al., 2007; Choo & Park, 2018) and contents of events offer frameworks for quantifiable assessments of these topics and strategies to create more successful festivals. The second approach focuses on the sociocultural impacts of festivals on the host community and implications for cultural and environmental sustainability. This scholarship emphasizes the economic repercussions of a festival, not just on the producers, but also the host community and larger culture (Einarsen & Mykletun, 2009). Festivals frequently support other aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry, particularly if visitors travel from out of town and stay to visit other sites or participate in additional activities. This “multiplier effect” then contributes to economic growth, but also to sense of place, cultural identity (Kim & Iwashita, 2016), and loyalty to that place among both tourists and residents (Everett & Aitchison, 2008; Sims, 2009). This “place-making” role can then be channeled for environmental and cultural sustainability. Food festivals or food in festivals are included in some of this scholarship, and there is growing awareness in the field that food may offer unique experiences.

3.

ISSUES IN FESTIVAL TOURISM SCHOLARSHIP

3.1 Definitions The term “festival” covers a wide variety of events, including feasts, fairs, processions, pageants, holiday celebrations, public displays, and more. Donald Getz suggests “special event” for any “celebration or display of some theme to which the public is invited for a limited time only, annually or less frequently” (1989, p. 125) and later defined festival as a type of special event categorized as “cultural celebrations” (2008). Others similarly approached festivals as a form of “celebratory event” (Picard & Robinson, 2006) and defined them by listing their characteristics (Gibson & Stewart, 2009, p. 6) or attributes: …varied, uncommon events, unconnected with work, they celebrate elements significant in the life of a given community, consolidating it, they are often related to the culture and religion of local communities, they often consist of many different social and cultural events, they are often regular events connected with art and culture. Sometimes they are combined with competitions (Cudny, 2013, p.105).

Festivals are not necessarily related to tourism, and some welcome only community members even though they occur in public spaces (Laing, 2018). Neither do all festivals feature nor include food or beverages, although these are usually offered as a basic hospitality necessity. Food festivals, specifically, are multifaceted, public, celebratory events that feature food and/ or beverage as a primary theme. They are often “…developed primarily to enhance the awareness, sales, appeal and profitability of food and beverage products in the short and/or long term” (Hall & Sharples, 2008, p. 14). The unique nature of food makes food festivals distinctive from those celebrating other cultural forms. Food is both universal and particular, so that everyone can relate to the need to eat and drink, but the specific reiteration of those products sets festivals apart. Similarly, food can be experienced and appreciated through the senses without knowledge of the cultural meanings attached to it so that tourists’ enjoyment of a food festival can be primarily an aesthetic one. Furthermore, because food physically enters the body, it poses risks of literal as well as

22  Handbook on food tourism metaphorical contamination. The liminal quality of festivals, however, tends to make visitors open to experiences in which they would not usually participate. Food festivals are a unique context where usually strict social norms regulating consumption habits and food behavior are relaxed. Relaxation of social norms creates a socially endorsed hedonistic environment in which individuals can express self-actualizing consumption behavior (Rusher, 2002, p. 199).

This liminality makes food festivals ideal occasions for trying new foods, indulging in items normally consumed temperately or with hesitation, or participating in foodways activities not normally perceived as entertaining or of interest, such as peeling apples, spitting out seeds, or picking berries. 3.2

Typologies of Festivals

Typologies aid comparison and analysis. One study on the connection between festival tourism and local economic development suggests three major types: home-grown (“small scale, bottom-up and run by one or more volunteers for the benefit of the locality”), tourist-tempter (“aimed specifically at attracting visitors to stimulate local economic development”) and big-bang (“a marketing tool that promotes a myriad of related activities over a defined geographical area”) (O’Sullivan & Jackson, 2002, p. 331). This typology can easily be applied to food festivals, although there are frequent crossovers. Many harvest-oriented festivals feature products grown in specific locations and available only seasonally. Those might start as community celebrations, but grow to become regionally or nationally recognized culinary tourism destinations. With that growth can come hopes for economic development and cultural affirmation, turning the original small festival into a “big-bang” one. A yearly American festival celebrating apple butter in Grand Rapids, Ohio, is an excellent example of such growth as well as of the multiple motivations that can go into developing and participating in and attending such festivals (Long, 2003). Another typology suggests four festival types: local heritage, local contemporary, national heritage, and global contemporary (Ma & Lew, 2012). These are based on the historical and geographical contexts of the development of a festival, suggesting types of food products that might be included as well as the purpose and breadth of the intended audience. The typology also helps to identify the characteristics that make these events festive and enjoyable. Hall and Sharples (2008) offer a typology of “food events” that recognizes the primary and secondary functions of a festival from both the production and demand sides. The scale of promotion and visitor attraction can range from local, through regional, national, and international, while the product focus can include five categories: generic (no local food focus); general (but focused on local food), multiple/themed categories; single categories of product; and single specific product/food type. For culinary tourism analysis, it would be helpful to acknowledge the roles of food in a festival, whether it is a primary feature, secondary attraction, or a hospitality service. Also, food consumption is oftentimes expected, but festivals can offer other aspects of foodways: production, procurement, processing, preparation, presentation, and disposal (Long, 2015, 2016). Heritage festivals, for example, frequently include demonstrations and hands-on experiences of activities such as butter making, syrup stirring, apple juice pressing, and so on. Food

Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions  23 might not even be consumed in these instances, but other types of foodways activities could be offered. It is also helpful to measure the familiarity or exoticness of food being featured to both the host community and to visitors. Food clearly can mark boundaries and express identity (Long, 2015), and the presentation of a “strange” food can be a way of establishing those boundaries as well as stirring the curiosity of tourists (Long, 2004). For example, a festival in Hawaii featuring poke, a dish traditionally made of chopped raw seafood and seaweed, met with conflicting interpretations because of the strangeness of the dish to many tourists. “Insiders” often presented it in humorous ways that could have been considered offensive coming from outsiders (McAndrews, 2004). 3.3

Sustainability – Economic Development and Social Change

Economic development is a primary goal of many food festivals, and strategies for contributing to and measuring their financial success are major subjects in tourist scholarship (Chhabra et al., 2003; Everett & Aitchison, 2008; Felsenstein & Fleischer, 2003; Lee, 2011; Ma & Lew, 2012; Rusher, 2002; Selwood, 2003; Sims, 2009). Development, however, can be interpreted in contradictory ways, with support for hospitality and tourism industries potentially challenging the viability of other local businesses. They might also threaten local environments or cultural practices. Tourism scholars and practitioners are applying concepts and strategies from sustainable tourism to culinary tourism to address these issues. Sustainability in tourism refers to ensuring that resources are being used in such a way that they will last into the future (Hall & Gossling, 2013; O’Sullivan & Jackson, 2002; Richards & Hall, 2000). This requires taking long-term views, enabling collaborative planning and participation, encouraging diversity of identities and perspectives, and respecting the “carrying capacity” of a place as well as its traditional culture. The social, cultural, and ecological pillars of sustainability must be balanced with the economic one for the idea to work. There is now widespread recognition with tourism scholarship of the significance of these other pillars. Because festivals present deeply held values and beliefs, they can also be mobilized for social change necessary for sustainability. By calling attention to certain practices, festivals highlight them for public display. The festive nature of these events enables discussions to be playful, seemingly non-threatening, while their liminality allows for behaviors and opinions not normally accepted (Everett, 2016; Gibson & Connell, 2011; Gilman, 2020; Ortiz, 2003; Picard & Robinson, 2006). A number of organizations now organize food festivals to highlight issues and introduce solutions. Slow Food International (www​.slowfood​.com), for example, hosts events around concerns over the contemporary industrial food system. 3.4 Intangibles Issues of an intangible nature, such as identity, place-making, and authenticity, are closely tied to sustainability. These appear in all events, adding to their complexity as well as to potential impacts. Food festivals frequently construct or affirm the identity of a place (Kim & Iwashita, 2016; Mair & Duffy, 2018; Sims, 2009). The food featured helps define that identity and presents it as attractive and palatable to both residents and outsiders. Some festivals function as marketing events for local hospitality or food businesses, such as the “tastes of the town” concept in which area restaurants offer samplings of their specialties. Others are organized

24  Handbook on food tourism hoping to bring in revenues to revitalize or construct a local economy. In doing so, they attach a specific identity to a locality, a “brand,” that then is intended to evoke positive associations with a place (Everett & Aitchison, 2008; Folgado-Ferná dez et al., 2019). Festival organizers try to build or play upon what geographer Yi-Fu Tuan (1990) calls “topofilia,” love of place. That emotional connection, and the resulting pride and loyalty, motivates residents of local places to hold and attend festivals that showcase their food culture, hoping to create a similar affection among tourists, inspiring them to return. Identity, however, is an intangible, complex quality that might not be agreed upon by all members of a group. Questions of who gets to define that identity and select the ways in which it is presented are related to power and status within the group (Long, 2018; Raymond & Kim, 2018). Such cultural politics frequently are involved in festival production and organization, and are a sign, not of pettiness on the part of the organizers, but of the significance of identity, food, and festivals, themselves. “In cultural performances, the values, beliefs and identities of a people are put on display for themselves and others in some sort of bounded frame” (Turner & McArther, 1990, p. 83). This public display of identities and the open, celebratory character of festivals invite tourists to observe and even participate in that group’s culture, then raising questions of authenticity, a quality sought by tourists and an “added value” making destinations competitive (Cohen, 1988; MacCannell, 1973). This quality is often treated as an objective measure of “realness” or accuracy of representation, but culture theorists point out that it is constructed for specific purposes, and that claims of authenticity benefit the ones making that claim (Bendix, 1992). Tourists may attend a festival thinking they are participating in an authentic representation of a culture, and tourism providers and festival organizers often promote these events as such. As occasions set aside from everyday life, however, festivals do not show how people actually live, but display how people want to be seen, giving an accurate representation of their vision of themselves. Similarly, the specific forms and practices highlighted as representational are frequently crystalized versions that ignore the dynamic character of culture. Food, in particular, is a complex, fluid form with multiple meanings and functions: “Cultures are never entirely closed systems: external changes affect cultural logics. …The vitality of a culinary system depends on its adaptability and flexibility” (Lu & Fine, 1995, p. 358). Culinary tourism scholarship now recognizes authenticity as a social construction; however, festival organizers do not usually address this complexity. They may be unaware of it or assume that attendees are uninterested in the accuracy of representations as long as they are entertaining and distinctive. Tourists, themselves, might not care either, especially if they are “post-tourists” (Urry, 1990) aware of the constructed nature of their experiences. More translation of the scholarship would actually make food festivals and food at festivals more meaningful for tourists, since demonstrating the dynamic nature of culinary culture helps identify more points of connection with the forms and practices being observed. It also expands the possibilities for inclusion since it expands the notion of authenticity.

4.

FESTIVALS AS LAYERS OF RITUALS: TYPOLOGY OF RITUALS

One reason festivals are difficult to define is that they are complex events, containing numerous components. Each activity, display, object, and performance can function as a symbol that

Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions  25 stands for something else. Those meanings can be interpreted differently by different people, enabling individuals to find personal relevance in festivals according to their own experiences, needs, and values. Symbols also can evoke emotions, making an event personally meaningful and memorable – or distasteful or unpleasant – to the participants. Festivals frequently function as rituals, that is, recurring symbolic events referencing a larger, oftentimes sacred, idea. They usually include numerous activities that can also be considered rituals. These component rituals may reference ideas other than the official theme, adding multiple layers of meanings. For example, an apple festival may ostensibly celebrate apples, but the images and designs might reference pioneer heritage, while the foods and games being offered may evoke autumn holidays, such as Halloween or Thanksgiving, with all of their associated memories. Table 2.1, a chart of ritual types, suggests the meanings visitors might take away from an event, helping explain why and how festivals function experientially, emotionally, and cognitively. It is based on ritual and folklore studies (Falassi, 1986; Gabbert, 2018; Santino, 1994; Stoeltje, 1983; Turner, 1982).

5.

A NEW TYPE OF FESTIVAL: THE SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL MODEL

The folklife festival model focuses on creating cultural understanding and actively addresses intangible issues around such events. These festivals also contribute to local hospitality and tourism businesses and to the economic viability of the traditions and groups featured (Butvin & Deutsch, 2019). The model began in 1967 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, as a way to take objects in the museums to the general public, presenting them in a free, festive setting outdoors on the National Mall. Programming was developed around what folklorist Betty Belanus identifies as the “four Cs” for curating such events: collaboration, connection, contextualization, and connoisseurship (2021). Organizers work with communities to select the practices and objects for inclusion, and invite people to whom they belong to voice their own experiences with them. Displays and programs place objects within their historical and cultural contexts, and presentations enable audiences to connect them to their own lives. The last “C” refers to organizers and providers being trained in the concepts behind the festival and in techniques for presenting those to the public. Although the festival has had different themes, it usually presents a full range of a group’s cultural forms: oral, material, and narrative. Food is included as foodways, displaying the variety of activities involved and the meanings attached to those practices. Strategies include interpretive cooking demonstrations in which presenters help “community scholars” contextualize and personalize a dish; narrative stages in which participants tell their own stories; print and online exhibits and displays of artifacts; and hands-on activities for visitors (Long & Belanus, 2011). Tastings are not available due to food safety regulations as well as logistics, but the dishes featured are oftentimes available from vendors brought in specifically for that purpose. The folklife festival model has been adapted for numerous events around the world. It demonstrates two qualities found in successful festivals. First, it contains a variety of ritual types, enabling audiences to participate in those that are personally meaningful. The festival

26  Handbook on food tourism Table 2.1

Typology of rituals

Ritual type

Definition – What they celebrate

Festival examples

Food and foodways examples

1. Season

The seasons.

Spring: Easter meal (US).

Spring: dishes representing

Tied to larger natural cycles, nature, Summer: Fairs. or the passage of time.

rebirth.

Autumn: Harvest festivals; Kimjang Summer: “outdoor” foods. (kimchi making – Korea).

Autumn: picking apples and pumpkins (US); Barmbrack (dried fruit cake – Ireland); food

2. Passage

Transitions from one stage to

Lifecycle celebrations – birthdays,

preservation. Foods representing next stage in

another, into a new state of being

weddings, retirement, funerals, etc.

development.

(Van Gennep, 1960).

Organization openings.

Foods associated with celebration

Individuals’ biological and social

Nations established and

(“party foods”).

development; groups, organizations, commemorated. nations.

3. Affirmation

New year celebrations.

Foods associated with that group. Birthday – cake and candles.

Liminality – time between the two

New year – pork and sauerkraut;

stages (rules suspended).

black-eyed peas, pork, rice (US);

Existence and achievements of an

Nation: commemorations;

whole fish (China). Foods symbolizing that culture

individual, group, organization, or

anniversaries.

or group. (US – hot dogs for 4th

nation.

Group (religious, ethnic,

of July).

Belonging.

occupational, etc.).

Dishes personalized to

Individual: birthday, graduation,

acknowledge personal favorites or

wedding, etc.

needs (gluten-free cake). “Party foods” and “finger foods” eaten casually; extravagant foods; cook-outs; picnics.

4. Unity

Unity and togetherness, (overlap

Lifecycle celebrations.

Foods thought to be familiar and

with rites of affirmation).

Patriotic events.

liked by everyone in the group.

Groups (religious, ethnic,

Foods symbolic of that group.

occupational, etc.). Harvest meals. Thanksgiving meal (US). 5. Intensification

Identity and values – strengthen and Patriotic holidays.

Turkey, pumpkin pie (US).

highlight. Condense into selected

“Ethnic festivals.”

Kielbasa, pierogi (Polish

aspects.

Religious holidays.

American).

6. Spectacle and

Abundance – quantity of items,

Carnivals and fairs.

Feasts – tables with abundant

excess

behaviors, people, emotions.

Holiday feasts (Thanksgiving,

food; overconsumption.

Christmas – US).

Large portions.

Rebellion against normal routines/

Harvest festivals. Mardi Gras/Pre-Lent.

Excess candy and sweets; excess

overthrowing status quo by turning

Halloween.

alcohol.

routines and norms upside down.

Graduation.

Symbolic foods normally disliked

Affirm order by showing need for

New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day. or thought to be unhealthy.

rules.

Food-eating contests (US).

Matzo (Jewish Passover).

7. Reversal

Foods associated with different

Individuals try out social roles or

identities (age, gender, ethnicity,

behaviors normally off-limits to

etc.).

them.

Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions  27 itself functions as a rite of unity, free and accessible to all visitors, offering experiences that everyone can share. It then includes other ritual activities, creating layers of potential meaning. The celebration of cultural groups and traditions are rituals of affirmation, while the wearing of costumes of those groups, the theatrical elements of cooking and other demonstrations, and large crowds are rites of spectacle. It also acts as a rite of reversal from the usual manner of viewing objects in a museum where more staid and respectful behavior is expected. Second, the model attends to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, meeting basic needs through hospitality services so that visitors can then feel “safe” to explore and experiment with other aspects of the festival. Programming is aimed at increasing visitors’ knowledge of other cultures, and skillfully trained presenters help them connect this knowledge to their own lives (Long & Belanus, 2011). The programming encourages tourists to reach the higher levels of Maslow’s hierarchy, self-esteem and self-actualization, so that they leave with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the cultural forms observed. While the Smithsonian’s folklife festival is not without problems (Cadaval et al., 2016; Pryor, 2007), it does address some of the issues in tourism scholarship. “Folklife” in the title, rather than “folk,” suggests the broader range of materials featured as well as the educational intent. Since many of the organizers and curators were trained in folklore or cultural anthropology, they are aware of the activities and objects included as symbols and rituals – and, therefore, tied to identity and beliefs, and potentially deeply meaningful and emotional to individuals. Similarly, most are familiar with contemporary scholarship that sees concepts such as identity, place-making, authenticity, and food as constructions reflecting historical and cultural contexts as well as social hierarchies (Deutsch, 2017). Presentations, activities, and exhibits in folklife festivals oftentimes address those issues, inviting audiences to participate in exploring them and the role of power in how they think about culture. Questions of authenticity frequently arise and are treated as opportunities to point out that while traditions are dynamic and fluid, groups or individuals oftentimes choose specific forms to represent themselves in the way they want to be perceived. Similarly, forms or practices that represent place might not have a historical continuity in that place, but can still offer an emotional connection for people from there. Folklife festivals also address the complexity of identity by including diverse voices within groups and emphasizing that groups are neither homogenous nor unified. Addressing these intangibles can make tourists feel that their attendance is more than entertainment or recreation. It can create a sense of connection with the place, peoples, or products celebrated by the festival that makes tourists feel responsible for their well-being as well as for the vitality of the festival itself (Long & Belanus, 2011; Long, 2022c). That connection might translate into economically supporting the festival, vendors at the event, or the groups featured by the festival (Butvin & Deutsch, 2019). In this way, festivals can support cultural sustainability and even positive social change.

6. CONCLUSIONS Food festivals are on the rise throughout the world. Governmental, civic, and hospitality industry organizations oftentimes organize and sponsor such festivals for economic development. They are also being mobilized for environmental or cultural sustainability purposes. The tourism industry has also discovered the value of food festivals, using them to attract tourists

28  Handbook on food tourism to destinations and to other attractions. Tourists similarly have found that festivals offer public “third spaces” in which they can freely mingle without feeling like outsiders; they are liminal spaces in which they can try new things and make mistakes without negative repercussions; and they usually offer a variety of activities and products for a range of individual interests and comfort levels. As “staged performances,” tourists can observe aspects of a culture without feeling they are intruding, lending a sense of authenticity to the experience. Scholarship on food festivals addresses their functions and meanings as well as the practicalities connected to producing economically successful ones. The subject calls for an interdisciplinary approach, both in methods and interpretation. Further research should incorporate theories from the humanities as well as social sciences, recognizing the complexity of food festivals in tourism. Such recognition can then be used to refine definitions and typologies of these events. By identifying the rituals and symbols making up a festival, organizers can better plan events and anticipate the potential interpretations and responses of tourists. Similarly, sponsors of festive events usually have multiple goals, and tourists have multiple motivations for attending. A careful selection of and variety of components can increase the possibility of meeting all of those needs and interests. The impact of festivals on intangible aspects of culture also needs to be studied to ensure that these events benefit both economic development and sustainability. Cultural and social impacts can be difficult to measure and frequently seem irrelevant to the more pragmatic concerns of festival organizers and attendees. Scholarly concepts should be clearly “translated” to show their usefulness to those concerns. Those concepts can also equip festival organizers with frameworks for addressing issues that might arise with their specific event. This interdisciplinary research should also explore the unique nature of food itself and the distinctive qualities it brings to these festivals. It should recognize the emotional and symbolic character of food that makes it so evocative and memorable for individuals and therefore a potent medium for constructing identity and community. Scholarship can help organizers to be aware of the role of power in the selection of foods and the ways in which they are presented. Food ties us all together just as it connects us to seasons, nature, history, and the current state of the world. Food festival scholarship and practice should recognize the potential that these events hold for supporting positive social interactions, appreciation for other cultures, and understanding of the meanings attached to the cultural forms being celebrated.

NOTE 1.

I use “culinary tourism” rather than “food tourism” or “gastronomic tourism” to follow the American usage. I also emphasize the humanities perspectives incorporated in the original definition of the term: “the intentional, exploratory participation in the foodways of an Other” (Long, 2004).

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Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions  29 Belanus, B.J. (2021). Folklorists as curators: Exploring the four Cs. In J.A. Fivecoate, K. Downs & M.A.E. McGriff, (Eds.), Advancing folkloristics (pp. 125–140). Indiana University Press. Bendix, R. (1992). Diverging paths in the scientific search for authenticity. Journal of Folklore Research, 29(2), 103–132. Blichfeldt, B.S., & Halkier, H. (2014). Mussels, tourism and community development: A case study of place branding through food festivals in rural North Jutland, Denmark, European Planning Studies, 22(8), 1587–1603. Brown, L.K., & Mussell, K. (Eds.). (1984). Ethnic and regional foodways in the United States: The performance of group identity. University of Tennessee Press. Bruner, E. (2005). Culture on tour: Ethnographies of travel. University of Chicago Press. Butvin H.M., & Deutsch, J.I. (2019). Market forces and marketplace economics at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. In W.G. Mullins, & P. Batra-Wells, (Eds.), The folklorist in the marketplace: Conversations at the crossroads of vernacular culture and economics (pp. 72–91). Utah State University Press. Cadaval, O., Kim, S., & N’Diaye, D.B. (Eds.). (2016). Curatorial conversations: Cultural representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Oxford University Press. Çela, A., Knowles-Lankford, J., & Lankford, S. (2007). Local food festivals in Northeast Iowa communities: A visitor and economic impact study. Managing Leisure, 12(2–3), 171–186. Chhabra, D., Sills, E., & Cubbage, F.W. (2003). The significance of festivals to rural economies: Estimating the economic impacts of Scottish Highland Games in North Carolina. Journal of Travel Research, 41(40), 421–427. Choo, H., & Park, D.-B. (2018). Potential for collaboration among agricultural food festivals in Korea for cross-retention of visitors. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(9), 1499–1515. Cohen, E. (1988). Authenticity and commodization in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 15, 371–386. Cudny, W. (2013). Festival tourism – the concept, key functions and dysfunctions in the context of tourism geography studies. Geographical Journal, 65(2), 105–118. Deutsch, J.I. (2017). People’s genius and creativity: Foodways at the Festival of American Folklife. In N. Levent & I. Mihalache (Eds.), Food and museums (pp. 161–70). Bloomsbury Publishing. Douglas, M. (Ed.). (1984). Food in the social order: Studies of food and festivities in three American communities. Russell Sage Foundation. Douglas, M. (1972). Deciphering a meal. In C. Geertz, (Ed.), Myth, symbol and culture (pp. 61–81). W.W. Norton & Company. Douglas, M. (1966). Purity and danger: An analysis of concepts of pollution and taboo. Routledge. Dychkovskyy, S., & Ivanov, S. (2020). Festival tourism as part of international tourism and a factor in the development of cultural tourism. Informacijos Mokslai, 89, 73–82. Einarsen, K., & Mykletun, R.J. (2009). Exploring the success of the Gladmatfestival (The Stavanger Food Festival). Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 9(2–3), 225–248. Ellis, A., Park, E., Kim, S., & Yeoman, I. (2018). What is food tourism? Tourism Management. 68(October), 250–263. Everett, S. (2019). Theoretical turns through tourism taste-scapes: The evolution of food tourism research. Research in Hospitality Management, 9(1), 3–12. Everett, S. (2016). Food and drink tourism: Principles and practice. Sage. Everett, S., & Aitchison, C. (2008). The role of food tourism in sustaining regional identity: A case study of Cornwall, South West England. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16(2), 150–167. Falassi, A. (Ed.). (1986). Time out of time: Essays on the festival. University of New Mexico Press. Felsenstein, D., & Fleischer, A. (2003). Local festivals and tourism promotion: The role of public assistance and visitor expenditure. Journal of Travel Research, 41(4), 385–392. Folgado-Ferná dez, J.A., Di-Clemente, E., & Hernández-Mogollón, J.M. (2019). Food festivals and the development of sustainable destinations: The case of the cheese fair in Trujillo (Spain). Sustainability, 11(10), 2922. Forrest, B. M., & de St. Maurice, G. (Eds.). (2022). Food in memory and imagination: Space, place and taste. Bloomsbury Academic. Foster, M.D. (2013). Inviting the uninvited guest: Ritual, festival, tourism, and the Namahage of Japan. Journal of American Folklore. 126(501), 302–334.

30  Handbook on food tourism Gabbert, L. (2018). American festival and folk drama. In S. Bronner, (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies (pp. 277–297). Oxford University Press. Getz, D. (2010). The nature and scope of festival studies. International Journal of Event Management Research, 5, 1–47. Getz, D. (2008). Event tourism: definition, evolution, and research. Tourism Management, 29(3), 403–428. Getz, D. (1990). Festivals, special events, and tourism. Van Nostrand Reinhold. Getz, D. (1989). Special festivals: Defining the product. Tourism Management, 10(2), 125–137. Getz, D., & Page, S.J. (2016). Progress and prospects for event tourism research. Tourism Management, 52, 593–631. Getz, D., & Robinson, R.N.S. (2014). Foodies and food events. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 14, 315–330. Gibson, C., & Connell, J. (Eds.). (2011). Festival places: Revitalising rural Australia. Channel View Publications. Gibson, C., & Stewart, A. (2009). Reinventing rural places: The extent and impact of festivals in rural Australia. University of Wollongong, Australia Centre for Cultural Environmental Research. Gilman, L. (2020). Festivals, tourism, and cultural conservation: Comparing the Livingstone Cultural and Arts Festival and the Nc’wala Traditional Ceremony in Zambia. Cultural Analysis, 18(2). Hall, C.M., & Gossling, S. (2013). Sustainable culinary systems: Local foods, innovation, tourism and hospitality. Routledge. Hall, C.M., & Sharples, L. (Eds.). (2008). Food and wine festivals and events around the world: Development, management and markets. Butterworth-Heinemann. Hall, C.M, Sharples, L., Mitchell, R, Macionis, N., & Cambourne, B. (Eds.). (2003). Food tourism around the world. Butterworth-Heinemann. Hjalager, A-M., & Richards, G. (Eds.). (2002). Tourism and gastronomy. Routledge. Humphrey, T.C., & Humphrey, L.T. (Eds.). (1988). “We gather together”: Food and festival in American life. UMI Research Press. Jones, M.O. (2007). Food choice, symbolism, and identity: Bread-and-butter issues for folkloristics and nutrition studies. Journal of American Folklore, 120(476), 129–177. Jones, M.O., Giuliano, B., & Krell, R. (Eds.). (1983). Foodways and eating habits: Directions for research. California Folklore Society. Kalcik, S. (1984). Ethnic foodways in America: Symbol and the performance of identity. In L.K. Brown, & K. Mussell, (Eds.), Ethnic and regional foods in the United States: The performance of group identity (pp. 37–65). University of Tennessee Press. Julier, A.P. (2013). Eating together: Food, friendship, and inequality. University of Illinois Press. Kim, S., & Iwashita, C. (2016). Cooking identity and food tourism: The case of Japanese udon noodles. Tourism Recreation Research, 41(1), 89–100. Kirchenblatt-Gimblett, B. (1998) Destination culture: Tourism, museums, and heritage. University of California Press. Korsmeyer, C. (Ed.). (2005). The taste culture reader: Experiencing food and drink. Berg Publishers. Laing, J. (2018). Festival and event tourism research: Current and future perspectives. Tourism Management Perspectives, 25, 165–168. Laing, J., & Frost, W. (2015). Setting a research agenda for rituals and traditional events. In J. Laing & W. Frost (Eds.). Rituals and traditional events in the modern world (pp. 232–245). Routledge. Lee, I., & Arcodia, C. (2011). The role of regional food festivals for destination branding. International Journal of Tourism Research, 13(4), 355–367. Lockwood, Y.R., & Lockwood, W.G. (1991). Pasties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: Foodways, interethnic relations, and regionalism. In S. Stern & J.A. Cicala, (Eds.), Creative ethnicity: Symbols and strategies of contemporary ethnic life (pp. 3–20). Utah State University Press. Long, L.M. (2022a). Culinary tourism. In E. Zuelow, & K. James, (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of the history of travel and tourism. Oxford University Press. Long, L.M. (2022b). Apples as objects of memory in the Midwestern imagination. In B.M. Forrest & G. de St. Maurice (Eds.), Food in memory and imagination: Space, place and taste (pp. 173–186). Bloomsbury Academic.

Festivals as culinary tourism destinations and attractions  31 Long, L.M. (2022c). Interpretation and folkloristics at culinary tourism destinations. In U. McMahon-Beattie, S.W. Boyd, & D. Sloan (Eds.), Proceedings of the Belfast Gastronomy Summit 2022 (pp. 37–45). Ulster University. Long, L.M. (2018). Cultural politics in culinary tourism with ethnic foods. RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas, 58(3), 16–24. Long, L.M. (2016). Holidays and festivals. In M.D. Wise, & J.J. Wallach, (Eds.), The Routledge history of American foodways (pp. 199–214). Routledge. Long, L.M. (Ed.). (2015) Food and folklore: A reader. Bloomsbury Press. Long, L.M. (Ed.). (2004). Culinary tourism. University of Kentucky Press. Long, L.M. (2003). Apple Butter in Northwest Ohio: Food festivals and the construction of local meaning. In C. Sanchez Carretero, & J. Santino (Eds.), Holidays, rituals and festivals: Proceedings from the conference (pp. 45–66). University of Alcala, Spain. Long, L.M., & Belanus, B.J. (2011). Interpreting food at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Legacy Magazine: Journal of Interpretation Research. March/April, 22–25. Lu, S., & Fine. G. A. (1995). The presentation of ethnic authenticity: Chinese food as a social accomplishment. The Sociological Quarterly, 31(3), 535–553. Ma, L., & Lew, A.A. (2012). Historical and geographical context in festival tourism development. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 7(1), 13–31. MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in touristic settings. American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603. Mair, J., & Duffy, M. (2018). The role of festivals in strengthening social capital in rural communities. Event Management, 22(6), 875–889. McAndrews, K. (2004). Incorporating the local tourist at the Big Island Poke Festival. In L.M. Long (Ed.), Culinary Tourism (pp. 114–128). University of Kentucky Press. Neustadt, K. (1992). Clambake: A history and celebration of an American tradition. University of Massachusetts Press. O’Sullivan, D., & Jackson, M. (2002). Festival tourism: a contributor to sustainable local economic development? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 10(4), 325–342. Ortiz, C. (2003). Gastronomy, tourism, and the revitalization of festivals in Spain. In C. Sanchez Carretero & J. Santino (Eds.), Holidays, rituals and festivals: Proceedings from the conference (pp. 67–90). University of Alcala (Spain). Picard, D., & Robinson, M. (Eds.). (2006). Remaking worlds: Festivals, tourism and change. Channel View Publications. Prosterman, L. (1995). Ordinary life, festival days: Aesthetics in the Midwestern county fair. Smithsonian Institution Press. Pryor, A. (2007). Review, Food Culture USA, 39th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, 2005. Journal of American Folklore, 120(476), 245–248. Raymond, A., & Kim, S. (2018) Whose festival is it anyway? Analysis of festival stakeholder power, legitimacy, urgency, and the sustainability of local festivals. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(11), 1863–1889. Richards, G. (2015). Tourism and gastronomy: From foodies to foodscapes. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 1, 5–18. Richards, G., & Hall, D. (Eds.). (2000). Tourism and sustainable community development. Routledge. Rusher, K. (2002). The Bluff Oyster Festival and regional economic development: Festivals as culture commodified. In C.M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis, & B. Cambourne (Eds.), Food tourism around the world (pp. 192–205). Butterworth-Heinemann. Saltzman, R.H. (Ed.). (2020). Pussy hats, politics, and public protest. University Press of Mississippi. Santino, J. (2019). American custom, ritual, and holidays. In S. Bronner (Ed.), Oxford handbook of American folklore and folklife studies (pp. 256–276). Oxford University Press. Santino, J. (2011). The carnivalesque and the ritualesque. Journal of American Folklore, 124(491), 61–73. Santino, J. (1994). All Around the year: Holidays and celebrations in American life. University of Illinois Press.

32  Handbook on food tourism Selwood, J. (2003). The lure of food: Food as an attraction in destination marketing in Manitoba, Canada. In C.M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis, & B. Cambourne (Eds.), Food tourism around the world (pp. 178–191). Butterworth-Heinemann. Sims, R. (2009). Food, place and authenticity: Local food and the sustainable tourism experience. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 17, 321–336. Stoeltje, B.J. (1983). Festival in America. In R.M. Dorson (Ed.), Handbook of American folklore (pp. 239–246). Indiana University Press. Stoeltje, B.J., & Bauman, R. (1988). The semiotics of folkloric performance. In T.A. Sebeok & J.U. Sebeok (Eds.), The semiotic web (pp. 585–599). Mouton de Gruyer. Tuan, Y.-F. (1990). Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Prentice-Hall. Turner, R., & McArther, P.H. (1990). Cultural performances: Public display events and festival. In G.H. Schoemaker (Ed.), The emergence of folklore in everyday life: A fieldguide and sourcebook (pp. 83–94). Trickster Press. Turner, V.W. (1982). Celebration: Studies in festivity and ritual. Smithsonian Institution Press. Turner, V.W. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Cornell University Press. Urry, J. (1990). The tourist gaze: Leisure and travel in contemporary societies. Sage Publications. Van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage. University of Chicago Press. Wilk, R. (2006). Home cooking in the global village: Caribbean food from buccaneers to ecotourists. Berg. Wilson, J., Arshed, N., Shaw, E., & Pret, T. (2017). Expanding the domain of festival research: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Review, 19(2), 195–213.

3. Building an imagined sense of place and resurrecting memories with food tourism Sally Everett

1. INTRODUCTION Food tourism fosters an active (co)construction of place, where eating the ‘other’ can metaphorically transport people to different times and places (Everett, 2015). History and the past become embedded in different culinary products, where myths and legacies become part of a contemporary food experience (Baldacchino, 2015). Food-based experiences possess the power to transport someone back in time or reconnect with traditions, and thus imagined place is constructed beyond what is visually apprehended. These imagined places are constructed through the sights, sounds and olfactory encounters of a multi-sensual tourist experience (Everett, 2016). Discourses of anti-modernity characterise much of the tourism and place literature with explicit links made to a sense of temporal escape and times past. For example, Lowenthal (1985) suggested that nostalgia is a rebellion against the present, emerging in times of insecurity. There is perhaps no more obvious illustration of this than the sense of existential insufficiency many people experienced during the pandemic (Baert et al., 2022), and subsequent arguments about the need to recalibrate tourism in a post-pandemic world – a reset which considers more sustainable and restorative tourism experiences (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). Certainly, a desire to imaginatively (re)connect with something from the past provides motivation to travel to and visit food sites. The exposure to certain smells, tastes and the touch of certain foodstuffs can draw out associations from a reservoir of past experiences and feelings, collapsing the boundaries between the past and present and rendering visible something perceived to be lost, or previously taken for granted. Over the past twenty years, food tourism has been presented as a gateway to a world beyond what can be physically accessed, increasingly offering a mechanism to reconnect with a local and pre-rationalised past (Vázquez-Medina & Medina, 2020). As people search for meaning amidst geopolitical upheaval and uncertainty, food has been found to transport tourists to what might be characterised as a ‘liminal space’ between past and present (McIntyre, 2012). This chapter therefore explores how food tourism can hold time in an era of hyper mobility, disrupted modernity, geo-political anxiety and counters concerns about a loss of local identities in a post-Covid world. Therefore, I revisit some of my own qualitative data and journeys that have been constructed through sights, sounds and olfactory encounters. The chapter commences by introducing some theoretical reflection about the creation of place, before considering how food bridges the present and the past. It then revisits empirical data through the lens of more recent food tourism literature to bring the theory to life in different cultural and geographical (and digital) settings, whilst drawing on some examples of how this is still playing out in a post-Covid world (Fountain, 2022). 33

34  Handbook on food tourism

2.

THEORIES OF SPACE, PLACE AND TIME

2.1

Transcending the Spatial

If food tourism is to be considered as a way of shaping spaces, it is helpful to recognise that space is rarely a neutral backdrop but an arena where experiences and identities can be (re) formulated (Massey, 1994). The various spatial and cultural turns in geography opened up new spaces of epistemological and methodological thought and ways of conducting geographical research (Valentine, 2001), and it is at this intersection, where de Certeau’s (1988) work on examining space as ‘practised place’ which is culturally specific, symbolic and grounded in social relations of power and contestation is situated. The pursuit of discourses that conceive space as created out of social relations can also be attributed to Lefebvre’s (1991) threefold conception of space (practices, representations and spaces of representation) – seeing it as a product of the social relations embedded within it. Such theories offer ways to think through how places are constructed ‘dialectically across material, representational and symbolic activities’ (Harvey, 1993, p. 23). Therefore, considering ‘place’ as more than a purely geographical concept allows us to embrace socially constructed concepts such as peripherality, liminality and other related spatialised theories to advance thinking on how food tourism experiences shape people and places. Places are inevitably intertwined with people through various systems that generate and reproduce performances in and of that place (Sheller & Urry, 2004), so much so that performance is a dominant metaphor in how place identity is articulated through tourism. For example, Bǽrenholdt et al. (2004) suggested that tourist places produce temporalities, systems comprising networks of hosts, guests, buildings, and objects that contingently realise performances of specific place. Food constructs myths and allows for the construction of imagined places through sights, sounds and olfactory encounters. After all, ‘authenticity and food are bound by cultural, historical and place aspects’ (Ellis et al., 2018, p. 257) and tourism is a ‘conglomeration of multiple and complex encounters between several different humans and non-human entities’ (Pons, 2003, p. 51). The shift of attention to the centrality of the ‘spatial’ and move towards the development of a geographical epistemology anchored in individual experience within geographical and political extremities was also championed by Shields (1991). Shields’ workable mapping of the cultural importance of the spatial through an adoption of spatial ‘formulations’ as opposed to structures allowed for consideration of the movement of places and identities between the margin/core. Shields’ (1991) work was characterised as the development of a kind of ‘liminality’ – or a state of ‘in-betweeness’ and a space of separation which was derived from the Latin ‘limen’, meaning ‘threshold’. Later developed by Turner (1977) to encompass ‘liminoid’ meaning ‘limen-like’, it helps us conceptualise spaces and place in the food experience. As Crouch (2002) suggested, recasting the senses as a situated practice allows social gatherings to become a place of embodied experience produced through doing. Sensory engagement with food evokes a constructed place through memories, and in mapping these sensuous geographies, the relationship of the sensory, economic, political, and social can be exposed. After all, the creation of tourism places is often premised on interplay between production and consumption (Sheller, 2003), and so food tourism offers a way that cultural production and consumption can be examined at the same site, for example, in a restaurant, museum or brewery.

Building an imagined sense of place with food tourism  35 Of course, in recent years, it has also been used to create virtual spaces via augmented reality and digital transformation (De Canio, 2021; Long, 2021). 2.2

Transcending Time

Places are produced by memories and places create memories (Crouch et al., 2001), so food tourism can also facilitate temporal escape given that it is a polysemic material object with its own fascinating ‘social life’ around which identities have been constructed over many years. Yoo et al. (2018) observed that motivation levels are influenced by past experiences, and uses the concept of ‘nostalgic reminiscence’ (Holak & Havlena, 1998) and transporting oneself to different temporal places (Lowenthal, 1985). Nostalgic narrative construction provides escape from the perceived multiplicity of rationalisations in the modern world. This is also found in the work of Kim et al. (2019), where memory is associated with previous food consumption experience, serving as nostalgic vestiges of times past and provides a movitator to revisit the area. Bǽrenholdt et al. (2004, p. 9) also argue that tourist places are produced by the intersecting flows of people, objects, memories and images to produce imaginative mobilities, where performances produce ‘dreamscapes’ of anticipation and remembrance in reaction to modern-day living and a search for something lost. Fountain (2022) certainly found this in the post-Covid analysis of food tourism, where ‘a nostalgic desire, intensified by our lockdown experience, may see parents and grandparents seeking to share with children particular places and experiences reflecting this simple way of life or to re-learn skills lost in the busyness of life’. Consuming cultural artefacts evokes melancholic remembrance of place, thus bringing together the material and non-representational (Cohen, 1979), and it is this process of consuming a ‘bygone age’ that can compensate for a perceived sense of identity loss (whether it be Irish identity (Kneafsey, 1998), or heritage rediscovery in Uzbekistan (Patterson & Turaev, 2020). Experiences build a reservoir of past experiences and feelings, and it is this sense which underpins much regional food promotion (Everett, 2015; Richards, 2002). When food is consumed by tourists in a place of temporal and spatial displacement from everyday life, it seems to adopt an allegorical nature. Place-associated local foods symbolise something lost from a world of rationalisation and estrangement, offering a simpler past and, like souvenirs, can evoke an association with a particular place, identity and culture (Goss, 2005). Regardless of such traditions having historic roots (Ronström, 2012), the resurrection of cultural objects and associated historical traditions happens in a ‘nostalgic semiotic economy’ (Coleman & Crang, 2002, p. 3). It is this sense of holding time in an era of hyper mobility that offers a way to building local identities in a post-Covid world, where food tourism can inscribe embodiment, sociality and memories into landscapes and places (Sheller & Urry, 2004). After all, as Fountain (2022) suggests, ‘food experiences provide a pathway to connect – to people, to heritage and to places…’, and it is the post-Covid shift to a regenerative form of tourism, and an emphasis on well-being, equity and sustainability that means food tourism is already seeing a post-pandemic resurgence.

36  Handbook on food tourism

3.

REVISITING THE DATA

Having researched food tourism for over two decades, this chapter provided me with an opportunity to revisit some previous projects and reflect on where we are now in the literature with concepts of escape, production, consumption and nostalgic resurrection to explain food tourism experiences. The places of my own food tourism journey have included Cornwall (Everett & Aitchison, 2008), Malaysia (Everett, 2021), Scotland and Ireland (Everett, 2012), and other regions across the United Kingdom such as Cambridgeshire (Duignan et al., 2017), and more general reflections on the role of food and drink tourism in shaping policy (Everett & Slocum, 2013), our society and experiences (Everett, 2015, 2016, 2019). For example, the data was revisited from Everett (2012) where I completed 66 in-depth qualitative interviews with producers and tourists in Ireland and Scotland, and the Eat Cambridge survey in Duignan et al. (2017). To supplement previous primary research, a review of literature published from 2015 to 2022 was completed using the search term ‘food tourism’ and ‘place’ or/and ‘heritage’ via academic journal databases (i.e., Scopus, Science Direct, ISI Web of Science and EBSCO), which generated over 120 related papers, including several systematic reviews on food tourism (Ellis et al., 2018; Everett, 2019; Okumus, 2021; Okumus et al., 2018; Rachão et al., 2020). Despite this body of work, I would agree with Alonso et al. (2018) that ‘we are only scratching the surface’ with respect to culinary tourism – further supported by Hall (2020), who argues for a ‘new menu’ of studies which considers the many aspects of food tourism that can help to address issues in a world with rising insecurity and challenge.

4.

REIMAGING PLACES AND SPACES OF FOOD TOURISM

4.1

The Search for Spatial Escape

The temporary relocation of the body to a remote geographical location is a tangible dimension of a sense of liberation and escape experienced and conceived by tourists, although work continues to indicate there remains a paradox between this search for physical removal and the degree to which this is experienced in food tourism activities (Richards, 2021). Rather than complete physical dislocation, producers and consumers continue to construct new spaces fostered by imagined geographies and momentary suspension of the ‘everyday’. In revisiting my data, a sense of ‘escape’ dominated transcripts, with one tourist (Ed) on the Isle of Arran saying physical escape was an antidote to city living and he longed for physical detachment: ‘It feels different from back home; we live and work in London. It’s about as far as we can get from that; it’s remote, it’s much quieter, the pace of life is different.’ And others exclaiming: ‘People are looking for something different…they want to get out and go somewhere interesting…Even if people come from the countryside and come here they want to see something different, they seek escape, see what it is like, it is different here’ (Robin), where ‘It is the idea that they come to the islands and they believe that the food is clean, fresh, healthy and that helps us. Of course, it often is, but it’s the belief more than anything’ (Isobel, Isle of Hebrides). Similar discourses of physical distance and well-being have been subsequently playing out during the pandemic, where the creation of ‘Covid bubbles’ meant demands for socially

Building an imagined sense of place with food tourism  37 distanced experiences increased and more tourists requested personalised, smaller group tours and classes (Long, 2021). Place-identity narratives are often relayed in terms of quietness and unspoilt scenery. The desire to find somewhere away from others in my interviews reflected a search for ways to escape and a chance to gaze beyond the familiar (Urry, 1990) which would further enhance feelings of individual exclusivity, distinction and promote a sense of physical and emotional escape. Many tourist statements certainly supported Mannell and Iso-Ahola’s (1987) theories of using travel as an ‘escape’ from a hectic work life or desire to seek novelty beyond the familiar. This was enhanced by numerous ‘stories’ that created a food tourism landscape using symbolic and physical means. Much of this was fuelled by themes that emphasise ‘distinction’ through carefully constructed representations. Food marketing literature is still saturated with discourses of rurality and nature (Ellis et al., 2018) – soaked in semiotics associated with a sense of escape and a slower pace of life. After all, stories are ‘spatial practices’ (de Certeau, 1988) generally promoted by producers and interpreted by tourists. For example, in West Cork in Ireland, the narratives of peripherality I found through food remain pronounced, occupying a central place in the official publications of the national tourist board and Taste of the West (Cork) (www​.atasteofwestcork​.com) as well as through Rural Food Tourism in Scotland (ruralfoodtourism.scot). It is particularly interesting to note places like the Hebrides directly responded to Covid by explicitly protecting their heritage food offering (Eat Hebrides, 2022). My previous trips around Ireland and Scotland highlighted the benefits of creating a ‘story’, with producers in West Cork in Ireland stating it was about creating a place that contrasts with urban living, promoting discourses of escape from commercialism and inauthenticity. It is the ‘story’ of remoteness, peripherality and a ‘place apart’ which is instilled into the food offer. This was reinforced during a trip to the Gubbeen Farmhouse, where landscape iconography emphasised its location ‘on the edge of the Atlantic, the piggery looks out over our land and down to the sea…’ (Everett, 2008), and more recently, ‘This makes us the most south-westerly cheese dairy in Ireland and so we are blessed with early grass and clean air’. A local smoke fish producer had echoed this: You know what we are trying to do, us local artisan food producers living and working in peripheral parts of Ireland is enhancing, let me use a word I hate when it is used, but ‘image’. I don’t mean image in a pictorial way, I mean the package. Whether it is the culture, the connectiveness to the land or the closeness to the land and the product or raw materials, that is something that is really precious and that is what we are selling. Peripheral aspects are enhanced by how we promote it (Sally, West Cork).

Such views continue to permeate food tourism research (e.g., Fusté-Forné & Berno, 2016), especially in regard to discourses of purity and escape. Discourses of remoteness and nature perpetuate a ‘sense of place’ which constitutes a significant spatial dimension of food tourism. It has been said by Okumus et al. (2007, p. 255) that ‘the combination of two dreams, destination and food, can embrace the overall destination images. Images, therefore, must convey a total emotional experience at both overt and subliminal levels.’ It is the concept of a ‘scripted Scottish Eden’ (Coleman & Crang, 2002, p. 81) that feeds the ‘story’, packaging promises of escape from the urban and creating romantic myths which keep producers economically viable. Although paradoxically, the objective to ‘get away from it all’ was often replaced by an official context of organisation and arrangement (Crouch et al., 2001). I noted that many previous interviews commented on the power of the imagination to overcome this paradox; tourists noted: ‘I mean as where we come from, it’s

38  Handbook on food tourism a land-locked area, isn’t it, so you don’t get the availability of, well, what you imagine to be fresh seafood’ (Pat, Galway); ‘I guess I assume that when I am eating salmon here that it’s come from here, it might not necessarily be true but I like that idea’ (Nancy, Galway); or ‘the thought is that it is fresher here, the fishermen bring it in fresh’ (Vince, North Cornwall). The manager at the Arran distillery was clear: ‘Yes, we are selling the island, the people, history, and we are selling the landscape, selling the eagles. It is the combined context, there is no one thing, it is everything together…well, it captures people’s imagination, doesn’t it?…It is the natural environment. I think it is incredible.’ In addition to a sense of escape, food tourism builds new landscapes and acts as a marker of identity capable of providing an embodied experience of place. 4.2

Tasty Experiencescapes

Recently, reiterated by Park et al. (2023), food tourism experiences represent the experience of local environments, peoples and their stories through food(scape). Food tourism sites are arenas of sensory immersion, where cultural objects are physically internalised and tourists are submerged in waves of smells, sounds, taste and touch (Everett, 2008). Therefore, it should be conceptualised as the ultimate polysensual form of tourism, a phenomenon where the ‘process of experiencing, making sense, knowing through practice as a sensual human subject in the world’ is particularly pronounced (Crouch, 2000, p. 68). It provides a vehicle with which to fuel the discursive significant shift from tourism as a visual practice towards something which engages all the senses in a kind of sensuous geography (Rodaway, 1994). It is within these embodied sites where taste widens the sensual spatial range traditionally employed in touristic experiences and creates a ‘sense of place’. This active sense of place has been described by Richards (2021) as ‘experiencescape’ – an evolution from Experience 1.0 (producer-orientated) to Experience 2.0 (co-creation) to Experience 3.0 (foodscapes) in terms of gastronomic experiences. These foodscapes, or ‘tastescapes’, are where places are experienced as more than visual landscapes, where ‘experiencescapes’ are rich with sensory elements and multi-stakeholder participation (Chen et al., 2020), and where events such as food festivals represent multisensory elements of a place. Producers are a key part of the experience; for example, a brewery manager in Arran noted, ‘One end of the brew house that holds the mash tun and all the coppers and things for the brewing bit….the smells are very important.’ The senses must be considered in the appreciation of the landscape as they lend character and identity to places (Dann & Jacobsen, 2003). Food tourism perhaps offers a panacea to Lefebvre’s (1991, p. 197) lament about the modern world: ‘it may be asked whether there is any point in dwelling in this space, which is in any case fast disappearing under the current onslaught of hygiene’ – (perhaps ironic during a pandemic when hygiene was prioritised). Another tourist explained, ‘so we are looking for those experiences that, sort of, identify memories with them. I guess if you want to put it into context, it’s one of the senses isn’t it? Tasting, tasting the area’ (Mark). It was clear that many used food to fully experience place: ‘I think it is part of experiencing the area that you are in’ (Glennis), and, ‘…it’s a way of experiencing a place’ (Ed). Responses suggested a ‘practical ontology’ (Crouch & Desforges, 2003), where places were experienced and an embodied ‘sense of place’ emerged through food experiences: ‘it is in essence a psychological experience, isn’t it?’ (Andrew, tourist, Hebrides).

Building an imagined sense of place with food tourism  39 Tourists wanted to help promote local food and cultures, and this remains true as we look to rebuild after the pandemic. I recall a producer in Ireland (Seamus) suggesting that cheese possessed an ‘essence’, where ‘there is a biologically dynamic environment that tells a story in taste that needs nurturing. The physical surroundings are not only embedded, but place is constructed from internal feelings and experiences triggered by the environment. The body engages with nature and place multi-sensorially.’ As Alistair (food producer in Arran) suggested, ‘we sell all of our food and drink on place: people and place. I wanted to bring the profile of people forward on our products as we feel it is the air and people, the ambience and the people that make the product special.’ The island’s distillery manager summarised this: ‘The people do want something different, they do want something from the island, feel that difference. It is going back to what we were saying, they want to taste the island.’ Food tourism creates a multi-layered experience ‘foodscape’ where place is experienced through all the senses, where ‘the grammar of landscape experiences includes all the different tourist forms of taking in a landscape, to traverse it, pass through it or past it, to dwell in it, sense it, be part of it…landscapes are produced by movement, both of the sense and of the body’ (Lofgren, 2004, p. 106, cited in Sheller & Urry, 2004). After all, space is intimately encountered through immersive physical encounters, and moments of bodily expression activate places (Crouch, 2000). As outlined in Everett (2008), the body, both in the physical and emotional sense, is employed in the encounter of space and place. Food tourism sites represent arenas which encourage a full immersion of the body: ‘there is a kind of feeling… you can’t describe it in words, it’s just, you can feel the land!’ (Nadine, tourist, Galway). Food-themed tourism sites are sites of embodied practice within which the body moves and engages with place. It is this theorisation of ‘imagined’ space, where food sites provide arenas where invisible somatic knowledge is generated. Feelings and experience contribute to the way the place is refigured as an imaginative site. It was de Certeau (1988) who theorised the way people actively engaged in a process of productive consumption, and perhaps more latterly this has been presented as ‘co-creation’, where food tourists are co-creators (e.g., Carvalho et al., 2021; Park & Widyanta, 2022; Rachão et al., 2020). This is particularly played out in the temporary event spaces of food tourism, where carnivalesque tastescapes come to life. 4.3

Events and Festivals as Spaces

Food festivals and events offer the most tangible performance and co-production spaces (Lefrid & Torres, 2021). This is where tourists are active in ‘sense making’ (Jamal & Lee, 2003), ascribed a co-productive role with producers. Tourists are not just written upon as consumptive ‘dupes’ but ‘tourist places are produced place, and tourists are co-producers of such places’ (Larsen, 2005, p. 421) – where food is actively performed and narrated through representations, actions and stories. It is where spaces are reappropriated (Edensor, 2000) and socialised performances create unique experiences (Lugosi et al., 2020). This was particularly the case in Cambridge (Duignan et al., 2017, p. 861), where events were found to support and leverage a community’s sense of place, transform identities, and offer opportunities for unique revenue generation (Getz, 2005). Our study generated data via a survey of 28 food producers and 35 in-depth interviews by examining the festival space and how social media activities were used to build liminoid spaces, i.e., existing beyond normal social and cultural constraints (Preston-Whyte, 2004). Tourists enjoy spatial pockets of difference, places set outside normal

40  Handbook on food tourism boundaries of the food offer at home. Subsequent food studies since, such as Chen and Huang’s (2016) work on the annual hotpot festival in Chongqing, seem to further attest to this. Food events have become heterogeneous theatres for thinking and arenas for fashioning identities (Getz & Robinson, 2014). Research in Skibbereen in Ireland (The Taste, 2022) illustrates how food tourism events are ‘active’ spaces where real and imagined spaces combine, characterised by cultural coexistence and transformation in between the local and global. These dynamic spaces develop new identities and products (Quigley et al., 2019), being arenas of spatial proximity between producer and consumer where food fosters a culture economy, allowing knowledge and insight to be exchanged between producer and consumer. This is where concepts such as performativity play out, where normal social order is temporarily inverted and perhaps staged (Edensor, 2000) and there are temporary states of escape. Performance cannot be separated from its spatial and physical context. In the alternative economic spaces of small food tourism sites, concepts of ‘home made’ and ‘old fashioned’ have become discourses of resistance against mass production and modernity (Smart, 1999). In Duignan et al. (2017), a transformation of social space gives way to non-traditional behaviours, where we see the triumph of non-dominant values in less rigid, prescriptive spaces (Caudwell & Rinehart, 2014). Consequently, event-induced liminality continues to be used to describe a temporary setting which encourages individuals to experience freedom from the mundane existence of everyday life (Shields, 1991), offering transitional dwelling spaces where festivals exist outside of the everyday structures of life. It is this liminal and the carnivalesque character of events (Pielichaty, 2015) that shows the matrix comprising local identity, uniqueness, authenticity and liminality, given some Cambridge respondents reported, ‘Because there are so many other producers out there that without getting out in front of people and have people actually taste your product, they’re less likely to buy it online’ (Cambridge producer) (Duignan et al., 2017, p. 862). As we look to a post-pandemic resurrection of responsible tourism (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020), food tourism is well placed to respond to the need for more responsible tourism. As previous interviewees claimed, ‘I can eat more responsibly and locally here’ (Brenda, Arran); ‘we had venison here – it’s a more sustainable diet’ (Elaine, Hebrides). Such comments allude to a process of temporary ‘inversion’, where regular dietary habits are abandoned for the consumption of distinctly non-ordinary food items, where food facilitates ‘idiosyncratic symbolism’ (Turner, 1977) and individuals express needs they are lacking back home (Currie, 1997). 4.4

Connecting With Times Past

Lowenthal (1985) suggested that nostalgia is a rebellion against the present, emerging in times of insecurity and fuelling a sense of existential insufficiency. In revisiting my data I found a specific focus on iconic heritage cuisines, where food is couched in discourses of anti-modernity and links are made to the past that build a sense of temporal peripherality. Certainly, a desire to imaginatively connect with something lost in the past provided the motivation for many tourists to visit the food sites (Baldacchino, 2015). The exposure to certain smells, tastes and the touch of certain foodstuffs was found to reignite associations from a reservoir of past feelings: ‘Well again, it was all homemade, all home grown, that I had anyway. It was like stepping back in time…escape from it all, how food should be! I don’t like the way we live now’ (Sheena). And: ‘It’s how life used to be’ (Daphne). Some simple experiences, such as rubbing the dirt off a carrot, made a woman recall, ‘…that’s just how I remember them,

Building an imagined sense of place with food tourism  41 and carrots you see. When I was younger, because, we had no sweets and things, I mean there was no sweet shop, because of the war you see, and they used to sell carrots, and your mouth was all orange, you don’t get that now either.’ Food offers a hub for childhood memories (MacNaughton & Urry, 2000), where the body is sensually immersed to provide an instrument for developing meaning (Larsson et al., 2006). I recalled in Everett (2008, p. 374), 82-year-old Audrey felt the smokehouse ambience had emotionally transported her back to childhood: ‘But here, it was wonderful to see and smell the fish, it really brings me back about 60 or so years, you so rarely see that kind of smoking now, with the big dark smoke house and that smell, ooh, it’s that smell of childhood, the smoked fish I was told to eat, it was a treat for me.’ Foodstuffs act as catalysts to memory recollection, providing temporal escape from modern life (Hwang et al., 2004). Food-based experiences emotionally and metaphorically transport someone back in time, perhaps back to their childhood. An imagined place is constructed beyond what is visually apprehended, but is triggered by the material form of food (Baldacchino, 2015). Food tourism experiences provided a mechanism to reconnect with a local and pre-rationalised past (Boniface, 2003), collapsing the boundaries between the past and present, rendering visible something lost. Food transports tourists to a space between past and present, where modern foodstuffs transport people to places removed from modernity (Long, 2004). This sense of food having the capacity to hold time in an era of hyper mobility and rising concern about loss of local identities was expressed by a tourist in Galway, Ireland: ‘…because it is all natural. It’s like the clock has been turned back’ (James). There is a world beyond what can be physically accessed, as Rodaway (1994, p. 31) found, ‘the body contributes both to spatial and temporal perception, being like a ship and its anchor in our life-long geographical experience. It mediates between us and the environment, giving us access to a world beyond itself.’ Eating the ‘other’ can trigger moments of nostalgic resurrection, metaphorically transporting the consumer to another time as well as another place. Realising that a ‘sense of place’ is filtered by tourists within a personal mindset, Andrew (tourist on Arran) insisted ‘people want to rediscover a connection with the past: where they came from and where their roots are. So yes, it is an interesting thing for us to try and establish a link between the food and the place.’ Food tourism seems to foster an active construction of place in reaction to modernity, where the tourist is active in creating myths with elements including spatiality, iconography and emotion, which all contribute to the construction of a how place is conceived. Temporal escape is evoked through non-visual practices, creating a form of liminal temporality via manifestations of embodied memory recollection. Although much work exists on nostalgic recollection and the ways in which a sense of ‘times past’ is encouraged (Tunbridge & Ashworth, 2000), culinary artefacts clearly have the power to act as catalysts in the construction of new (liminal) in-between spaces, offering cultural objects that create times past when it is utilised in an embodied touristic experience. The same is true today, with the pandemic highlighting the need for a new form of ‘liminal’ space when physical movement was problematic. This space lies between the digital and the physical – where virtual and invisible spaces facilitated the opportunity to experience food, but from one’s own home. 4.5

Virtual Spaces and Digital Liminality

When Covid restrictions removed the opportunity to physically experience places, the unplanned and rapid expansion of digital spaces of food tourism took the form of myriad

42  Handbook on food tourism virtual experiences, such as online cookery schools and virtual tastings (El-Said & Aziz, 2021). It was this growth during times of concern that has solidified many arguments that food tourism is increasingly able to offer liminal experiences (Fusté-Forné & Filimon, 2021). It has been interesting to note the growing body of work focused on food and digital spaces since Covid, and the exploration of how technology can replace and replicate experiences (Schimperna et al., 2021). Covid also increased social media activity. In my study of social media and food tourism in Malaysia (Everett, 2021), I found it faciliated engagement in a timely and direct fashion with consumers, shortening the distance between a company and its users which strengthened consumer engagement in the innovation process. In the development of digital experiences, it was clear it was becoming a way for local food producers to benefit from consumer-driven tourism and sustain local identities and ways of life. Certainly, as the pandemic hit, social media was increasingly used to disrupt powerful, hegemonic economic forces and globalisation associated with mass tourism. In such work, the value of digital and virtual spaces were surfaced (De Canio et al., 2022), constantly fuelled through regional imagery and iconography and it was these ‘representations of space’ that continue to nurture a sense of escape and distance (Lefebvre, 1991). The concept of ‘imagined geographies’ and the process through which spatial exclusivity and ‘sense of place’ is specifically articulated in digital media, where the material and non-material are blurred. Food tourism comprises ‘liminal people’ in ‘liminal spaces’ engaging with ‘liminal artefacts’ (unique and unusual foodstuffs), whether collectively at farms, festivals and visitor attractions or independently as part of a personal pilgrimage to ‘food gems’, thereby dissociating and making themselves ‘peripheral’ from ‘other’ tourists in a process of alterity. Conceptualising food tourism sites as liminal spaces gives areas a place identity built on subtle discourses and tangible manifestations of escape and resetting tourism.

5. CONCLUSION In revisiting previous data, alongside a more recent review of literature, I find food tourism continues to engender feelings of physical and temporal escape. Food is a material object capable of triggering ‘dreamscapes’ in a physical and digital sense (Bǽrenholdt et al., 2004). Food tourism sites are not just seen, but smelled, touched and tasted, where culinary sites have the power to elicit strong emotional response and people have agency to construct their own personal interpretation of the world, even if it is imagined. Interviews from my previous studies indicate that through the physical consumption of food, consumers actively and psychologically ‘make’ place. De Certeau (1988, p. 106) ascribes agency to people which entertains the possibility of embodied resistance, writing, ‘Travel (like walking) is a substitute for the legends that are used to open up spaces to something different…exploration of the deserted places of my memory.’ Therefore, rather than seeking to quantify consumption patterns and examine the economics of food tourism, there is value in examining the ways in which food constructs myths, memories and attachment to place. Locations are ascribed a ‘sense of place’ through anthropological, poetic and mythic practices that construct spatialities; as argued by Ellis et al. (2018), food tourism is a ‘cultural anthropology concept’. Tourists actively create spaces. Through their action and imagination they became co-producers and co-creators of sites and stories. The continuing success of rural food tourism delivery remains reliant on this form of ‘productive consumption’ as we see a return to culi-

Building an imagined sense of place with food tourism  43 nary breaks such as tours and cookery school holidays because tourists want to be directly involved with the production, rather than just the consumption, of food (Sharples, 2003). Places are co-practiced, co-produced and co-performed, and food tourists continue to have an active role in producing performances – fuelling the carnivalesque nature of food festivals and using food to (re)imagine and ‘reset’ tourism places. It is through ingesting food and drink that tourists engage in one of the most intimate connections with place, where this truly embodied experience is enhanced and subconsciously fed by an iconography of distance, remoteness and untouched nature in the countryside and peripheral regions of the UK. The increasing number of fluid dramaturgical landscapes sees choreographies of production and consumption construct an imagined sense of place and time. Much like walking can be regarded as a performance that challenges hegemonic structures (de Certeau, 1988), producer and tourist performances continue to work to construct places – making it possible to maintain imaginary worlds where tourists feel they temporarily escape and breathe. In arguing that places are only fully activated through bodily immersion, I suggest the work of de Certeau (1988) is helpful to theorise the employment of embodied tactics. Place is apprehended through polysensual practices and symbolism, where feelings are triggered via psycho-sensory experiences. The shift from the visual to a situation where place must be regarded as more than what is seen – such ‘experiencescapes’ are activated through emotive encounters, where senses lend character to the identity of place. I purport that places are not only activated and invested with emotion through food tourism but offer a powerful sense of essence and escape where food is instilled with the elements of the landscape, packaged with promises of ‘imagined escape’. Presented as a panacea to global anxiety and vehicle to foster social and cultural reengagement, food tourism remains an area of discovering and a fertile ground for future studies on its role in ‘resetting the world’. After all, Ellis et al. found (2018, p. 261), ‘food defines the cuisine of a place and food is used in many forms and interactions from a tourism perspective in a place. As food represents traditions, stories and symbols – it is the tourist who interacts and creates an experience through performance, enquiry and engagement.’ This co-creation phenomenon sits at the heart of the experience, where food tourism studies highlight a producer/consumer relationship characterised by practices which are combined to construct a ‘sense of place’ where food cultural traditions and experiences become highly sought (Horng & Tsai, 2012). As Baldacchino (2015) highlights, there is a growing willingness to participate in a democratisation of food traditions, indulging in food (and drink) items and recipes that purport such humble origins that inspire authenticity and popularity (Cohen & Avieli, 2004). This was particularly the case during the pandemic as people sought to reconnect to the source of food and the people and places producing it (Fountain, 2022). This trend looks like it will continue to play out as people endeavour to adjust and make sense of a disrupted and uncertain world.

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Building an imagined sense of place with food tourism  45 Everett, S., & Aitchison, C. (2008). The role of food tourism in sustaining regional identity: a case study of Cornwall, South West England. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16(2), 150–167. Everett, S., & Slocum, S. L. (2013). Food and tourism: An effective partnership? A UK-based review. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(6), 789–809. Fountain, J. (2022). The future of food tourism in a post-COVID-19 world: insights from New Zealand. Journal of Tourism Futures, 8(2), 220–233. Fusté-Forné, F., & Berno, T. (2016). Food Tourism in New Zealand: Canterbury’s Foodscapes. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 2(2), 71–86. Fusté-Forné, F., & Filimon, N.(2021). Using Social Media to Preserve Consumers’ Awareness on Food Identity in Times of Crisis: The Case of Bakeries. International Journal of Environmental Research into Public Health, 18, 6251. Getz, D. (2005). Event management and event tourism. Cognizant. Getz, D., & Robinson, R. N. (2014). Foodies and food events. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 14(3), 315–330. Goss, J. (2005). The souvenir and sacrifice in the tourist mode of consumption. In C. Cartier, & A. Lew (Eds.), Seductions of place: geographical perspectives on globalization and touristed landscapes (pp. 56–71). Routledge. Hall, C. M. (2020). Improving the recipe for culinary and food tourism? The need for a new menu, Tourism Recreation Research, 45(2), 284–287. Harvey, D. (1993). From space to place and back again: reflections on the condition of postmodernity. In J. Bird, B. Curtis, T. Putnam, G. Robertson, & L. Tickner (Eds.), In mapping the futures: local cultures and global change (pp. 3–29). Routledge. Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2020). Socialising tourism for social and ecological justice after COVID-19. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), 610–623. Holak, S. L., & Havlena, W. (1998). Feelings, fantasies, and memories: An examination of the emotional components of nostalgia. Journal of Business Research, 43(3), 217–226. Horng, J. S., & Tsai, C. T. (2012). Culinary tourism strategic development: an Asia‐Pacific perspective. International Journal of Tourism Research, 14(1), 40–55. Hwang, L. J., Van Westering, J., & Chen, H. (2004). Exploration of the linkages between the gastronomy and heritage of Tainan City, Taiwan. Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, 1(1), 223–235. Jamal, T., & Lee, J. H. (2003). Integrating micro and macro approaches to tourist motivations: Toward an interdisciplinary theory. Tourism Analysis, 8(1), 47–59. Kim, S., Park, E., & Lamb, D. (2019). Extraordinary or ordinary? Food tourism motivations of Japanese domestic noodle tourists. Tourism Management Perspectives, 29, 176–186. Kneafsey, M. (1998). Tourism and place identity: a case-study in rural Ireland. Irish Geography, 31(2), 111–123. Larsen, J. (2005). Families seen sightseeing: performativity of tourist photography. Space and Culture, 8(4), 416–434. Larsson, M., Öberg, C., & Bäckman, L. (2006). Recollective experience in odour memory: Influences of adult age and familiarity. Psychological Research, 70(1), 68–75. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Wiley Blackwell. Lefrid, M., & Torres, E. N. (2021). Hungry for food and community: A study of visitors to food and wine festivals. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 28(3), 366–384. Long, L. (2004). Culinary tourism. The University Press of Kentucky Long, L. (2021). Virtual Culinary Tourism in the Time of COVID 19. Vision in Leisure and Business, 24(1), 44–60 Lowenthal, D. (1985). The past is a foreign country. Cambridge University Press. Lugosi, P., Robinson, R. N., Walters, G., & Donaghy, S. (2020). Managing experience co-creation practices: Direct and indirect inducement in pop-up food tourism events. Tourism Management Perspectives, 35, 100702. MacNaughton, P., & Urry, J. (2000). Bodies of nature. Body and Society, 6(3/4), 1–11. Mannell, R., & Iso-Ahola, S. (1987). Psychological nature of leisure and tourism experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 14(3), 314–331. Massey, D. (1994). Space, place and gender. Polity.

46  Handbook on food tourism McIntyre, C. (Eds.). (2012). Tourism and retail: The psychogeography of liminal consumption. Routledge. Okumus, B. (2021). Food tourism research: A perspective article. Tourism Review, 76(1), 38–42. Okumus, B., Koseoglu, M. A., & Ma, F. (2018). Food and gastronomy research in tourism and hospitality: A bibliometric analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 73(1), 64–74. Okumus, B., Okumus, F., & McKercher, B. (2007). Incorporating local and international cuisines in the marketing of tourism destinations: The cases of Hong Kong and Turkey. Tourism Management, 28(1), 253–261. Park, E., & Widyanta, A. (2022). Food tourism experience and changing destination foodscape: An exploratory study of an emerging food destination. Tourism Management Perspectives, 42(April), 100964. Park, E., Muangasame, K., & Kim, S. (2023). ‘We and our stories’: Constructing food experiences in a UNESCO gastronomy city. Tourism Geographies, 25(2–3), 572–593. Patterson, I., & Turaev, H. (2020). Gastonomy Tourism as an Emerging Niche Market in Uzbekistan. Journal of Gastronomy Hospitality and Travel, 3(1), 141–149. Pielichaty, H. (2015). Festival space: Gender, liminality and the carnivalesque. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 6(30), 235–250. Pons, P. (2003). Being-on-holiday. Tourist dwelling, bodies and place. Tourist Studies, 3(1), 47–66. Preston-Whyte, R. (2004). The beach as a liminal space. In A. Lew, C. M. Hall, & A. Williams (Eds.), A companion to tourism (Blackwell companions to geography) (pp. 249–259). Blackwell. Quigley, K., Connolly, M., Mahon, E., & Iomaire, M. M. C. (2019). Insight from insiders: A phenomenological study for exploring food tourism policy in Ireland 2009–2019. Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research, 7(2), 188–215. Rachão, S., Breda, Z., Fernandes, C., & Joukes, V. (2020). Cocreation of tourism experiences: are food-related activities being explored?. British Food Journal, 122(3), 910–928. Richards, G. (2002). Gastronomy: an essential ingredient in tourism production and consumption? In A. Hjalager & G. Richards (Eds.), Tourism and Gastronomy (pp. 3–20). Routledge. Richards, G. (2021). Evolving research perspectives on food and gastronomic experiences in tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 33(3), 1037–1058. Rodaway, P. (1994). Sensuous geographies: body, sense and place. Routledge. Ronström, O. (2012). Saffron pancake/Saffranspankakka. In A. Baldacchino, & G. Baldacchino (Eds.), A taste of islands: 60 recipes and stories from our world of islands (pp. 252–255). Island Studies Press. Schimperna, F., Lombardi, R., & Belyaeva, Z. (2021). Technological transformation, culinary tourism and stakeholder engagement: emerging trends from a systematic literature review. Journal of Place Management and Development, 14(1), 66–80. Sharples, L. (2003). Food tourism in the Peak District National Park, England. In C. M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis, & B. Cambourne (Eds.), Food tourism around the world. Development, management and markets (pp. 206–227). Butterworth Heinemann. Sheller, M. (2003). Consuming the Caribbean: from Arawaks to Zombies. Routledge Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2004). Tourism mobilities: places to stay, places in play. Routledge. Shields, R. (1991). Places on the margin: Alternative geographies of modernity. Routledge. Smart, B. (ed.) (1999). Resisting McDonaldization. Sage The Taste (2022). Skibbereen Food and Drink Travel Guide, https://​www​.thetaste​.ie/​skibbereen​-food​ -drink​-travel​-guide Tunbridge, J., & Ashworth, G. (2000). Dissonant heritage: the management of the past as a resource in conflict. Wiley. Turner, V. (1977). Variations on a theme of liminality. In S. F. Moore, & B. G. Myerhoff (Eds.) Secular Ritual (pp. 36–52). Van Gorcum. Urry, J., (1990). The tourist gaze. Sage. Valentine, G. (2001). Whatever happened to the social? Reflections on the ‘cultural turn’ in British human geography. Norwegian Journal of Geography, 55(3), 166–172. Vázquez-Medina, J. A., & Medina, F. X. (2020). Traditional Mexican cuisine: Heritage implications for food tourism promotion. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 4(4), 239–250.

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4. Characteristics of place for food destinations: a foodscape perspective Andy Widyanta and Eerang Park

1. INTRODUCTION Food tourism receives the increasing attention of destinations which recognise local food as an important travel motivation and a key factor in tourists’ destination choice (Hiamey et al., 2021; Jeaheng & Han, 2020). Destinations strive to use local foods to develop new tourism offerings (Chen & Huang, 2019) by deeply examining the influence of food experiences and food events on destination image, the branding of food destinations, and rural development (Cardoso et al., 2020; Choe & Kim, 2018; Knollenberg et al., 2021; Pizzichini et al., 2022; Yang et al., 2020). Unfortunately, not all destinations are recognised as food tourism destinations, although every destination should have established, created, evolved, and practised unique foodways that are embodied within the local communities as a marker of local culture. Food gives identity, as defined by ethnicity, and it represents changes relative to social change (Hiamey et al., 2021). Food in a destination is not simply about a collection of the best ingredients and delicious sustenance, but about understanding and tackling socio-cultural, economic, political and ecological processes (Lang et al., 2009). Herein lie research gaps in food tourism. Compared with the great body of literature on destination marketing and tourist behaviours, there is a lack of understanding of the fundamental relationship between food and place and the attributes of the production and consumption of food experiences that collectively make a place a food tourism destination. To bridge this research gap, this study addresses how a food destination is characterised, and takes a foodscape lens to analyse the local stakeholders’ and tourists’ viewpoints of commercialised food tourism activities in an emerging food tourism destination in Indonesia. Foodscape is a social concept that describes how food, places and people are interconnected (Mikkelsen, 2011). Existing food tourism studies look at only one dimension of the food tourism phenomena, either food in place or people’s attitudes or behaviours around food in the tourism setting. Taking a holistic approach to understanding the food–place–people nexus in research terms is scant, and thus, the foodscape concept has yet to be established and studied in tourism, notwithstanding current exceptions (Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2019; Fusté-Forné & Berno, 2016; Park & Widyanta, 2022). By taking a holistic approach to the understanding of food destinations, this chapter discovers attributes of destination foodscapes that constitute the food tourism experience. The research context is Yogyakarta on the Indonesian island of Java, which has long been a tourist destination for its cultural heritage and arts – for example, traditional crafts, performing arts, historical buildings, folklore, Javanese tradition, and local food. Of those, local food is one of the prominent attractions and has been utilised for local food tourism activities. The Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia introduced the triangle concept 48

Characteristics of place for food destinations  49 of Indonesian gastronomy, which depicts the embodiment of culture, history, and food, as a platform for food tourism destination development (Datau, 2017). Yogyakarta’s top–down approach to establishing a food tourism destination makes it a suitable case for exploring what and how locals and tourists are identifying, processing, and creating the experiential attributes of food in the destination.

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Destination Foodscape

Foodscape is the place and space that is related to food, and tangible and intangible aspects of a society that mediate the human relationship with food which constitute foodscape (MacKendrick, 2014). Mikkelsen (2011) asserts that the use of the suffix ‘-scape’ is a useful approach in understanding a complex social system of food, in which interaction among people, food, environment, culture and society takes place and thus creates dynamic, constantly changing local foodscapes (Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2019). Johnston and Baumann (2009) also put foodscape at the centre of a complex food society and argue that, first, the foodscape concept improves our understanding of food and food systems, which are moderated through norms, customs, and cultural society. Second, the concept indicates connections between culture, sense, flavour, physical landscape, and ecology. The foodscape concept is central to food tourism, as the relationship between food, people and the environment, inclusive of social, physical place, develops the foundations to develop a food tourism destination (Casciola et al., 2014). Thus, the experience of and interaction with place become associated with the food experience. Hall and Gössling’s (2016) position regarding food tourism is in line with the foodscape concept, highlighting that food tourism for regional development takes into consideration the dynamic relationship between food culture and food materiality in a place. Arguably, tourists’ local food experiences essentially connect with and possibly influence local foodscapes. The connection is via the service setting (for example, tourists’ interaction with a chef in a restaurant or tour guide in an organised street food tour) and non-service setting (for example, local wet market, dining with local people, self-catering using local ingredients bought in the local market). The local foodscape is constructed from the combination of the land, the food, the personal interaction, the service and the choices available. The creation of exceptional experiences encompassing all human senses coming from the local foodscape enables the place to establish a solid position as a food tourism destination (Casciola et al., 2014). Fusté-Forné and Berno (2016) explore how foodscape potentially provides a foundation for tourists to have a more authentic and meaningful experience. The study indicates that the foodscape of a region comprises the relationship between land, primary production, food, and culture. The relationship is conveyed through the articulation of an authentic food narrative and, thus, consuming locally produced food fulfils tourists’ desire for a meaningful cultural experience created via the local foodscape. Meanwhile, foodscape for researchers examining tourist behaviour is viewed as the amalgam of, or a facilitator for, tourists’ experience. Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2019) conceptualise destination foodscape as ‘a holistic conception of food experience in a destination in which denotes the places and scapes that facilitate a wide range of food experience’ (p. 468). Hall and Gössling (2016) view foodscape as a pull factor

50  Handbook on food tourism for tourists as well as an element comprising food choice, consumption and behaviour. It is noted that tourism research still limits its research on foodscape to what comprises the foodscape, that is, to identify experiential elements of a destination, rather than develop a holistic understanding of the social relationship between food and individuals in a place. This constitutes the fundamental concept of foodscape which answers the essential questions of what, how, and why people eat, encompassing attitudes and activities which collectively become the destination food experience. 2.2

Food Tourism Experiences

Many scholars adopt Hall and Sharples’ (2003) definition of food tourism as a consumer-oriented experience that attracts tourists to visit a particular destination. Food tourists are a growing segment in tourism markets worldwide (UNWTO, 2017), and they pursue unique experiences of eating and drinking (Sormaz et al., 2016). Tourists prefer to travel with their ‘taste buds’ and use food and its unique offerings as a medium to explore authentic flavours, harmonising with the culture and the history of a destination. Food tourism destination development is thus obliged to offer dynamic experiences of culture and heritage via food (Ellis et al., 2018). In this regard, Long’s (2004) definition of food tourism is worth noting. It offers dual perspectives of food tourism, which is ‘about individuals exploring foods new to them as well as using food to explore new cultures and ways of being. It is about groups using food to ‘sell’ their histories and to construct marketable and publicly attractive identities, and it is about individuals satisfying curiosity’ (p. 20). Current trends in food tourism have seen food as a demand generator for a destination, but there are local providers in a destination that offer food products and food-related experiences for tourists, and they represent the place as locals. Thus, the provider’s involvement in the creation of storytelling, culinary identity, food activity designs and offers is with consideration for the development of the food destination. Food tourism experiences are co-creative by their nature (Park & Widyanta, 2022) and, thus, a dual perspective in defining food tourism emphasises both the supply (host) and the demand (guest) relationship. Beyond the host–guest interaction, Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2014) argue that the food experience in tourism is multidimensional and influenced by several aspects built on the ‘experiencescape’ (Mossberg, 2007). This includes the physical environment, personnel, products and souvenirs, other tourists, and a theme or a story of the destination. Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2014) identify three factors influencing tourists’ food experience in destinations: first, factual features (type, quality, category) and associative features (novelty, authenticity, homemade, simplicity, healthiness); second, features related to external place (physical setting, destination environment), service place (interior and exterior design) and the way in which food experience is served; and last, behaviour which is related to the individual. The findings indicate that food destinations are to be equipped with a range of cognitive and emotional elements but retain physical dimensions in terms of landscape, physical elements and consumable attributes. As shown, a scholarly approach to foodscape is largely overlooked, which attends not only to cultural and material dimensions of food, but also the relationship between food culture and food materials used to offer unique food experiences, which promise a holistic view of destination attributes.

Characteristics of place for food destinations  51

3. METHODOLOGY Taking the social constructivism paradigm, this research utilised a qualitative research process to investigate social complexities, with the objective of understanding the interactions, processes, and experiences of participants (O’Leary, 2014) and its flexibility in terms of subject inquiry during data collection (Jennings, 2010). The fieldwork was conducted in August 2018 for one month in Indonesia. In-depth interviews were conducted with one government officer (who was in charge of destination management and marketing) and 21 local food tourism suppliers, employing a snowball sampling technique. The interviews were conducted in the local language and lasted between 30 and 60 minutes. With international tourists, three focus groups with 11 tourists were conducted in English in Yogyakarta, taking into consideration the group nature of food tourism activities. Moreover, focus groups offer richer outcomes to give an in-depth understanding of a subject under research, compared with individual interviews (Hjalager & Nordin, 2011). Employing a purposive sampling method, participants were international tourists who were motivated to take a food experience trip and had joined one or multiple commercial food activities, for example, a food-themed tour, cooking class, eating at an iconic local restaurant, and so on. Each focus group lasted for approximately 30 minutes, and interviews were all audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. The demographics of the interview participants are detailed in Table 4.1. Observational research was employed to complement the interview data so that empirical materials collected for qualitative analysis could be made more robust (Baker, 2006; Yin, 2014). Secondary data was collected from government publications and reports, previous studies, promotional materials, websites, food tour itineraries, restaurant menus, recipes, and other sources related to the research topic. A thematic analysis method was used to process the coding of textual data, grouping and identifying them to enable key themes to emerge (Ayress, 2008; Brunt et al., 2017). A cross-check of interview transcripts, fieldnotes, documents and photographs was performed for validity (Creswell, 2014), and reliability was achieved by secondary data and field observation complemented by direct quotes to corroborate the findings (Bloor & Wood, 2006).

4. FINDINGS This research reveals that the destination foodscape is the outcome of a complex, dynamic process and multi-dimensional linkages. Food tourism in Yogyakarta is mainly shaped by local food, food production and their association with cultural and historical meanings of the region. Specifically, five attributes that shape destination foodscapes are identified: connection of food to the culinary landscape; social interactions; food quality; price; and linkages between food and agriculture. 4.1

Connection of Food to the Culinary Landscape

Food tourism experiences are found to be attributed to the connection of food to cultural, historical, and natural resources related to culinary practices that underpin the authenticity and uniqueness of the destination food experience. The connection underpins how food is embed-

52  Handbook on food tourism Table 4.1

Demographics of samples

Supplier sector

Business/role

Sample size

Participant ID*

Food and food tourism services

Food-themed event organiser

2

S1–S2

Food tour guide

1

S3

Restaurants

7

S4–S10

Cooking classes

4

S11–S14

Tour operator providing food tours

1

S15

Traditional culinary market

1

S16

Food producers and suppliers

Farmers’ market

1

S17

Food retail

Food speciality production

1

S18

Street food stall

1

S19

Food souvenir shop

2

S20–S21

Government official

1

S22

Suppliers total

22

Destination management and marketing  

 

(*S denotes supplier)

Tourists (pseudonym) Gender

Age

 

First time in Asia

Victoria

Female

30s

UK

Yes

Justin

Male

30s

France

Yes

Paul

Male

50s

The Netherlands

No

Annett

Female

50s

The Netherlands

No

Tom

Male

30s

Germany

No

Freda

Female

30s

Germany

No

Paulin

Female

40s

Australia

No

Gary

Male

20s

The Netherlands

Yes

Odelia

Female

20s

The Netherlands

Yes

Chris

Male

20s

The Netherlands

Yes

Bethany

Female

50s

New Zealand

No

Tourists total

11

 

ded in the physical landscape and surroundings and is associated with the social and cultural context. Those connections are delivered and experienced via food narratives and the settings and atmosphere of food activities. 4.1.1 Food narrative This study finds that food narrative comprises texts and visuals. The texts and visuals narrate history, culture, and social aspects that form the intangible environment of foodways and culinary practice. Food narrative is seen as a key element to convey authenticity to tourists through connections to the region via the story of food. For example, when a tourist buys a rosella tea from a farmers’ market, the seller, who is also the tea maker, communicates the story from flowers to tea bag. This farmers’ market brings forth images of a farm, farmers, and other rural or agricultural features of the region that arouse in the mind of the tourist a connection with the land and people. It further allows the market visitors to taste the farm landscape through the narrative of food, local ingredients, and culinary usage. When it comes to gourmet food of a royal family, such narratives associate food with this specific social and cultural context. In Javanese tradition, in preparing, cooking and serving food, there must be some meanings or philosophies behind it according to local custom or wisdom. For example, ‘nasi liwet sekul blawong’ is a typical dish for the Yogyakarta court family at the time of the sultan who reigned. From field observations, this narrative was presented succinctly in the menu book of an exclusive restaurant offering the royal cuisine.

Characteristics of place for food destinations  53 Furthermore, for group customers, the narrative tends to be conveyed by a host at the beginning of the regale. The story tells the history of food and society, for example, the king’s favourite food is influenced by the Dutch colonisation in the early 1900s, which creates a perceived imagery of the period in the minds of the tourist and helps to explain what remains today. A restaurant manager commented that: Authentic food in our restaurant is a classical royal food, which is not purely Javanese food because most of the royal food are influenced by European food from early 1900, an era of European domination and Dutch colonisation. […] Huzar salad and beef tongue steak tell us this history. They are a fusion between Javanese and European culture, an eastern and western civilisation (S5).

Another royal food restaurant manager addressed that they tell the story to correct the knowledge about food and enrich the context of food. He mentioned that: …most international guests come with a perception of royal food as pure luxurious Javanese food, but it is not. Royal food is an authentic food of royal member of Yogyakarta’s sultanate influenced by European culture. We tell the story, correct them and help enjoy the cultural and historical features whilst tasting the delicacy of the fusion dishes of royal dining (S8).

4.1.2 Settings and atmosphere Whereas settings are related to a physical location or the setting of the (service) experience, the atmosphere is related to senses, feelings, nuance, and other aspects where food-related experiences occur. Data analysis reveals that settings and atmosphere complement each other, influencing the connection of food to culinary landscape. It was evident in the observations of the royal food experience that restaurant location inside the palace complex and its strong ambience would assure guests of an authentic experience of tasting royal food. By entering the food outlet within the palace complex tourists felt engaged in the cultural and historical aspects of the restaurant, not merely just in the food. Meanwhile, local restaurants which participated in this study provided a homey and village-style nuance in offering food experiences to guests. The exterior, interior and decoration are designed to create a homelike atmosphere which enables guests to feel like they are eating at a local’s home rather than in a restaurant. The building architecture is a modest Javanese house in a village. The tables are small round dining tables with batik-style tablecloths, and the interior is decorated with Javanese arts and ornaments. The restaurant serves Javanese home-style dishes made typically in a domestic setting. The owner stated that: […] if I am around, I always offer guests to walk around through our house, rooms, kitchen, garden, including the two buildings where my partner has his workshop. So, the idea is more than just a meal; it has to be a nice tropical evening out in a private place. Not just to go to a restaurant, eat some dishes, pay and go. In here, it is like to eat and hang out with our people in our place (S10).

It was observed that small groups of guests immersed themselves into the daily space of the locals and continued dialogues about food, cooking, culture, and place. In the local market tour, a tourist, Freda, compared local markets between Yogyakarta and her home country, saying that ‘…the market here, people are sitting everywhere, like sitting on stuff, sitting on the floor. I know how different things work out here. It doesn’t need to be organised. I can sense local things, local ways.’ By forming a sense of place through the market setting and atmosphere, Freda understood how a traditional market operates in Yogyakarta.

54  Handbook on food tourism 4.2

Social Interactions

It is found that the local food experience is driven by the social interactions shaped and instigated through human and setting factors within the local foodscape. The social interactions discovered in this study refer to encounters with service personnel and interactions between local people and other tourists. These interactions are an important aspect of the social environment of food in the region and create meaningful experiences for food tourists. Regarding interactions with service personnel, observations during the cooking classes revealed that instructors acted with professionalism, designing their programs to ensure every participant immersed themselves in the market surroundings and cooking setting. This was achieved by displaying tools, ingredients, cookbooks, including setting the cooking stations near vegetable and herb gardens. In restaurants, food servers and managers were well equipped with stories of food in communicating with guests, in relation to the historical and cultural context, as well as imparting knowledge about recipe ingredients. In one of the cooking classes, tourists visit the traditional market, as part of their itinerary to shop for ingredients. On these occasions, they had opportunities to see locally produced ingredients and interact with many people. A tourist, Tom, commented, ‘Everything is different here and I have to ask my teacher, but sometimes local people teach me in body language. It is fun, with hands and feet no English at all but it’s fine to interact.’ It was observed that interaction with local sellers occurred more frequently when cooking class teachers facilitated multiple interactions, including information- and knowledge-sharing regarding shopping preferences and how tourists behave with the locals. In addition, the tourists in the cooking class group also discussed with each other how traditional markets operated in their home countries. On these occasions, tourists knew the culture of local people, who tended to acquire fresh fruits and vegetables from the traditional market rather than going to a supermarket. Annett commented, ‘I noticed that the supermarkets do not actually sell fruits, vegetables. People usually buy them at the local market. That is an interesting thing to me.’ All these examples of social interactions demonstrate the connection between food and environment and explain the destination foodscape where tourists are able to differentiate it from their daily life in their home country where they have a better idea of the local foodways. 4.3

Food Quality

Food quality is depicted as an important factor in a foodscape. Previous studies on foodscape also identified food quality as an attribute of the destination experience (Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2019). Based on the empirical data of this research, food quality refers to the element of taste, appearance, diversity, and hygiene. Most interviewees, whether suppliers or tourists, perceived that food quality, specifically taste and appearance, corresponds with the settings of food service. That is, high-quality food means a higher standard of ingredients and presentation, and this is expected in fine-dining restaurants. On the other hand, they expressed the opposite view when it comes to food served and eaten on the street. Interestingly, the tourists that were interviewed are collectively of the opinion that taste has to be good, with fresh ingredients and authenticity regardless of settings and presentation.

Characteristics of place for food destinations  55 In terms of diversity, tourists’ dietary preferences were critical in perceiving the diversity of local food in terms of cooking methods and ingredients. Vegetarian interviewees emphasised that there is not so much variety that meets the needs of vegetarians, as supported by Chris: Depending on where you were going, … its presentation may be different, but it is really fine. I do not complain about that. But, from taste wise… we were limited to a certain number of recipes and ingredients we could try as vegetarians. Usually, foods are very good, tasty and fresh, but there is little differences between dishes. There’s not much variety of vegetarian food…

Not surprisingly, international tourists showed a strong concern on hygiene, particularly with street food. When tourists are about to try street food, they need to be well informed regarding what they are eating. The tourist interviewees discussed their street food experience in the focus group as follow: Justin:

I think the presentation is sometimes very attractive when you find these things wrapped in banana leaves. But you do not know what is inside, everything is different, may be not safe to eat for me – also the other things like the flavour, the spices.

Paul:

There are many things we would not eat even if we eat meat. Because I think maybe it is not… especially in warung on the street, they drive their… like the driving cooking thing. I think I’m not sure if I want to try something from that… I don’t know how long those things were in the sun and open air.

Annett:

When they start cooking it…?

Paul:

Yeah… you never know… European stomach and those things… I don’t get used to it…

Confirming the above conversation, an owner of a street food stall, which is serving satay, acknowledges the importance of hygiene elements in food quality, especially for international tourists. He always explains and shows to his customers the grilling technique of the satay in which the iron of the grills does not touch the chicken satay or the skewer. This technique ensures the hygiene of the satay, so it is safe for international tourists: I have a special grill design so that those meats do not touch the iron on the grills. The grilling technique ensures better hygiene of my satay products. Also, most of my international customers said that my satay also tastes different from others, and it was interesting (S19).

The owner also states that hygiene also related to drinks. Most of his international customers were always asking in detail about the drinks they order, whether it is using boiled water or not. According to S19, hygiene is a critical matter for drinks, saying that ‘tourists ask whether it is using boiled water or not and what’s in it, how it’s made and so on. Eventually many tourists prefer to drink bottled water, bottled tea, or coke.’ He also adds that Yogyakarta’s traditional drinks, such as the Javanese teapot, may not be discovered by tourists because of hygiene concerns, which is a downside for Yogyakarta food tourism because the unique local drinks are not fully integrated with the destination food experience.

56  Handbook on food tourism 4.4 Price The data informs the research that the price factor reflects the importance of value for food quality. All tourist participants agreed and were willing to pay higher prices for high-quality food, for example, eating local food at fine dining restaurants. Conversely, they echoed that street food should be at a lower price. However, this is not the case in Yogyakarta. The interviews revealed that both tourists and suppliers regard some food sellers, in particular in the city, setting the price higher for international tourists even for low-quality food, which means that there is a tourist price for tourist food. This practice of setting a higher price for low-quality food is known locally as ‘getok harga’. One supplier interviewee (S6) stated that ‘getok harga’ is a serious issue because it influences other suppliers as well as tourists, saying that: Getok harga is a serious problem. The impact is going to everywhere to everyone in this food business in particular related to tourism. I have set a fixed price for all products. But, there was still some international customers asking several things in detail, such as portion and ingredients. It seems that the customers had a bad experience in eating food in Yogyakarta.

A casual conversation with another restaurant manager corroborates the above statement. He stated that there are a considerable number of complaints from international tourists regarding price which does not match the food quality. Some restaurants also did make the price list for menus transparent. Getok harga was controversial among restaurants in Yogyakarta, with concerns that a disparity of price and quality of food can damage the image of Yogyakarta as a food tourism destination. A tourist interviewee, Bethany, confirmed that the price factor made her decide not to try a particular street food, saying, ‘I think sometimes they are charging more the price just because we are foreigners. So, I decided not to try it.’ Price is a significant matter when it comes to international tourists. Thus, it is evident that the connection between the value of food quality and monetary value is an important attribute of the local foodscape which influences a food tourist’s experience for a destination. 4.5

Linkages Between Food and Agriculture

The creativity of suppliers in Yogyakarta is found to be centred on two food features, which are uniqueness and locally sourced ingredients. Both contribute to the tourist’s exceptional food experience, linking the consumption of food to agriculture. The ingredients emphasise how food products are derived from the land. In other words, it highlights how the local meaning and range of local values are embedded in food products. From the interview with the manager of a traditional culinary market in a tourism village, it became evident that food products made using traditional methods were seen as attractive by international tourists. Moreover, tourists were also interested in local artisan products. The signature food product of the market in this village is tiwul. It is made locally from cassava by the villagers. Cassava is the main crop produced by the village. The manager provided the opportunity for other local specific products emanating from cassava to be produced, such as spicy eggplant tiwul and cassava fritter to complement tiwul ayu.

Characteristics of place for food destinations  57 Our village is well known as a high-quality cassava producer. We have a local product: tiwul ayu mangunan. It was made of cassava flour. Some tourists were wondering how we make it. They also asked whether it is different from tapioca flour. Our village has excellent farmers and several traditional flour factories, and I am expecting that every villager in here can come in the market and demonstrate or explain to tourists what’s our special skills to cultivate cassava, make flours and foods (S16).

In the restaurant setting, linking food to agriculture is presented through the cultural performance which aims to boost agricultural attractions and education. The restaurant mainly serves purely traditional Javanese food such as Javanese fried rice and Javanese modifications such as Koteka chicken. According to the restaurant manager, the restaurant aims to become the centre for cultural attraction and education in Sleman Regency, stating that: We want to provide a memorable experience beyond just an eating experience. In here, guests can enjoy the cultural performance as well as dancing with the performers, which are also our restaurant staff, and the theme is ‘panen raya’ (grand harvest). People can learn and practise the old or traditional custom of farming and cultivating our crops and vegetables in performance (S7).

The story is around harvesting crops which were then used as food ingredients for traditional Javanese food. Clearly, the local meaning and a range of local value-added features provided by the restaurant do not come merely through food offerings. Rather, it comes from the cultural performance, where the concept and theme are closely related to food and agriculture.

5.

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION

The research findings reveal five attributes of foodscape that shape destination food experiences: connections of food to the culinary landscape; social interactions; food quality; price; and linkages between food and agriculture. Overall, the findings are comparable with Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen’s (2019) model of the destination foodscape. However, their study does not consider destination-specific contexts, nor survey the inclusive views of both the local stakeholders/suppliers and tourists, but rather only concentrates on interviewing tourists for their past food experiences whilst on holiday. This study is contextualised through a food destination, revealing more specific local features in addition to the common physical, tangible aspects of foodscape. These include the setting of production (that is, agriculture and related customs) and consumption (that is, culinary landscape, foodways, atmosphere), where narratives and social interaction are significantly formed as part of the local food experience. The five identified attributes of destination foodscape that constitute the food tourism experience which fulfil the needs of food tourists incorporate authenticity, culture and the heritage of local food (Ellis et al., 2018; Garibaldi & Pozzi, 2018; Mohamed et al., 2020). These demands of food tourism create an extended environment in terms of the food experience. For example, tourism in Yogyakarta is built upon the experience of engaging in the cultural, historical themes, together with rural landscapes (that is, visiting historical temples, museums, and palaces, seeing traditional arts and performance, participating in outdoor, village-based activities). Representation of these landscapes is found in most products and services offered by food tourism suppliers such as local food (that is, local produce, local cuisine, and local drinks), including its food narratives, their design, setting, and atmosphere. As such, local food

58  Handbook on food tourism and the experience of it are bound by natural, cultural, and historical aspects of the Yogyakarta region. The pursuit of authenticity and cultural experiences of food tourism is also evident in food-related activities (that is, food tours, cooking classes, visits to farmers’ markets and food production attractions) within Yogyakarta region. Social interactions play a crucial role in these activities, particularly interactions with service personnel and locals either as sellers or residents. These interactions enable tourists to be more active in their food experience and to be immersed in the cultural, historical and culinary landscape of the region (Everett, 2008; Jiang & Tu, 2023). This research highlights that the food experience of a destination is rooted in and connected with the production and production space, as well with the culinary landscape, which encompasses the locals’ foodway. The long history and evolution of foodways and the land are about the relationship developed between people, place, and food. Thus, it can be concluded that the foodscape approach offers destinations the means to define the locality, what can be reflected to the activity design, and which meaningful and memorable food experiences shape the service and hospitality setting. Foodscape creates a sense of the region’s unique character. The perceived quality and value for the quality are, thus, part of the local foodscape. This research provides empirical evidence of the implementation of the foodscape concept for tourism, food destinations and experience development. The food destination development and food experience design are the social and environmental connections formed within the local foodscape, which transcends the management and marketing of product development for a destination. Future benefits exist for those who understand the connection and immerse themselves in the social and environmental nature of foodscapes to elevate food destinations exponentially.

REFERENCES Ayress, L. (2008). Thematic coding and analysis. In L. M. Given (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods (pp. 868–869). Sage Publications. Baker, L. M. (2006). Observation: A complex research method. Library Trends, 55(1), 171–189. Björk, P., & Kauppinen-Räisänen, H. (2014). Exploring the multi-dimensionality of travellers’ culinary-gastronomic experiences. Current Issues in Tourism, 19(12), 1260–1280. Björk, P., & Kauppinen-Räisänen, H. (2019). Destination foodscape: A stage for travelers’ food experience. Tourism Management, 71, 466–475. Bloor, M., & Wood, F. (2006). Keywords in qualitative methods: A vocabulary of research concepts. Sage. Brunt, P., Horner, S., & Semley, N. (2017). Research methods in tourism, hospitality, and events management. Sage. Cardoso, L., Araújo Vila, N., de Araújo, A. F., & Dias, F. (2020). Food tourism destinations’ imagery processing model, British Food Journal, 122(6), 1833–1847. Casciola, C., Laurin, U., & Wolf, E. (2014). Developing a food tourism destination. In J. Bussell, C. Campbell, W. Lange-Faria & K. McAree (Eds.), Have fork will travel: A practical handbook for food and drink tourism professional (pp. 221–231). World Food Travel Association. Chen, Q., & Huang, R. (2019). Understanding the role of local food in sustaining Chinese destinations, Current Issues in Tourism, 22(5), 544–560. Choe, J. Y. J., & Kim, S. S. (2018). Effects of tourists’ local food consumption value on attitude, food destination image, and behavioral intention. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 71, 1–10.

Characteristics of place for food destinations  59 Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage. Datau, V. (2017). Indonesia gastronomy: The triangle concept. Paper presented at the 3rd UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Ellis, A., Park, E., Kim, S., & Yeoman, I. (2018). What is food tourism? Tourism Management, 68, 250–263. Everett, S. (2008). Beyond the visual gaze?: The pursuit of an embodied experience through food tourism. Tourist Studies, 8(3), 337–358. Fusté-Forné, F., & Berno, T. (2016). Food tourism in New Zealand: Canterbury’s foodscapes. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 2(2), 71–86. Garibaldi, R., & Pozzi, A. (2018). Creating tourism experiences combining food and culture: An analysis among Italian producers. Tourism Review, 73(2), 230–241. Hall, C. M., & Gössling, S. (2016). From food tourism and regional development to food, tourism, and regional development: Themes and issues in contemporary foodscapes. In C. M. Hall & S. Gössling (Eds.), Food tourism and regional development (pp. 1–57). Routledge. Hall, C. M., & Sharples, L. (2003). The consumption of experiences or the experience of consumption? An introduction to the tourism of taste. In C. M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis & B. Cambourne (Eds.), Food tourism around the world: Development, management and markets (pp. 1–24). Routledge. Hiamey, S. E., Amenumey, E. K., & Mensah, I. (2021). Critical success factors for food tourism destinations: A socio-cultural perspective. International Journal of Tourism Research, 23, 192–205. Hjalager, A.-M., & Nordin, S. (2011). User-driven innovation in tourism—A review of methodologies. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 12(4), 289–315. Jeaheng, Y., & Han, H. (2020). Thai street food in the fast growing global food tourism industry: Preference and behavior of food tourists. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 45(December), 641–655. Jennings, G. (2010). Tourism research (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Jiang, Z., & Tu, H. (2023). Does sincere social interaction stimulate tourist immersion? A conservation of resources perspective. Journal of Travel Research, 62(2), 469–487. Johnston, J., & Baumann, S. (2009). Foodies: Democracy and distinction in the gourmet foodscape. Taylor & Francis. Knollenberg, W., Duffy, L. N., Kline, C., & Kim, G. (2021). Creating competitive advantage for food tourism destinations through food and beverage experiences, Tourism Planning & Development, 18(4), 379–397. Lang, T., Barling, D., & Caraher, M. (2009). Food policy: Integrating health environment and society. Oxford University Press. Long, L. M. (Ed.). (2004). Culinary tourism. University Press of Kentucky. MacKendrick, N. (2014). Foodscape. Contexts, 13(3), 16–18. Mikkelsen, B. E. (2011). Images of foodscapes: Introduction to foodscape studies and their application in the study of healthy eating out-of-home environments. Perspectives in Public Health, 131(5), 209–216. Mohamed, M. E. A., Hewedi, M. M., Lehto, X., & Maayouf, M. (2020). Egyptian food experience of international visitors: A multidimensional approach. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(8), 2593–2611. Mossberg, L. (2007). A marketing approach to the tourist experience. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 7(1), 59–74. O’Leary, Z. (2014). The essential guide to doing your research project (2nd ed.). Sage. Park, E., & Widyanta, A. (2022). Food tourism experience and changing destination foodscape: An exploratory study of an emerging food destination. Tourism Management Perspectives, 42(April), 100964. Pizzichini, L., Andersson, T. D., & Gregori, G. L. (2022). Seafood festivals for local development in Italy and Sweden. British Food Journal, 124(2), 613–633. Sormaz, U., Akmese, H., Gunes, E., & Aras, S. (2016). Gastronomy in tourism. Procedia Economics and Finance, 39, 725–730. UNWTO. (2017). Second global report on gastronomy tourism. Spain.

60  Handbook on food tourism Yang, F. X., Wong, I. A., Tan, X. S., & Wu, D. C. W. (2020). The role of food festivals in branding culinary destinations. Tourism Management Perspectives, 34(April), 100671. Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Sage

5. Zorba’s kitchen: consuming Greekness in tourist-oriented restaurants in Greece Michal Rozanis and Nir Avieli

1. INTRODUCTION When the first author arrived in Nafplio, a pretty port town and a popular tourist resort in southern Greece, this is how she perceived Greek food: you can eat whatever you wish, so long as it is τζατζίκι (tzatziki, strained yogurt dip), γύρος (gyros, shish kebab), or χωριάτικη (horiatiki, “village” or Greek salad). Similarly, one of our interlocutors summarized her culinary experience in Greece as follows: “The food was great – so long that you ordered Greek salad.” There were some 130 restaurants in Nafplio at the time of that visit (2021), but they tended to feature very similar menus. It is not that the menus were not diverse, but they were all similarly diverse. There are hundreds of dishes in Greek cuisine (see, e.g., Alexiadou, 2017), defined by seasonality, ingredients and preparation methods. And yet in a typical menu, the ορεκτικά (orektika, appetizers) section usually included eight to ten almost identical dishes: τζατζίκι (tzatziki, seasoned thick yogurt), κολοκυθοκεφτέδες (kolokithokeftedes, zucchini balls), χόρτα (horta, cooked seasonal greens), μελιτζανοσαλάτα (melitzanosalata, aubergine dip), σαγανάκι (saganaki, grilled cheese), φάβα (fava, mashed split peas), and σκορδαλιά (skordalia, garlic dip). The κρεατικά (kreatika, meat section) featured mostly different forms of roasted and grilled meat. So do different kinds of fried and grilled fish and seafood. Tourists, when asked about their culinary experience, usually mentioned an even more limited array of dishes, which include Greek salad, souvlaki, gyros and fried fish. In this chapter, based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in different locations in Greece since 2010, and more systematically in Nafplio in 2021–22, we deal with the following culinary riddle (Harris, 1998): Why are the menus in Greek tourist-oriented restaurants so repetitive and uniform, and how is it that though tourists complain about the limited menus, most of them are enthusiastic about their culinary experience in Greece? From a wider perspective, this chapter wishes to shed light on one out of many ways that tourists’ expectations and touristification correspond with or influence the culinary choices of the host communities as different systems of behaviors, beliefs, values, and images interact with one another (da Silva & dos Santos, 2022, p. 4). We begin by applying Mennell’s (1985) analysis of the differences between the French and English cuisines to the Greek case and argue that the political history of Greece underlies, at least to a certain extent, the apparent uniformity of Greek menus. We continue by pointing out that the apparently uniform fare is actually quite varied and indeed very local, embedded in specific regions, ecologies, and terroirs, as well as cultural, social and historical contexts. These variations seem to be too subtle for most of the tourists’ palates and cultural capital, and the menus and dishes are therefore perceived as repetitive. The tourists, however, do notice the good quality and freshness of the ingredients from which these dishes are made and tend 61

62  Handbook on food tourism to express satisfaction and even enthusiasm about their culinary experiences when visiting different regions in the country. Our main argument is that the widespread perception of (mostly Western) tourists of Greece as a liminal space between East and West (Herzfeld, 1987; Gallant, 2001), and between past and present (Herzfeld, 1987), defines their culinary expectations. Since the Greeks are perceived as lazy, feckless and laidback (Herzfeld, 2016), and as some sort of European noble savages (Lagos et al., 2020), tourists do not expect to find gourmet cuisine while visiting the country. Rather, they expect the food to be “simple, fresh and healthy,” as we were repeatedly told by our interlocutors. In the discussion, we suggest that the image of Greek’s iconic “noble savage,” Kazantzakis’ Zorba (1953 [org. 1946]), the champion of the simple pleasures of life, was further exacerbated by the Academy Award-winning 1964 film (dir. Michael Cacoyannis), and is projected up until now onto the Greek cuisine offered to tourists, which we name, like so many Greek restaurants outside the country,1 “Zorba’s kitchen.”

2.

FOOD IN TOURISM

In the last few years, as many countries struggle to find ways to distinguish themselves as tourist attractions, food heritage and foodways are becoming important components in this branding competition (Richards, 2002). The academic literature on tourism tends to approach food as an attraction (for example: Hjalager & Corigliano, 2000; Okumus et al, 2007; Richards, 2002). Everett claims that many countries “employ ‘heritage branding’ as a way to tell a story that builds an emotional connection with consumers” (2015, p. 13) and describes a few state-led initiatives such as that of the South African government investing US$1.8 million in producing a cookbook of indigenous foodstuffs for tourists, or the creation of an official trail of best butter tarts in Canada. As for Greek cuisine, Kyriakaki et al. (2013) refer to gastronomy as “a ‘pull’ factor [that] can create ‘loyal’ visitors” (p. 1). Polyxeni et al. (2015) discuss the advantages of Greek cuisine as a tourist attraction, relating to its inclusion as a part of the Mediterranean diet and to the variety of fresh ingredients; Karagiannis and Metaxas (2015) argue that “food becomes an important marketing tool in tourism promotion and gastronomy tourism [in Greece]” (p. 9). Food is seldom presented as an obstacle or problem for tourists. Cohen and Avieli (2004) were early to point out that food is not only an attraction in tourism but, in some situations, an impediment. They further argued that the tourism industry is well aware of the problematic aspects of food in touristic contexts and that substantial efforts are invested in overcoming these difficulties. Hiamey et al. (2021) suggest that sociocultural background influences tourists’ attitudes towards the sensory characteristics of the foreign food they consume while traveling: appearance, flavor, taste, texture and variety, which they may like or dislike, depending on specific mediating factors such as price, healthy images, cultural background and worldviews. Chang et al. (2011), in their research on Chinese tourists visiting Australia, argue that cultural and linguistic gaps are the main causes of potential tourists’ dissatisfaction with their culinary experience and enumerate 15 attributes that might affect the evaluation of this experience, among them flavor and cooking methods, variety of dishes, gastronomic identity and pleasure of being served. Numerous researchers, mostly in marketing, have tried to understand and single out the specific parameters that influence tourists’ satisfaction with their culinary experiences (Babolian,

Zorba’s kitchen  63 2016; Chang et al., 2011; Hiamey et al., 2021; López‐Guzmán, & Sánchez‐Cañizares, 2012, to name but a few). In most cases, variety is mentioned as one of the most important attributes (Chang et al., 2011; Hiamey et al., 2021). This variety can manifest itself in different ways: it can be the diversity of dishes within a specific meal or the variety of ways of consumption in different meals during the tour (Chang et al., 2011). It might be the variety of ingredients within a dish or in the preparation and cooking modes (Hiamey et al., 2021). In line with Cohen’s (1979) argument about the differing levels of authenticity each tourist expects (and is willing to endure) while traveling, Warde and Martens (2000) suggest that variety should come in the right amount and that excess differentiation between one supplier and other similar ones might be interpreted as “idiosyncrasy and eccentricity, an effect which most consumers seek to avoid creating” (p. 118). As for the hosts’ or locals’ point of view, Canolli (2022) argues that the lack of variety of dishes, or the consistency of menus in different traditional restaurants in Kosovo, is an intended and conscious choice, in attempting to create a national cuisine. And Chuang (2009), in his research on the role of cuisine and tourists in establishing Taiwanese identity, argues that the outsiders’ point of view of the tourists transforms the way locals think of and practice their daily culinary preferences, thus street food that was once considered “simple” and even “too vulgar” becomes authentic, expected by tourists to be found in their hotel restaurants and considered as a suitable representative of local cuisine. A similar argument was made by Avieli (2013) when discussing the changes in food preferences of the local elite in Hoi An, Vietnam as a result of the changes induced by tourists’ expectations of local restaurants.

3.

CULINARY DIVERSITY AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Stephan Mennell (1996), in his insightful comparison of the French and British cuisines, suggested the close connection between a country’s political structure and the development of its cuisine, or as he calls it: “conceptions of ‘good food’” (p. 18). Mennell (1996) argues that centralized governance such as that of Louis XV was one of the main factors underlying the development of the French haute cuisine, while decentralized governance, such as the one prevailing in the British Isles during the same era, contributed to the simpler style of English cuisine. The French nobility centered around the court in Versailles, and its members did their utmost to attract the king’s attention by wearing the most luxurious clothes (the origin of haute couture), the most elaborate hairstyles, the most striking perfumes, and, of course, the most elaborate dishes. The English kings had less control over the nobility, which held substantial autonomy in their county estates. The English nobles did their best to avoid the capital, where the king could exercise his power, and therefore did not develop a sophisticated court culture similar to the French one. Thus, though France and England are quite similar in terms of ecology and produce, the British did not develop an elaborate cuisine (up until recently). We will not discuss Greece’s long and complicated history and its decentralized character until the forging of modern, independent Greece at the beginning of the 19th century, but just sum it up in Gallant’s (2001) words about the unionization of: “what was geographically, historically, culturally, linguistically and up to a point even religiously, a diverse population” (p. 67). The Greek culinary scene is as diverse as its history, as shown by Matthaiou (2018) in her discussion of modern Greek cookbooks. Its geography also has an important role, as described by Alexiadou (2017) in the introduction to his cookbook: “The development of

64  Handbook on food tourism Greece’s cuisine was influenced by many factors, the most important being its remarkable geography and topography. High mountain ranges, isolated valleys and long coastlines create Greece’s unique microclimates, which account for the wide diversity of ingredients and local variations in the traditional diet and cuisine” (p. 14). Millenia of foreign domination – Romans, Franks, and Venetians – further expanded the Greek culinary scape (Dalby & Dalby, 2017; Alexiadou, 2017). Specifically, the influence of the 400 years of Ottoman rule and the Greek–Turkish population exchange in the 1920s had a strong multidirectional effect (Samancı, 2020), which resulted in what Matthaiou (2018, p. 463) describes as a cuisine of “heterogeneous associations.” The story of the moussakas is a good example of the complexity of interactions and the mutual influence of politics, geography and food in the Mediterranean. Moussaka originated in the Middle East as a cold dish of aubergine and tomato sauce, was turned into a warm dish of sliced aubergine with minced meat in Turkey and covered with Bechamel sauce in the modern Greek version, to make it more European (Dalby & Dalby, 2017). In the process of the creation of national identity, national cuisines are frequently structured over the mixing of different regional cuisines, especially in new nation-states. Such was the case in India where, as shown by Appadurai (1988), the efforts to combine different regional tastes and ingredients supported the promotion of a unified national identity through the creation of national common foods. Capuzzo (2019) also discusses the ways in which the intensification of regional cuisines and the discussions of differences and similarities within these cuisines contributed to the strengthening of national cuisine in Italy. In Greece, at the beginning of the 20th century, foodways were part of the daily habits and customs used to form a “consciousness of national unity” (Matthaiou, 2018, p. 468), resulting in an attempt to flatten regional culinary differences in order to create a cohesive, national identity for the newborn country. Thus, local dishes such as moussaka became popular throughout the country (Ball, 2003). Ever since the 1980s, “authentic traditional Greece resides in the regions” (ibid, p. 9), and as any current conversation with a local restaurateur, food maker, or diner reveals, local sentiment and pride in traditional local and regional dishes have not disappeared. This local pride can be discerned in the meticulous use of local olives and olive oil in salads in Kalamata, or in the countless versions of χόρτα (horta) we met during our stays in various places in Greece. Χόρτα (horta, literally “greens”) is a dish made of green leaves boiled and seasoned with olive oil and lemon. Though it might look and taste the same to the untrained palate, specific greens varieties, seasonality, region, and cooking and seasoning modes result in specific dishes recognized by their tastes and textures. Local pride can be discerned in the words of a Nafplio chef, who told the first author not only that the fish in Greece are better than those in any other Mediterranean countries because of the unique Greek coastline, but that different types of fish are at their best in different areas in Greece and that chefs in each area should celebrate the local variety. He pointed out, for example, that he would never use the type of fish that are ideal for Kalamata in his restaurant in Nafplio (some 100km away, in the same region of Peloponnesus) because they will not taste as good. Even in local supermarkets and small groceries, where foreign tourists tend to purchase packaged cheese and cold cuts, the locals enjoy a variety of locally produced, at times unbranded, types of cheese, yogurt, cured meat and fish, olives and other pickled vegetables and greens, sold by weight. Hence, while the basic ingredients such as lamb, green leaves, olive oil, yogurt and cheese might be delicious and different in many ways, it takes local

Zorba’s kitchen  65 knowledge and experience to recognize and differentiate between them. Tourists are rarely equipped with the knowledge necessary to recognize such qualities or subtle differences.

4. METHODOLOGY The findings presented in this chapter are based on ten weeks of fieldwork, conducted by the first author in Nafplio in 2021 and 2022, and on yearly fieldwork periods of four to eight weeks conducted since 2010 in different locations in Greece by the second author. While in the field, the authors interviewed actors in the culinary scene: restaurant owners, cooks, hosts, waiters, and a variety of tourists from different countries. Ethnographic participant observation was conducted in the kitchens and eating areas of some of the restaurants. The authors collected menus from dozens of restaurants, took part in many food events and documented them in field diaries, still images and videos. Our analysis is based on the grounded theory approach (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007): we were interested in the idea of national cuisine and the ways in which it is defined, constructed and presented to outsiders. Our interlocutors, Greek restaurateurs and foreign clients alike, led us to our main research questions, which concerned the apparent paradox between the tourists’ overall satisfaction and even enthusiasm about the food they were offered during their visits to Greece, and their complaints about its limited scope and uniformity. As we established rapport with the restaurant owners and other local stakeholders, we realized their active role in offering only a limited array of dishes to tourists, though in most cases there were more food options available, offered mostly through verbal communication, to local clients. The reference to Zorba the Greek was also grounded in our fieldwork experience: Zorba in one way or another is repeatedly referred to in tourist-oriented spaces in Greece (e.g., “Zorba’s dance”, Theodorakis’ sirtaki tune composed for the film, which is often played in tourist spaces), and more directly, in Greek restaurants abroad. However, it seems to hold only a marginal role in the daily life of the Greeks. This gap helped us formulate our argument in matter of the tourists’ perceptions and expectations regarding “Greek food,” the overall dining experience they expect during their trip, and the hosts’ reaction to their demands.

5.

WHAT DO THE TOURISTS LIKE?

A suggested culinary itinerary for a weekend in Athens, posted in an Israeli foodies’ Facebook group,2 suggests: “Evgenia – The first place to go for moussaka after landing; Atlantikos – Must have fish and seafood; Royal Souvlaki Ermou – Great gyro before flying back home.” When we asked members of the group what they liked about Greek food, some responses were: “seafood, cheeses, gyro and souvlaki, everything unpretentious and beautifully cooked, not a culinary peak but definitely delicious for people who like simplicity, good value for money” (our emphasis), or “freshness, locality and seasonality.” On an international Facebook page, with some 450,000 followers,3 a picture of a Greek salad elicited over 200 reactions, such as: “The only salad as far as I’m concerned. Made the traditional Greek way,” or “Forget the vegetables – just a ton of Feta, a few Olives and a bit of Olive Oil to help wash them down. I have just remembered that Greek tomatoes are far better than ours so they can be included.” A photo of gyros yielded reactions such as “whenever

66  Handbook on food tourism I arrive in Athens, I check into my hotel, drop my bags in my room and RUN down the street to get a gyro. Literally, this is what I do.” And “One of the most memorable moments I had was sat on a beach lounger next to the ocean in Stalis. Gone midnight, ocean lapping… gyros in one hand a mini bottle of champers in the other. Pure bliss. Oh God please take me back.” These comments suggest that tourists visiting Greece have very specific expectations and fantasies about the food. They also suggest that these expectations involve a very limited array of ingredients and simple dishes such as olive oil, feta cheese, tomatoes, Greek salad and gyros. Regional or special dishes, and sophisticated food in general, are not part of their imagery. Indeed, a restaurant owner from Nafplio told the first author, “I can use the products for other things, but the tourists, they ask for traditional cuisine.” One of our interlocutors, an Israeli man aged 55, described his culinary experience in one of the Greek islands as such: “I’m sitting in this taverna by the beach, the village is behind me, the sea is in front and some fresh vegetables and seafood on the plate, who needs more than that?” On another occasion, at a beach Taverna in Lesbos, the second author met two Israeli men in their fifties, members of the local “Israeli community” of house owners. They ordered cucumber-tomato salad seasoned with lemon and olive oil, a plate of γαύρος (gavros, fried anchovies), served with a large slice of lemon, and χόρτα (horta, boiled greens), again seasoned with olive oil and lemon. One of them motioned towards the food and said, “What more can one ask for?” Here again, salads and simple dishes are celebrated, along with the islands’ scenery. Examining the menus of tourist-oriented restaurants in different parts of Greece – including Athens, Naxos, Syros, Kalamata, Karpenissi, Arachova, Thessaloniki, Volos, Pelion, Evia, Ioannina, Kavala, and Edessa, to name but a few sites the second author visited while conducting ethnographic fieldwork – we noticed that though some local specialties are offered, most of the menus are dedicated to a standard set of dishes, prepared from basic, simple ingredients such as vegetables, cheese, meat and fish, cooked in simple techniques such as frying or roasting or simply served raw and seasoned with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, and at times also with oregano, olives or capers. The dishes include κολοκυθοκεφτέδες (kolokithokeftedes, fried zucchini balls), χωριάτικη σαλάτα (horiatiki, Greek salad), πολίτικη σαλάτα ( politiki, cabbage salad), σαγανάκι (saganaki, fried cheese); a few types of grilled or fried meat including σουβλάκι (souvlaki, skewered meat or, as tourists sometimes call it, “meat on a stick”), κεμπάπ (kebab), ποικιλία (poikilia, a mix of grilled meat) and steaks and will usually be preferred by tourists over baked or cooked dishes such as παστίτσιο (pasticcio, baked pasta with ground meat and bechamel sauce, sometimes referred to in menus as “Greek lasagna”), στιφάδο (stifado, beef stew) or κλέφτικο (kleftiko, “robbers’ stew,” slow-cooked lamb); seafood usually includes a few types of grilled fresh fish, γαύρος τηγανιτός (gavros tiganitos, fried fresh anchovies), χταπόδι ψητό (htapodi psito, grilled octopus) or καλαμαράκια τηγαντά (kalamarakia tiganta, fried squid). A few types of traditional dips were often on offer too, including τζατζίκι (tzatziki, yogurt dip), φάβα (fava, mashed split peas), and σκορδαλιά (skordalia, garlic dip). After experiencing some of the dishes in different restaurants and regions, we also noticed that even though the names may be identical, the preparation may vary significantly. While the basic πολίτικη σαλάτα (politiki salad, named after poli – literally “The City” – Constantinople) consists mainly of shredded cabbage, carrot and capsicum with some vinegar dressing, numerous versions and additions could be found, such as dried cranberries, different types of nuts, chopped celery, dill, etc.

Zorba’s kitchen  67 Tastes also differed considerably, as noticed by the first author when comparing similar dishes in Athens and Nafplio. The tastes in the very tourist area of the Plaka in Athens were usually much stronger and more aggressive than those in Nafplio, and some of our interlocutors complained about the large amounts of oil used for cooking and serving the dishes. We think that those aggressive interpretations are made so as to adapt the food to the unrefined palette of the average tourist, who usually does not have the cultural capital needed to understand the local food and its nuances (Avieli, 2013). As Matthaiou (2018, p. 471) notes, even informed people such as historians or ethnologists find it difficult “to see, understand and document the various food-related habits, customs and practices shared by local populations,” let alone the tourists that came to Greece to enjoy the sun, sea, sex and sand (Crick, 1989), along with the simple food (with “simple” making for a fifth “S” in Crick’s “4 Ss of tourism” scheme).

6.

WHAT DO TOURISTS DISLIKE?

Even though most tourists report good gastronomic experiences in Greece, some culinary difficulties do emerge. One issue that tourists, especially Western Europeans, find challenging is sharing the food out of common plates. Greek food is meant to be consumed in company sitting around common plates and sharing the dishes. In fact, Greek cuisine is described in the nomination for the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List as part of the Mediterranean diet based on commensality: “Eating together is the foundation of the cultural identity and continuity of communities throughout the Mediterranean basin.”4 It is also depicted as such in numerous box office hit films, from “Zorba the Greek” (1964), to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (2002). This mode of consumption calls for the serving of each of the dishes in a large utensil to be shared among the diners, instead of the traditional Western serving, based on the conception of the “proper meal” offered on a personal plate featuring a “main” portion of animal protein, along with a serving of vegetables and another of carbohydrates (Douglas, 1972, p. 66). The tension between the Greek style of commensal dining and the Western individualistic approach was clearly discerned during the Easter meals that the first author observed in restaurants in Nafplio in April 2022, as large groups of Greeks were sitting around large tables, helping themselves from big trays of food, while French, German and Israeli tourists were sitting at small tables, eating personal portions of mutton, potatoes and green salad. Another challenge has to do with the language. Though some tourists may be familiar with the Greek letters from their mathematics or physics lessons, this is hardly enough to decipher a restaurant menu. Menus at tourist-oriented restaurants, therefore, include English translations next to the Greek labels. Oftentimes, however, these English translations do not describe the dishes properly. Thus, a dish of “χοιρινή τηγανιά” or “fried pork” was described on a menu as “Pork ‘tigania’,” which has no meaning in English but is the phonetical transcription of the Greek word for “fried.” On another menu, a dish of “Σουτζουκάκια Σμυρνέικα” or “Smyrna [Izmir] style meatballs,” cooked with cumin, white wine and tomato sauce, was termed in English “soutzoukakia,” which is a transcription of the first word of the Greek name that means “meatballs,” with no mention of the town, Smyrna (the Greek name of Izmir), or the geographical and historic origins of the dish. With all their enthusiasm for the local food, there are some types of Greek foods the tourists are less passionate about. One is the category known as “Λαδερo” (ladero, “oily”), which includes dishes that are cooked in olive oil, usually vegetables such as μπάμιες (bamyes, okra

68  Handbook on food tourism in tomato sauce), μπρίαμ (briam, zucchini ragout), γίγαντες (gigantes, giant beans baked in the oven served in tomato sauce), αγγινάρες (anginares, artichokes, cooked with potatoes and carrots in lemon sauce). Tourists seem less inclined to order these dishes. Besides a large amount of oil, one reason for not ordering them, as Cohen and Avieli (2004) note, is that tourists are reluctant to eat dishes whose ingredients are hard to identify, and this is especially true for stews. The second group of dishes that tourists visiting Greece are less enthusiastic about are sweets and desserts. Greek restaurants often offer their customers small portions of dessert at the end of the meal as a courtesy of the house. When the dessert is fresh fruits such as melon, watermelon or cherries, or when it is yogurt with honey, most tourists will happily eat them. When small portions of ice cream are served, children and some adults will eat them too. But when local desserts such as πορτοκάλοπιτα (portokalopita, orange cake soaked in sugar syrup) or ρεβανί βέροιες (revani veroes, semolina cake soaked in sweet oranges syrup) are served, we observed that many tourists only took a bite to get the taste but did not eat the whole portion. When we inquired why these dishes were not consumed like the rest of the food, we were told that these desserts were “too sweet.” Indeed, when simple, fresh and healthy is what tourists desire, fresh fruits work, but less so baked cakes soaked in sugar syrup. This is also true for the very local γλυκό του κουταλιού or “sweet in the spoon”: fruits preserved in syrup, some of which, such as wild sour cherries, figs or green walnuts, are very local and unique. We have often observed tourists attracted to the aesthetic presentation of these sweets in specialized shops and stands or souvenir shops, but we have rarely seen them being ordered, and when they are served as a courtesy, tourists may taste them but tend to leave most of the small portions. Here again, the sugar syrup was singled out as the reason for avoiding these dishes, and it seems that deviations from the “simple, fresh and healthy” formula deter them.

7.

FRESH, HEALTHY AND SIMPLE: ZORBA’S KITCHEN He took his haversack, which he had left on a stone, opened it, and pulled out some bread, olives, onions, boiled potato and a little gourd of wine. “Come on, boys, let’s eat!” he said, with his mouth full (Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek, 1964, p. 121).

Tzanelli and Koutoulas (2021) argue that the great success of Kazantzakis’s “Zorba the Greek,” first with the publication of the French translation in 1947, and even more so after the production of the movie in 1964, had an enormous impact on Greece’s image in the Western world and suggest that the film, followed by conscious and unconscious perceptive and behavioral changes among formal institutions and private people working in the tourism industry, created new scripts for tourists to act upon while vacationing in Greece. Whereas Tzanelli and Koutoulas (2021) mainly emphasize the sexual behavior of female tourists, we would like to apply their argument to the culinary sphere. During their visit to Greece, tourists expect to meet “Zorba the Greek,” the free-spirited noble savage depicted by Kazantzakis, and even more so, in the film, who thoroughly enjoys the simplest pleasures: “Zorba became a modern noble-savage, unburdened by the white-man’s over-civilized being, and therefore more in touch with the sensuousness that nature and simplicity supposedly offer” (Lagos et al., 2020, p. 286). When it comes to food, they expect to find “Zorba’s kitchen”: they expect food made of simple, fresh and healthy ingredients, cooked in simple techniques,

Zorba’s kitchen  69 the food that Zorba and his fellows would cook and eat after a day’s work in the Cretan mine. Expensive ingredients, fancy cooking techniques, and any hint of sophistication are incongruent with Zorba’s kitchen and the tourists’ imagery of Greece. Thus, even though variety is an important component of tourists’ gastronomic satisfaction in other countries (Chang et al., 2011; Hiamey et al., 2021), this is not the case in Greece. Tourists do complain about the lack of variety, as we have noted in our introduction, but express overall satisfaction because they don’t expect variety. In fact, culinary variation and sophistication might undermine their fantasy of Zorba’s Greece and his kitchen. Greek cuisine, like Zorba himself, is also imagined as physically and mentally healthy. Olive oil, fresh vegetables and fruits, legumes, unprocessed grains, fresh sea fish and moderate amounts of red wine (Fragkiadakis, 2007) is the food that Zorba presumably cooks and eats. Indeed, the bread, olives, vegetables, fish and wine that Zorba eats throughout the book make for a diet that has been highly recommended since the late 1950s as one that promises good health and longevity. Even though tourists (and Greeks) consume nowadays meat on a daily basis during their trip, and excessive amounts of fats, salt, sugar and alcohol, the overall experience they wish for their holiday is that of a healthy diet. One of our interlocutors, an American male aged 63, who likes to spend a few months in Greece every year, pointed out: “I love the Greek food. Whenever I am in Greece, I feel healthy!” This notion of “simple, fresh and healthy” is also in line with the perception of modern Greece as the cradle of Western civilization and the pillar of European culture. As a living remnant of “ancient glory,” Greek culture is expected to be frozen in time: a living monument of the past (Galani-Moutafi, 2015; Herzfeld, 1987). Modern, sophisticated cooking and elaborate dishes do not work well for this image.

8. CONCLUSION Though we are aware of the fact that many types of tourists come to Greece, differing in their sociocultural backgrounds (Chang et al., 2011; Hiamey et al., 2021) and in their desire to experience local authenticity (Cohen, 1979), and that those differences influence their culinary expectations and preferences, we claim that the “simple, fresh and healthy” image of the Greek cuisine meets those different preferences due to, rather than despite, the repetitive menus. Babolian (2016) claims that a big variety makes tourists feel that they learn more about the sites they visit and their inhabitants, but we claim that for tourists who seek authenticity, the relatively small and repetitive menus help in feeling that they are familiar with “what the locals eat” because they have tried everything there is on the menu. For those who just wish to eat well while traveling, the very same menus simplify their decisions. As one of the interlocutors told the first author when asked about her criteria for choosing where to eat in Nafplio: “What does it matter where I choose to go? Any place I will choose will have similar dishes and they will all be tasty.” Following MacCannell’s (1976) notion of staged authenticity, created by the tourism industry in order to help tourists feel as if they take part in the locals’ “real life” (p. 93), there is a vast body of work describing and highlighting the importance of such staging for tourists’ satisfaction and the role of restaurateurs in creating and mediating it to foreign tourists (Canolli, 2022; Cohen & Avieli, 2004; Gyimóthy & Mykletun, 2009; Park et al., 2023). We argue that in the case of Greece, it is the tourists’ images and expectations that design and

70  Handbook on food tourism shape the restaurateurs’ choices and practices accumulating into the gastronomic “simple, fresh and healthy” experience.

9.

CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS

Our final point has to do with the contemporary culinary trends in Greece. While the image of Zorba and the Greeks at large as noble savages attracts Western tourists, it is hardly the image favored by many Greeks, and specifically by the urban educated members of the Greek ever-expanding middle class, who think of themselves as modern Western Europeans rather than as sirtaki-dancing noble savages. While local and international fast-food chains that offer pizza and hamburgers are ubiquitous in the Greek culinary sphere, attracting mainly youth and those of less economic and cultural capital (as well as many young international travelers – who know very little about Zorba), Greeks seeking symbolic capital and social distinction expect gourmet or, at least, sophisticated Greek cuisine. The second author noted that during the last decade restaurants offering upgraded and elaborate Greek food have been set up in almost all urban centers in the country and in those tourist resorts that attract domestic visitors. Thus Kardamo (cardamom) comfort cuisine (English in the original name) in Kalamata offers “Green salad with grilled manouri (cheese), fresh herbs, cranberries, pistachio and honey vinaigrette”, “Greek salad with cherry tomatoes, carob rusks and sfela (cheese) cream” or “Grilled kotosouvlaki chicken drumsticks with tandoori aromatic rice, yogurt and homemade pita bread,”5 while Mourga in Thessaloniki offers on its handwritten menu dishes such as “Mountain herbs (horta) with anavato goat cheese” or “Sardine carpaccio with red tomato cream and green herb cream,” classic dishes found on most tourist-oriented restaurants, but with a twist: not only super quality ingredients but also adding sophisticated products and applying sophisticated cooking techniques. These culinary establishments are somewhat more expensive than the other restaurants around, and though keeping the standard menu structure and the array of dishes on offer, systematically upgrade the dishes, using relatively rare and expensive ingredients, varied spicing and seasoning, and more sophisticated cooking techniques. These restaurants cater mostly to local clients but are gradually “discovered” by tourists. Thus, contemporary Greek cuisine is hardly that “simple, fresh and healthy” Zorba’s kitchen expected by tourists, nor is it frozen in time as a representation of Europe’s cradle of civilization. Like all cuisines, Greek cuisine is dynamic and everchanging, and Zorba’s kitchen will probably make place for new culinary settings and ideas.

NOTES 1. A short stroll on Google or TripAdvisor reveals restaurants bearing Zorba’s name in the USA, Britain, France, Belgium, Singapore, Turkey and Jordan, to name but a few. 2. “Ochlim Et Harosh”, retrieved from https://​www​.facebook​.com/​groups/​135499163724115/​permalink/​ 1013648642575825 on 24 April 2022. 3. “Hellenic World”, retrieved from https://​www​.facebook​.com/​hellenicworld1/​posts/​1628037994218600 on 26 May 2022. 4. See https://​ich​.unesco​.org/​en/​RL/​mediterranean​-diet​-00884 5. See https://​kardamo​.gr/​menu​-3/​?lang​=e​ n sampled 31 May 2022.

Zorba’s kitchen  71

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72  Handbook on food tourism Lagos, T. G., Samra, C., Anderson, H., Baker, S., Leung, J., Kincheloe, A., Manning, B., Tizon, D. O., & Franchino, H. G. (2020). Narrating Hellas: Tourism, news publicity and the refugee crisis’s impact on Greece’s ‘Nation-Brand.’ Journal of Tourism History, 12(3), 275–297. López‐Guzmán, T., & Sánchez‐Cañizares, S. (2012). Culinary tourism in Córdoba (Spain). British Food Journal, 114(2), 168–179. MacCannell, D. (1976) The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class. California: University of California Press. Matthaiou, A. (2018). Voyages, space, words: Identity and representations of food in 19th century Macedonia. In Jianu A. & Barbu V. (Eds.), Earthly delights: Economies and cultures of food in Ottoman and Danubian Europe, c. 1500–1900 (pp. 459–477). London: Brill. Mennell, S. (1996). All manners of food: Eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present. University of Illinois Press. Mennell, S. (1985). All matters of food: eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present. Basil Blackwell. Okumus, B., Okumus, F., & McKercher, B. (2007). Incorporating local and international cuisines in the marketing of tourism destinations: The cases of Hong Kong and Turkey. Tourism Management, 28(1), 253–261. Park, E., Muangasame, K., & Kim, S. (2023). ‘We and our stories’: Constructing Food Experiences in a UNESCO Gastronomy City. Tourism Geographies, 25(2–3), 572–593. Polyxeni, M., Dimitrios, M., & Aikaterini, K. (2015). Gastronomy as a form of cultural tourism. A Greek typology. TIMS.Acta, 9(2), 135–148. Richards, G. (2002). Gastronomy: An essential ingredient in tourism production and consumption? In A. M. Hjalager & G. Richards (Eds.), Tourism and gastronomy (pp. 1–18). Oxford: Taylor & Francis Group. Samancı, Ö. (2020). History of eating and drinking in the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey. In H. L. Meiselman (Eds.), Handbook of eating and drinking (pp. 55–75). New York: Springer. Tzanelli, R., & Koutoulas, D. (2021). Zorba the Greek’s tourism worldmaking: Gendering Cretan place identity and Greek memory through film. Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory, 2(2), 170–194. Warde, A., & Martens, L. (Eds.) (2000). Eating out: Social differentiation, consumption and pleasure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

6. Food for thought: tourism, eating and the consequences of everyday decisions Tracy Berno

1. INTRODUCTION Despite the growing breadth in the literature on food tourism across many disciplinary (and interdisciplinary) platforms, much of the research to date lacks a critical perspective on food as a system in relation to tourism (Berno, 2022; Hall, 2020). Most of the academic literature to date has focused on how various aspects of food and cuisine can be commoditised and converted from a collective good to a commercial product that can then be used to attract visitors, brand destinations, and satisfy the tourists. There is no denying that these are important and worthy areas for consideration. However, to better understand the potential impacts of food in tourism and food tourism (both positive and negative), the wider context of the tourism and food systems, and the web of social, environmental and economic relations that are involved, need to be considered (Hall, 2020).

2.

FOOD AND TOURISM

Food is an essential component of the tourism industry. It is safe (and rather obvious) to state that, in fact, food is one of the most important areas in tourism – all tourists eat, and for many, food is a highlight of or motivation for their tourist experience. It is estimated that prior to COVID-19, more than 70 billion meals per year (over 200 million meals per day) were consumed in tourism (Gössling, 2015; Gössling et al., 2011; Gössling & Peeters, 2015). Food and beverage consumption represents a significant part of tourist expenditure (estimated to be up to 25%, even more in some destinations) (Wolfe, 2020), but its roles in tourism, both positive and negative, are not always well understood. This is in part a result of the way that food in tourism, and indeed, food tourism itself, is conceptualised. Also contributing to this limited understanding is a lack of criticality in considering food’s role in tourism. In considering the evolution of research perspectives on food and gastronomic experiences in tourism, Richards (2021) identifies food as an increasingly important element. He suggests that similar to management and marketing theory, food in tourism has evolved from a producer-oriented approach focusing on consumers (similar to Cohen and Avieli’s (2004) discussion of food in tourism as an attraction and impediment) to a co-creation approach in which hosts and guests have shared experiences, to the current situation where the “development of entire foodscapes linked to places [in which] local food experiences can help construct tourist authenticity, and the host-guest relationship provides embedding and engagement” (Richards, 2021, p. 1046). In essence, these changes shift the focus of food in tourism from “foodies to foodscapes” (p. 1051). Although Richards suggests that this shift includes a broader range of actors and resources and that actors within and external to the food 73

74  Handbook on food tourism and tourism systems assume more prominent roles, it does not truly position tourists’ food experiences within the broader food system in which they occur. The focus remains on the food experiences themselves and the people and/or communities with whom they are shared and experienced. Clearly, many tourists put thought into their food consumption on holiday, food tourists in particular, and certainly operators consider the financial impacts of their (and the tourists’) food-related decisions (Gössling & Peeters, 2015). What most operators and tourists do not consider, however, is that every food-related decision in tourism has consequences for the food system as a whole. Food in the context of tourism is far more than just what is on a plate. When conceptualised as a system, food comprises a continuum from production to post-consumption waste management. This system involves a diverse range of stakeholders and requires multiple inputs at each stage (Berno, 2022). Prior to COVID-19, a significant amount of tourism was mass and large scale, and, as such, was closely linked with the industrialised food system (Hall, 2020; Hasegawa et al., 2019; Scheyvens & Laeis, 2021). The sheer scope and scale of tourism, particularly mass tourism, means that it has had a significant impact on food production and the food supply chain (Hall, 2020). As discussed above, past tourism research has generally focused on the food producers (restaurants, cafes, etc.), food consumption (what tourists eat/what they like to eat) and food experiences (food or culinary tourism). Relatively little attention has been paid to tourism’s relationship with other parts of the food system. Given that “food production is the largest cause of global environmental change” (Willett et al., 2019, p. 449), what tourists eat is a critical issue for tourism (Ambelu et al., 2018). 2.1

A Systems Approach to Food in Tourism

As discussed above, food is more than just an attraction or experience in tourism. Within the context of tourism, food is at the centre of a nexus of complex ecological, socio-economic, socio-cultural, socio-political and philosophical issues. Food is a system that involves production, reproduction, distribution consumption and waste management, and the interlinkages between these globally, regionally, nationally and locally. Food is also political – it includes economies, state–society relations and environment as well as individual, social and cultural aspects. Because of this, the food system provides an ideal lens through which to view and understand a range of development challenges, including tourism (Berno, 2022; Leach et al., 2020). The current food system is not driven by ethical considerations, but by profit motives and power dynamics (Pretorius et al., 2021). The global industrialised food system is placing increasing and unsustainable pressure on the ecosystem, and it contributes significantly to climate change through emissions, land and water degradation, food waste and loss of biodiversity. The social, environmental and economic costs of the contemporary global food system are high. As Rogers (2021, p. 225) suggests, “[the numerous global agendas] … fail to adequately address the underlying problem that has literally been right under our noses for the entire time: our choice of food … the only other activity that is worse for the planet is our reliance on fossil fuels….” The contemporary global food system is at the heart of many of the issues of unsustainability that the world currently faces. There is strong evidence to suggest that food production is one of the key drivers of environmental change on a global level through its impacts on climate

Food for thought  75 change, loss of biodiversity, use of fresh water, interference with global nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, and land-system changes. As Willett et al. (2019, p. 448) point out, “global food production is the largest pressure caused by humans on Earth, threatening local ecosystems and the stability of the Earth system.” How and what we eat has a direct impact on environmental, social and economic sustainability. Those with interests in food tourism, sustainability and regenerative tourism need to consider the consequences of food-related choices. Some of these options will be critically explored below.

3.

LET’S GO LOCAL

Be a locavore; slow food; farm-to-fork; the 100-mile diet: From popular non-fiction and cookery books through to restaurants, farmers’ markets, food festivals, food tours and academic literature, we are encouraged to “eat local”, often with the uncritical assumption that local is best (Mount, 2012). In these examples, local food systems are generally accepted as a solution (social, economic and environmental) to the globalised, industrialised food system (Eriksen, 2013). It has been suggested that one way of enhancing positive food outcomes and supporting sustainability in tourism is to encourage more local food experiences. This often forms the basis of food tourism attractions and activities. Potential benefits include strengthening agriculture–tourism inter-sectoral linkages, reducing economic leakage from imported food, community economic development and enhancing the tourist experience (Berno, 2015). But what exactly does “local food” mean? And is “eating local” always the best choice in tourism? Or, as Born and Purcell (2006) suggest, is it “the local trap” – an inherent, uncritical assumption that local is good? The complexity of local food systems in tourism can be understood through a seemingly simple example: tourist consumption of fish in Fiji. Fiji is a tropical island destination located in the South Pacific. It is a popular country for tourists from Australia and New Zealand, who pre-COVID (2019) comprised 64% of the 894,389 international arrivals that year (Fiji Bureau of Statistics, 2022). Fish, particularly prepared as fish and chips, is a popular choice for these tourists (Gibson & Berno, 2019; Laeis, 2019; Scheyvens & Laeis, 2021). As an island nation, the waters surrounding Fiji are abundant with fish. If one is to uncritically assume that “go local” is inherently the best choice for tourists to make, eating local fish is something that should be supported. Or should it? Is “go local” the best option in this case? Fiji’s Coral Coast, the southwestern coastline of Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu, provides an example of the complexities and unintended consequences of food choice in tourism. The Coral Coast is a popular region for tourists, and it is home to numerous resorts, ranging from small backpacker accommodation to large international chain resorts. Research has found that a large proportion of the fish served in resorts along this coast is imported from overseas (Laeis, 2019; Scheyvens & Russell, 2012). As Scheyvens and Russell (2012, p. 428) suggested, “the lack of local purchasing of fish in many large resorts seems a major anomaly, considering the richness of the resource all around them.” However, when explored further, they found that a large resort (100 rooms) on Fiji’s Coral Coast purchased 120kg of frozen mahimahi, 30kg of tuna and 80kg of lobster each week. The head chef at this resort indicated that the volume required was not conducive to buying local. Similarly, another, larger resort (250 rooms) also on the Coral Coast required more than 300kg of seafood a week to supply its four restaurants.

76  Handbook on food tourism During their peak seasons this demand could be significantly higher. Most of this fish was also purchased frozen imported from overseas, to supply the resort’s fine dining restaurant. Assuming that Scheyvens and Russell’s (2012) data is still reasonably accurate, between just these two resorts on the Coral Coast, 530kg of seafood per week (non-peak season) is required to meet tourist demand. To put this further into perspective in terms of potential demand for seafood in just this one area of Fiji, in 2019 the combined Coral Coast hotels sold a total of 1,005,002 beds (Fiji Bureau of Statistics, 2020). The potential demand for seafood in this popular tourist destination would place unacceptable pressure on the local fisheries should all the resort chefs decide to “buy local”, so in this instance, importing frozen seafood from overseas is the more sustainable option for Fiji. This is not to say that “go local” is never a good option. Less than 5 kilometres down the road from the 250-room resort mentioned above is a small backpacker-style resort comprising 14 rooms and a couple of six-room dormitories with an on-site café that serves three meals a day along with light snacks. Seafood in some form is on the menu almost every day. This resort relies almost exclusively on locally procured food, including seafood. An example of how “go local” works well for this resort was observed during a fieldwork visit. One day, three yellow fin tuna (totalling approximately 60kg) were caught just offshore by staff of the resort. Fresh tuna, both cooked and raw, was offered on the resort’s menu on that and the following day. Tuna surplus to the resort’s requirements was sold to a neighbouring small resort, with the remaining fish distributed to the village from which the staff came. When staff do not catch enough fish for the resort, it is purchased from a local market or directly from those who caught it, thus contributing to local economic development. Along with the local procurement of fish, most other fresh produce, fruits and vegetables, eggs, chicken, pork and beef, is also bought from local sources. In this case, because of its smaller size, “go local” is a good option that provides benefits for the resort and the local community. Another conundrum of “go local” food choice in tourism is “should I, or should I not, eat it?” Numerous authors have extoled the virtue of eating the local cuisine as a means of “tasting culture” (for example, Berno, 2023). What happens, however, when the local food is contested? How palatable is the choice then? Take foie gras for example. For many food aficionados, foie gras is synonymous with French cuisine. Foie gras holds a special place in French culinary history and tradition; France is both the biggest producer of foie gras and its biggest consumer (Ranta, 2015). The main foie gras producing area is southwestern France in the Aquitaine region, which includes the Dordogne (Périgord), the Landes and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Foie gras is so important to this region, indeed to the whole of France, that it is protected as a cultural asset (including its method of production) under French law. Article L654-27-1 states: “Le foie gras fait partie du patrimoine culturel et gastronomique protégé en France. On entend par foie gras, le foie d’un canard ou d’une oie spécialement engraissée par gavage.” (“Foie gras is part of France’s protected cultural and gastronomic heritage. Foie gras is the liver of a duck or goose specially fattened by force-feeding.”) Foie gras, however, is one of the most contested dishes in the world. Foie gras production requires the force feeding of geese and ducks to enlarge their livers, often to 10 times their normal size. Many consider gavage (force-feeding) to be a cruel and inhumane practice. This has resulted in foie gras production, importation and sale to be banned in numerous countries, regions and cities. Even three cities in France have banned or placed limitations on the sale and consumption of foie gras, including Lyon, the nation’s second largest city, considered by many to be the gastronomic capital of France (Thompson, 2021).

Food for thought  77 Foie gras is one of the tourism highlights in the Périgord region and is the foundation for an economically important culinary and agri-tourism sector (Mognard, 2011, 2014). It is certainly a local product, and one that is deeply symbolic of French cultural heritage and national identity (Ranta, 2015). But at the same time, it is considered to be cruel and inhumane for the animals involved. So, should tourists “go local” and eat it? Another interesting example of the complexities around food choices in tourism can be viewed through the question of what happens when the wildlife you watch becomes the food that you eat (Burns et al., 2018). Whale watching is often promoted as a form of eco- or sustainable tourism and is considered by many to be a non-consumptive form of tourism, though this has been contested (see, for example, Higham et al., 2016). Despite whale watching’s association with eco- and sustainable tourism, in Iceland it was found that close to 33% of tourists on whale watching tours had either already eaten (20%) or planned to eat (12.8%) whale meat. This was not isolated to this particular study. Öqvist (2016) also found similar results in her research, with 15% of whale watchers surveyed stating that they were likely to eat whale meat. When asked why they already had eaten, or wanted to eat, whale meat, many tourists replied that they believed it to be an important Icelandic tradition and part of Icelandic cultural practice (Bertulli, et al., 2016; Öqvist, 2016). In reality, consumption of whale meat by Icelanders has been in decline for many years. So, who is eating Icelandic whale meat? Since the mid-2000s a highly visible campaign promoting whale meat to tourists has been undertaken in Iceland. The number of restaurants and shops offering whale meat for sale doubled between 2007 and 2009. Bertulli et al. (2016) and Singleton (2018, 2021) have both suggested that it is tourists, not locals, driving demand for whale meat (and concomitantly supporting the whaling industry), with 35–40% of Iceland’s minke whale catch being consumed by visitors. In this case, “go local” is also questionable.

4.

HOW ABOUT WE “EAT THE PROBLEM”?

Another side of the “go local” perspective is the suggestion that marketing particular foods as “must-try” experiences to tourists can potentially have positive impacts for the food system. This approach places hedonism and pleasure at the nexus of transformative eco-culinary engagement, with chefs and other food producers participating in a deliberate pedagogical project that links culinary sensuality and sustainability (VanWinkle, 2017). Hayward (2014) suggests that “eco-culinary activism”, defined as “the strategic targeting and promotion of particular species for either consumption or avoidance of consumption on ecological grounds” (p. 3), can be used to potentially manage some invasive species. For example, cane toads are a significant pest in Australia. They were introduced in 1935 to control cane beetles in Queensland sugar cane farms. However, with no natural predators, they quickly multiplied and spread from Queensland to other states. It is estimated that there are now more than 2 billion cane toads across four states, where they pose threats to native wildlife and are considered pests (Cluff, 2022; Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2022). Hayward suggests that pests such as invasive Australian cane toads could potentially be marketed to tourists as Australian cuisine, “If you actually present [cane toad] as a signature dish of the Northern Territory … you could charge a premium price for [it]” (Hayward, quoted in Terzon 2014). In essence, tourists (and others) can be invited, as Kaechele (2019) suggests in her eponymous

78  Handbook on food tourism surrealist book fusing art with cuisine, to “Eat the Problem”. Her book includes a recipe for sweet and sour cane toad legs (p. 130). Perhaps the thought of eating the ugly and poisonous cane toad is too confronting for tourists for eco-culinary activism to have a significant impact. Sea urchins, however, provide another opportunity. Sea urchin roe is considered a delicacy in many cuisines worldwide, so one could surmise that it is less intimidating than cane toad cuisine. In Tasmania, Australia, the long-spined sea urchin is an invasive species which has been significantly disruptive of Tasmanian marine environments. Is this another potential opportunity to encourage tourists to “eat the problem”? In response to an Eat the Problem event held at the Tasmanian Museum of Old and New Art in 2012–13 preceding the publication of Kaechele’s book, Hayward (2013) was inspired to evaluate the extent to which sea urchin consumption could be developed as a facet of culinary tourism in that state. He concluded that “…eco-culinary activism of [this] type needs to develop and adapt in a strategic and programmatic manner in order to have significant success in its enterprise” (Hayward, 2013, p. 85). Kaechele went on to further explore the utilisation of eco-culinary activism in relation to sea urchin control through her book and related art installations (which included hosting meals comprising dishes made with invasive species). Her definition of success was whether, on a practical level, the book inspired an industry. The example she gave was that success would have been achieved if a small group of people gathering sea urchins came together and worked collaboratively to supply the restaurant industry. This in fact eventuated with the owner of an abalone business entering the sea urchin market as an adjunct activity. At the time of publication of her book, the company was removing two tonnes of sea urchin from the Tasmanian ocean floor each day. These were being used to supply chefs (Kaechele, 2019). So, it appears that, yes, in some instances in tourism, we can “eat the problem”. Perhaps one day in New Zealand we will see a demand from tourists for menus that include invasive species such as possum1 pâté, braised wild rabbit2 and gorse3 fritters (Berno, 2017) and Tasmania will host a sea urchin festival. Similarly, it has been suggested that in countries such as New Zealand, eco-culinary activism can be extended to conservation of endangered species. Advocates of this approach, such as “renegade conservationist” (Mitchell, 2017) farmer Roger Beattie and chef Monique Fiso, suggest that endangered New Zealand indigenous bird species such as weka and keruru can be farmed and subsequently offered on tourist menus. This, they suggest, has the potential to “lure international foodie tourists to high-end restaurants and even help species thrive” (Piddock, 2018) through creating demand for these endangered birds. Beattie believes that weka could become a “culinary curiosity” that could attract food tourists from all over the world (Mitchell, 2017). Indeed, Fiso et al. (2020, p. 194) have posted weka dishes on their restaurant Hiakai’s social media, and a recipe for it appears in their eponymous book. Beattie has gone as far as to suggest that farming of the endangered weka for consumption is the “ultimate” in sustainable food (Beattie, n.d.) as no farmed animal has ever become endangered. In carefully managed food and tourism systems, perhaps tourists can “eat the problem” to reduce invasive species and ensure the future breeding populations of endangered ones.

Food for thought  79

5.

DON’T EAT THE PROBLEM

The way in which tourists eat while on holiday is something that needs critical consideration. In a study assessing food consumption in a resort hotel setting, Gössling (2015) found that 75% of participants reported that they had “eaten more than at home” (p. 240). The difference between the standard diet that tourists ate at home and the one they enjoyed on holiday was at least 0.5kg per person, per day. A large proportion of this comprised animal protein, something that Gössling and Peeters (2015, p. 647) refer to as “higher-order foods”. They found that, on average, tourists consumed 385gm of meat, 139gm of seafood and fish, and 294gm of dairy products and eggs, which has implications for the types of impact tourist food choices may have. For example, tourism is often a context for the consumption of “problematic” (p. 647) foods, such as jumbo shrimps, which contributes to the deforestation of mangrove ecosystems (Gössling & Peeters, 2015). The overconsumption of other animal proteins while on holiday is also problematic. Livestock production consumes 77% of global farming land, but only produces 18% of the world’s energy and 37% of its protein (Pretorius et al., 2021). Conversion of natural ecosystems to pasture to support intensive livestock production places significant pressure on biodiversity. Additionally, production of livestock, particularly beef, requires a disproportionally high amount of water (Gössling, 2015; Willett et al., 2019). Animal protein is also a high food waste product, as much of the animal is discarded (skin, fat, bones, cartilage) before it is ever consumed as part of a meal. To put the environmental costs of red meat production in perspective, Sabaté et al. (2015) found that one kilogram of protein from beef requires 18 times more land, 10 times more water, 9 times more fuel, 12 times more fertiliser, and 10 times more pesticides than the same amount of protein obtained from kidney beans. As Rogers (2021, p. 226) suggests: eating a hamburger in China that was made from a cow raised in Brazil and then transported half-way around the world has an enormously negative impact on the planet’s ecosystems and should be reconsidered in any serious attempt to create a sustainable future.

This example of beef consumption in tourism is not an arbitrary inclusion. Returning to the example of Fiji, Laeis (2019) found that along with fish and chips, one of the most common (and popular) items on resort menus were hamburgers. As one of the chefs interviewed exclaimed, “You can’t touch those burgers!” – burgers are a “non-negotiable part of a hotel menu [in Fiji]” (p. 156). This is problematic, not only for the reasons discussed above, but also because in Fiji, the majority of beef is imported from New Zealand and Australia, thus adding carbon miles to the list of impacts. Since burger consumption is most likely to remain a significant feature of tourist food choice in Fiji, would local production of beef address some of the environmental concerns? Superficially, this may seem to be a logical “go local” solution which would bring the source of the protein closer to the point of consumption and also create economic benefits for the local farming communities. However, Laeis identified significant issues should Fiji try and produce more beef domestically to meet tourist demand. As he pointed out, conventional cattle farming is associated with land degradation, eutrophication and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, converting the hilly inner-island land on Fiji’s two main islands for grazing is likely to cause soil erosion with ensuing sedimentation. This poses a risk of runoff and therefore degradation of Fiji’s coral reefs, which are an important cultural and ecological asset

80  Handbook on food tourism as well as a livelihood resource for coastal communities. Laeis concluded by saying that to make a meat- and dairy-heavy Western cuisine an agricultural paradigm for Fiji “means to internalise its environmental costs” (p. 226). This scenario, unfortunately, is repeated multiple times a day throughout the world in tourism. Maybe the answer in this situation is to “not eat the problem” by encouraging tourists to make different food choices, or to design menus with a view to reducing impacts. But how this can be effected in tourism remains a significant challenge, and requires multidisciplinary collaborations between environmental, socio-economic and social science researchers and chefs to develop future relevant interventions to promote more sustainable choices (Fresán et al., 2022; Gössling & Hall, 2022; Pearce, 2020).

6.

THERE IS NO “AWAY”

In the food system, what is left behind is equally as important as what is produced and consumed. Barry Commoner (1971) in his seminal book The Closing Circle proposed four laws of ecology, the second of which is “everything must go somewhere”. In essence, there is no “away”. When we dispose of something, we do not throw it away; it goes somewhere. As such, our food choices in tourism do not end with a server removing a plate. How we eat as tourists, and what we leave behind, also have implications for the food system. Food waste can occur at any stage of the food system: spoilage or destruction at the point of production; spoiled or out-of-date food; peelings and trimmings; inedible by-products such as bones, coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc.; chef/kitchen error; and, leftovers/plate waste, to name just a few of the points where food can be considered as waste. Calculating the amount of waste generated in tourism is difficult. Commoner also points out in the first of his four laws that “everything is connected to everything else”. Although Commoner was applying this in the context of ecological systems, it also applies to tourism and food systems. Defining the parameters of what is and is not part of the tourism system in relation to food waste is a challenge. Much of the literature only considers food waste related to food consumed at a destination, and mainly through the commercial food service sector (restaurants, hotels, etc.), but what about food consumed in self-catering accommodation, homestays or Airbnbs? Tourism, as a system, also includes transport to and from a destination, transport within a destination and the activities/events engaged in. Food may be consumed (and wasted) at any of these points in the system. As discussed earlier in this chapter, food is also a system that involves production, reproduction, distribution consumption and waste management, and the interlinkages between these globally, regionally, nationally and locally. This poses significant challenges to both fully accounting for food waste in tourism and the means by which it can be addressed. Perhaps as an outcome of the complexities of food waste across these two systems, the issue of food waste in tourism remains relatively understudied by the academy. Much of the research on food waste in tourism focuses on consumption in commercial hospitality, possibly because this part of the system is more visible and tangible than other parts (Filimonau & De Coteau, 2019). Although it is widely acknowledged that food waste is an issue for the tourism and hospitality sectors, there remains insufficient data about its magnitude. The lack of data is particularly pronounced for less developed regions, but even the European Union (EU) lacks a single cohesive method to monitor, quantify and characterise food waste across major sectors (European Commission, 2015; Filimonau & De Coteau, 2019). It has been estimated that hotels, restau-

Food for thought  81 rants, and the catering sector are responsible for about 14% of the total food waste generated in the EU (Juvan et al., 2018). Similar results have been found in other destinations such as the United States, Egypt and Dubai. To put the impact of food waste in tourism in perspective, an audit of food waste at just one hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, found that over 1,300kg of edible food per week went to waste. Taken over a full year this amounts to 70 tonnes of wasted food. After implementing a food waste initiative, the hotel saved 5,635kg of food within five months (equal to 840 days’ worth of food for a family of four), which corresponded to an average savings of 2.29% on the hotel’s monthly food costs (Lephilibert, 2016). As this example illustrates, food waste is a significant financial issue for tourism. Food waste in tourism is not just about a financial imperative, however. Food waste in landfill creates methane gas emissions and is a significant contributor to climate change. This excludes the additional pressure on greenhouse gas emissions caused by food production and transportation; this occurs before food even enters the tourism system. It also excludes the non-organic waste generated from food service in tourism, such as plastic straws and utensils, etc., which pose another range of environmental concerns. As Filimonau and De Coteau (2019, p. 235) suggest, the lack of academic study on food waste in hospitality, particularly from a social science perspective, means that academics “may remain unaware of the scale of the problem of hospitality food waste and may lack appreciation of its significant negative impacts”. This too will not go away.

7.

CONCLUSION: THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Wanting to experience new taste sensations and to connect with a destination and its people often encourages tourists to seek out local cuisines when they travel. This is commonly done in the belief that it will allow them to explore, appreciate and understand local culture in deeper, more meaningful and authentic ways. Experiencing this sense of place through food is foundational to food tourism (Berno, 2023). This awareness that food is more than just a transactional component of tourism has contributed to an exponential growth in food tourism and food tourism research in recent years. This research has generally focused on tourists as consumers, the places at which they eat and their food experiences within the context of tourism. Although this research has contributed valuable insights into tourists’ food-related experiences, food as a vehicle for destination branding and marketing and tourist motivations, focusing on food within the tourism context exclusively ignores the fact that food tourism takes place within broader food systems, and that food decisions made in tourism have consequences that resonate beyond the tourist and the destination. This is significant given the scope and scale of contemporary tourism. Although the primary emphasis in this chapter was tourists’ food choices, how destinations contribute to and influence these choices through their decisions and actions was also considered. Something as seemingly innocuous as putting the ubiquitously popular hamburger on a menu can have unintended consequences far beyond the plate. It is this common scenario where we see the desires of tourists, financial imperatives of industry and environmental impacts collide, sometimes with negative, unintended consequences. The relationship between what is on the menu and its impacts is rarely considered outside the cadre of chefs who are concerned with the sustainability of their menus (see for example Climate Smart Chefs, n.d.; Wimberly et al., 2020) and a small number of academics (for example Berno, 2020; Bertella,

82  Handbook on food tourism 2020; Hall, 2020; Gössling & Hall, 2022). Given the number of meals consumed in tourism, small changes can potentially have meaningful impacts. As Hall (2020) suggests, tourism needs a new menu. The popular and largely uncritically accepted assumption that local is best provided an example of potential tensions (social, cultural, economic and environmental) around promoted, yet contested, tastes in tourism such as foie gras and whale meat. Food choices in tourism, however, do not all result in negative consequences; they have can have positive impacts as well. The way in which food choices can make a positive impact was considered through eco-culinary gastronomy (eat the problem) and viewing food choice through a planetary health lens (as suggested in the EAT-Lancet report (Willett et al., 2019)), which advocates that our food choices can contribute to environmental sustainability as well as human health. These, however, require a conscious effort to implement and promote, and also require behavioural change on the part of tourists. Finally, the nature of food waste in the tourism context was considered. This is a significant issue in tourism for which the true magnitude is not yet fully understood. Both food and tourism need to be understood as systems, within which food waste does not go “away”. It remains within the systems and must be dealt with. How this is to be achieved is yet unclear, but there are numerous examples of initiatives that are at the very least attempting to address it. There are many opportunities in food tourism to create experiences for tourists that have positive outcomes for both the hosts and guests. I would suggest that food tourism requires a great deal more critical thought and should be viewed through a food systems lens in order to optimise the salient benefits and reduce the negative. Uncritical, unexamined decisions lead to unintended consequences. Whether it is environmental impacts, ethical/moral dilemmas or simply believing that our food-related problems will go “away”, food tourism has a role to play in contributing to more sustainable and regenerative food and tourism systems. But first, we need to give (critical) thought for food.

NOTES 1. Possums are a significant threat to New Zealand’s ecosystems. There are few natural predators and possums compete with native birds and reptiles for food sources, damage native plants and have been observed eating the eggs and chicks of endangered birds. They can also carry and transmit bovine tuberculosis, which is a significant threat to New Zealand’s agricultural economy (Department of Conservation (DOC), n.d._a). 2. Rabbits are considered an agricultural pest. They compete with livestock for pasture and are a significant cause of damage on erosion-prone soils. Rabbits also threaten ecological values where they browse on vulnerable native plant communities (DOC, n.d._b). 3. Gorse is an aggressive scrub weed that now covers large areas of New Zealand’s hill country. Gorse reduces the area available for livestock grazing and it also causes significant competition with young forest trees and makes access to forests difficult for pruning and thinning operations. During the summer months, foliage of gorse can become very dry, making it susceptible to fire. The flowers of the gorse plant are edible (Massey University, 2022).

REFERENCES Ambelu, G., Lovelock, B., & Tucker, H. (2018). Empty bowls: Conceptualising the role of tourism in contributing to sustainable rural food security. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(10), 1749–1765.

Food for thought  83 Beattie, R. (n.d.). New Zealand, what do you think? Should we be farming Weka? Available: https://​ www​.rnbeattie​.co​.nz/​news/​2017/​8/​9/​new​-zealand​-what​-do​-you​-think​-should​-we​-be​-farming​-weka. Berno, T. (2015). Tourism, food traditions and supporting communities in Samoa: The Mea’ai project. In P. Sloan, W. Legrand, & C. Hindley (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of sustainable food and gastronomy (pp. 338–347). Routledge. Berno, T. (2017). Food for thought: Eco-tourism, eating and the consequences of everyday decisions. 11th Annual conference of the International Competence Network of Tourism Research and Education (ICNT): Ecotourism in the 21st Century, Auckland, 15 Nov 2017–17 Nov 2017. International Competence Network of Tourism Research and Education (ICNT). Berno, T. (2020). Food for thought: Eating and the consequences of everyday decisions in tourism. In P. Robinson, M. Lück & S. Smith (eds.), Tourism, (pp. 158–160). Boston: CABI. Berno, T. (2022). Food, culture and sustainability: Critical reflections on food, tourism and the SDGs. [Manuscript submitted for publication, under revision]. Berno, T. (2023). Cuisine: A manifestation of culture. In F. Fusté-Forné & E. Wolf (Eds.), Contemporary advances in food tourism management and marketing (pp. 4–16). Routledge. Bertella, G. (2020). Re-thinking sustainability and food in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 84, 103005. Bertulli, C. G., Leeney, R. H., Barreau, T., & Matassa, D. S. (2016). Can whale-watching and whaling co-exist? Tourist perceptions in Iceland. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 96(4), 969–977. Born, B., & Purcell, M. (2006). Avoiding the local trap: Scale and food systems in planning research. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 26(2), 195–207. Burns, G. L., Ӧqvist, E. L., Angerbjӧrn, A., & Granquist, S. (2018). When the wildlife you watch becomes the food you eat: Exploring moral and ethical dilemmas when consumptive and non-consumptive tourism merge. In C. Kline (Ed.), Animals, food and tourism (pp. 22–35). Routledge. Climate Smart Chefs (n.d.). How chefs can help save the planet. Barilla Foundation. Cluff, R. (2022). Inaugural cane toad bust begins today. Tropic Now, 24 January 2022. Available: https://​www​.tropicnow​.com​.au/​2022/​january/​24/​inaugural​-cane​-toad​-bust​-begins​-today​#:​~:​text​=​It’s​ %20estimated​%20there​%20are​%20now​,cane​%20beetles​%20in​%20the​%201930s. Cohen, E., & Avieli, N. (2004). Food in tourism: Attraction and impediment. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(4), 755–778. Commoner, B. (1971). The closing circle: Nature, man and technology. Dover Publications. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (2022). Invasive animal: Cane toad. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Government of Queensland. Available: https://​www​.daf​.qld​.gov​.au/​_​_data/​assets/​pdf​ _file/​0005/​77360/​cane​-toad​.pdf. Department of Conservation (n.d._a). Possums. Available: https://​www​.doc​.govt​.nz/​nature/​pests​-and​ -threats/​animal​-pests/​possums/​#:​~:​text​=​They​%20eat​%20buds​%2C​%20flowers​%2C​%20fruit​,parts​ %20of​%20it​%20are​%20eaten. Department of Conservation (n.d._b). Rabbits. Available: https://​www​.doc​.govt​.nz/​nature/​pests​-and​ -threats/​animal​-pests/​rabbits/​. Eriksen, S. N. (2013). Defining local food: constructing a new taxonomy – three domains of proximity. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B–Soil & Plant Science, 63(sup1), 47–55. European Commission. (2015). Closing the loop—An EU action plan for the circular economy. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Fiji Bureau of Statistics (2020). Provisional hotel and tourist accommodation statistics, September quarter, 2020. Statistical News, FBoS Release No. 107. Available: https://​ fbos​ .nso​ .spc​ .int/​ latest​ -releases/​tourism​-and​-migration/​hotels/​provisional​-hotels​-and​-tourist​-accommodation​-qtr​-3​-2020/​. Fiji Bureau of Statistics (2022). Provisional visitor arrivals – August 2022. Statistical News, FBoS Release No. 100. Available: https://​www​.statsfiji​.gov​.fj/​latest​-releases/​tourism​-and​-migration/​visitor​ -arrivals. Filimonau, V., & De Coteau, D. A. (2019). Food waste management in hospitality operations: A critical review. Tourism Management, 71, 234–245. Fiso, M., Corey, L., & Berno, T. (2020). Hiakai: Modern Māori cuisine. Penguin.

84  Handbook on food tourism Fresán, U., Paquito, B., Soares, V. A., Lloyd, S. J., Housni, F. E., & Chevance, G. (2022, June 28). Sustainable healthy diets from the lens of behavioural science. OSF Preprints https://​doi​.org/​10​ .31219/​osf​.io/​h943v. Gibson, D., & Berno, T. (2019). Tourist food preferences and the sustainable development goals: A Fiji case study. Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals, Auckland, 24 Jan 2019–25 Jan 2019. Massey University. Gössling, S. (2015). New performance indicators for water management in tourism. Tourism Management, 46, 233–244. Gössling, S., Garrod, B., Aall, C., Hille, J., & Peeters, P. (2011). Food management in tourism: Reducing tourism’s carbon “foodprint”. Tourism Management, 32(3), 534–543. Gössling, S., & Hall, C. M. (2022). The sustainable chef: The environment in culinary arts, restaurants, and hospitality. Routledge. Gössling, S., & Peeters, P. (2015). Assessing tourism’s global environmental impact 1900–2050. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(5), 639–659. Hall, C. M. (2020). Improving the recipe for culinary and food tourism? The need for a new menu. Tourism Recreation Research, 45(2), 284–287. Hasegawa, T., Havlík, P., Frank, S., Palazzo, A., & Valin, H. (2019). Tackling food consumption inequality to fight hunger without pressuring the environment. Nature Sustainability, 2(9), 826–833. Hayward, P. (2013). Invasive opportunities and eco-culinary activism: The harvesting, marketing and consumption of Tasmanian sea urchins. Locale: The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies, 3, 71–90. Hayward, P. (2014). Eco-culinary activism and the viability of developing cane toad as an Australian food resource. Locale: The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies, 4, 1–19. Higham, J. E., Bejder, L., Allen, S. J., Corkeron, P. J., & Lusseau, D. (2016). Managing whale-watching as a non-lethal consumptive activity. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(1), 73–90. Juvan, E., Grün, B., & Dolnicar, S. (2018). Biting off more than they can chew: Food waste at hotel breakfast buffets. Journal of Travel Research, 57(2), 232–242. Kaechele, k. (2019). Eat the Problem. Hobart, Tasmania: MONA. Laeis, G. (2019). What’s on the menu?: how the cuisine of large-scale, upmarket tourist resorts shapes agricultural development in Fiji: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand (Doctoral dissertation, Massey University). Leach, M., Nisbett, N., Cabral, L., Harris, J., Hossain, N., & Thompson, J. (2020). Food politics and development. World Development, 134, 105024. Lephilibert, B. (2016). Food waste: The elephant in the room for hospitality. Available: https://​ sustainablebrands​.com/​read/​waste​-not/​food​-waste​-the​-elephant​-in​-the​-room​-for​-the​-hospitality​ -industry. Massey University (2022). Gorse. Weeds database. Available: https://​www​.massey​.ac​.nz/​massey/​ learning/​colleges/​college​-of​-sciences/​clinics​-and​-services/​weeds​-database/​gorse​.cfm. Mitchell, C. (2017). Weka farmer takes on DOC: ‘I’m prepared to go to jail’. Stuff, 7 July 2017. Available: https://​www​.stuff​.co​.nz/​business/​farming/​93870928/​weka​-farmer​-takes​-on​-doc​-im​-prepared​-to​-go​-to​ -jail​?fbclid​=​IwAR1JQ9u​aTFObDKhuD​qdMHSsIp1K​-fzzQQaK16OAQRPDejj​_9MnGfaWxdBS4. Mognard, E. (2011). Les trois traditions du foie gras dans la gastronomie française. Anthropology of Food, (8). Mognard, É. (2014). Élise Mognard, Foie gras, gavage et “touristes-mangeurs”: une sociologie de l’alimentation à l’heure de la mondialisation. Mondes du Tourisme, (10), 95–99. Mount, P. (2012). Growing local food: scale and local food systems governance. Agriculture and Human Values, 29(1), 107–121. Öqvist, E. (2016). Whaling or watching, sealing or seeing. A study of interactions between marine mammal tourism and hunting in Iceland. Master’s thesis, Stockholm University, Sweden. Pearce, P. L. (2020). Controlling disturbing tourist behaviour: a perspective article. Tourism Review, 75(1), 225–227. Piddock, G. (2018). Call to showcase New Zealand’s unique cuisine by serving up native species. Available: https://​www​.stuff​.co​.nz/​life​-style/​food​-wine/​food​-news/​108139307/​call​-to​-showcase​-new -zealands-unique-cuisine-by-serving-up-native-species.

Food for thought  85 Pretorius, B., Ambuko, J., Papargyropoulou, E., & Schönfeldt, H. C. (2021). Guiding Nutritious Food Choices and Diets along Food Systems. Sustainability, 13(17), 9501. Ranta, R. (2015). Food and nationalism: From foie gras to hummus. World Policy Journal, 32(3), 33–40. Richards, G. (2021). Evolving research perspectives on food and gastronomic experiences in tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 33(3), 1037–1058. Rogers, A. (2021). Reimagining Our Menu for Sustainable Development. In S. Flood, Y. Jerez Columbié, M. Le Tissier, & B. O’Dwyer (Eds.). Creating resilient futures integrating disaster risk reduction, sustainable development goals and climate change adaptation agendas, (pp. 225–246). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave. Sabaté, J., Sranacharoenpong, K., Harwatt, H., Wien, M., & Soret, S. (2015). The environmental cost of protein food choices. Public health nutrition, 18(11), 2067–2073. Scheyvens, R. & Laeis, G. (2021). Linkages between tourist resorts, local food production and the sustainable development goals. Tourism Geographies, 23(4), 787–809. Scheyvens, R., & Russell, M. (2012). Tourism and poverty alleviation in Fiji: Comparing the impacts of small- and large-scale tourism enterprises. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(3), 417–436. Singleton, B. E. (2018). Making a meal of it: A political ecology examination of whale meat and tourism. In C. Kline (Ed.), Tourism experiences and animal consumption: Contested values, morality and ethics (pp. 87–101). Routledge. Singleton, B. E. (2021). The whale watched and whaled: Exploring the orderings of a complex environmental issue through the lens of rubbish theory. Journal of Political Ecology, 28(1), 396–415. Thompson, H. (2021). Lyon becomes third city in France to ban foie gras on cruelty grounds. The Connexion, 8 December 2021. Available: https://​www​.connexionfrance​.com/​article/​French​-news/​ Lyon​-becomes​-third​-city​-in​-France​-to​-ban​-foie​-gras​-on​-cruelty​-grounds. Terzon, E. (2014). Eating cane toads a win-win solution for all, says academic. Available: https://​www​ .abc​.net​.au/​news/​2014​-11​-11/​academic​-wants​-us​-to​-eat​-cane​-toads/​5882986. VanWinkle, T. N. (2017). “Savor the earth to save it!”—The pedagogy of sustainable pleasure and relational ecology in a place-based public culinary culture. Food and Foodways, 25(1), 40–57. Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., Vermeulen, S., Garnett, T., Tilman, D., DeClerck, F., Wood, A., Jonell, M., Clark, M., Gordon, L., Fanzo, J., Hawkes, C., Zurayk, R., Rivera, J., De Vries, W., Majele Sibanda, L., Afshin, A., Chaudhary, A., Herrero, M., Agustina, R., Branca, F., Lartey, A., Fan, S., Crona, B., Fox, E., Bignet, V., Troell, M., Lindahl, T., Singh, S., Cornell, S., Srinath Reddy, K., Narain, S., Nishtar, S. & Murray, C. (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet, 393(10170), 447–492. Wimberly, C., Zhou, W., Lee, Y. Bankman, J. & Lavieri-Scull, E. (2020). Ingredients for a sustainable world: The chef’s good food handbook. Good Food Fund. Wolfe, E. (2020). Estimating the economic impact of food & beverage tourism is at best, very difficult. Available: https://​worldfoodtravel​.org/​news​-the​-economic​-impact​-of​-food​-tourism/​#:​~:​text​=​By​ %20our​%20estimate​%2C​%20visitors​%20spend​,spent​%20by​%20travelers​%20in​%20general.

7. There’s no place like food: instant noodles, instant elsew(here) Desmond Wee1

1. INTRODUCTION A common understanding of food tourism is when people called ‘tourists’ travel to places called ‘destinations’ to consume cultural products called ‘food’ embraced by locals called ‘identity’. Food culture is often fixated to spaces such as locality, regionality or nationality to enhance the commodification of the tourist product (Du Rand & Heath, 2006; Ellis et al., 2018). Hence, food tourism is considered ‘an opportunity to generate added value from tourism through local agricultural systems and supply chains and the local food system’ (Hall & Gössling, 2016), contributing to regional development. This focus on the ‘destination’ is also evident as Okumus (2021) argued for the future of food tourism development through new culinary events, stronger stakeholder engagements, and social media promotion in designing and co-creating experiences, as well as a form of resilience in a post-pandemic era, as discussed by Fountain (2021). In documenting food tourism, Ellis et al. (2018) described its evolution from a motivational approach for travel to specific locations for food consumption to a ‘cultural turn’ and a reflexivity that exposes ‘…a critical gap in a wholesome understanding of food tourism literature especially for the following research aspects: its definitions, perspectives, approaches, themes, and conceptualization’ (pp. 250–251). Yet, despite the encouraging shift towards more cultural discourses and critical interpretations in food tourism, the subject focus is still largely management and economic, anchored in epistemological and methodological positivism (Everett, 2019). Food tourism has traditionally premised the ‘destination’ where food is assumed to be static – localized and embedded in particular spaces, and discursively extrapolated as identity, culture, and heritage. But how about considering people and their consumption as the starting point? What if tourists do not move, such as in the time of a pandemic, and food travels instead? In other words, could the study of food be ‘harnessed in the cultural production of knowledges regarding idealised spaces, nostalgia and identity formation, cultural capital, otherness, symbolism and embodiment’ (Everett, 2019, p. 8)? At the end of their expansive article, Ellis et al. (2018) performed a difficult task of compiling the innumerable definitions of food tourism to concur that ‘food tourism is about cultural anthropology through understanding the interactions of tourists with place through the medium of food’ (p. 261), rather than normative definitions in tourism marketing. The cultural anthropologists, Clifford and Marcus (1986, p. 10), emphasized that ‘cultures do not hold still for portraits’ but are emergent and in a constant state of migration by way of ‘touring cultures’ (Rojek & Urry, 1997). Hence, food as cultural form may also travel – highlighted especially by global mobilities and social media that guarantee the abundance of food images which are circulated, consumed vicariously, and further reproduced. Is it possible that the consumption of particular, everyday foods at home makes one feel elsewhere? 86

There’s no place like food  87 Often we find the smaller the space, the more authentic the culture, the more unique the food – further reified and sanctioned by cultural ambassadors such as UNESCO by way of a protective branding of food culture (Pearson & Pearson, 2017). In our age of human and environmental degradation, credit must be given to UNESCO’s project of ‘outstanding universal value’. Yet, one wonders if the prioritization of place and the gaze attributed to these ‘sites’ promote the valorization of culture, the same way Jimmy Nelson’s (2015) stunning photographic treatise, ‘Before they pass away’, divulged colonial and othered gazes. If ‘Western’ culture had indeed produced a view of the ‘Orient’ based on a particular imagination (Said, 1979), could we work with this imagination through discourse, practice, and dialogue to understand an everyday deconstruction and decolonization of culture instead? When extrapolated to food, do we fall into the trap of limiting the meanings of food when we fix the gaze to a place? Could we reclaim knowledge of the other, through alternative ways of gazing, practising, and imagining, so that the consumption of particular foods is less about the projection of other as cultural subject, but rather, an intimate dialogic that reflects self in place? This chapter seeks to expand the definitions of food tourism beyond the normative tourist travel to a place and questions how food travels instead. First, it explores how cultural narratives of food moves and creates an embodied sense of place. Second, it assesses if food becomes ‘place(d)’ when out of place, questioning the ‘origins’ of food and how it is consumed culturally by removing the fixed gaze on place. Third, it employs instant noodles as a means of understanding how food emotionally connects people to place through vicarious travel ‘around the world’ via social media, manga and anime. Hence, ‘food tourism’ is less about people travelling to places to consume food, and more about food travelling to people, wherever they are, to embody a sense of place already embedded in what the food means. Discourse and textual analysis (Georgakopoulou, 2019) were employed to explore text, meaning and context via everyday cultural narratives on what instant noodle consumption could entail. Visual methodologies using ethnographic approaches (Timmermans & Prickett, 2019) were utilized by way of observation and data analysis across various urban settings to transcend geopolitical boundaries and cultivate a community of inquiry. The Asian food store, ‘go asia’ in Karlsruhe, Germany, the ‘Cup Noodle Museum’ in Yokohama, Japan, and the ‘MiX Store’ in Alor Setah, Malaysia, were analysed accordingly. Netnography (Kozinets & Gretzel, 2022) was employed, particularly with regard to interpretation and research representation, to investigate circulatory pop cultural influences such as manga and anime, and their distributive qualities as evident on social media platforms such as YouTube videos. The subject became ‘agentic’ (Gambetti & Kozinets, 2022) as adaptive research practice was incorporated to explore non-human sensibilities in sociotechnical worlds. As such, the methodological tools were embodied into the entire chapter, rather than being stand-alone. The chapter will prioritize discursive and individual connections to place, of how instant noodles connotate meanings of place (rather than the other way around) through both anthropological and geographical underpinnings beyond the conventional tourist gaze (Urry, 1990) to explore how everyday spaces of familiarity may contribute to tourism. It uses consumption theory to instigate a conceptual framework – providing a cultural lens towards the contextualization of global structures and diverse influences, to explore what it means to enjoy an instant cup noodle at home.

88  Handbook on food tourism

2.

CONSUMING FOOD, CONSUMING PLACE

Although the homage to the symbolic and metaphysical realm of food as culture, consumption and commodification processes is not new, what is vital to consider is the allocation of agency in how consumption processes are shaped, ordered, and reassigned. It is ‘an active process of making and using meanings and objects, and the consumer as a subject active in the constitution of its own subjectivity and world’ (Slater, 2002, p. 148). Indeed, food narratives may relate to a secondary order of experience, where stories of the self are produced, consumed and reproduced. Identities connected to the making of food, place and self become fluid, alongside the evolution of both real and imagined spaces. Yet, emerging identities are also at the same time grounded in meanings, particularly in how discourses are contrived and internalized, and committed to a sense of belonging, both in place and out of place (Cresswell, 1992). ‘You are what you eat’, exemplified by the infamous adage in the film Delicatessen (Jeunet & Caro, 1991), postulates a strong connection between food and identity, and elucidates both the cannibalism manifested in the film, as well as a consumption of self, in which ‘I eat myself ’. This brings to mind how Bell and Valentine (2013) examine the relation of place and identity to food, or as their book suggests, ‘We are where we eat’ – where every mouthful and meal may tell us something about ourselves and our place in the world. Trubek (2008) relates in ‘The Taste of Place’ how the sensuous may exist as a kind of ‘terroir’ that informs place identity in the making of local cuisine (Hill & Fountain, 2021). Where we eat may relate to who we are, but also, what we eat, how we eat or why we choose what we eat. The commonality between the characters ‘to eat’, 吃 (chī) and ‘to drink’, 喝 (hē) in Chinese is the ‘mouth’,口 (kǒu) found within both of them. 口 (kǒu) may exist on its own, but it still needs to be written first in three strokes, before 吃 and 喝 to make any sense. How rich and subtle this is, that the mouth is incorporated into the sensuality of primal consumption. This mouth is also at the same time an opening, both in the metaphorical and literal sense, to allow ‘taste’ 味 (wèi) to be appreciated. What is most important about the presence of the ‘mouth’ is its embodiment within the realm of the symbolic, just as how we, as human beings, engage both the mind and the environment, in which the mobile and the imagination provide the bases for the connection between imaginary and real journeying (see Ingold, 2000; Wee, 2014). Perhaps the most profound character is 回 (huí), in which the mouth consumes itself. Its meaning ‘to return’ brings to mind the work of Campbell (1949) and Propp (1985), who discuss the context of the protagonist in the narrative. But who is the ‘hero’ in the absence of the subject in which the mouth has to eat itself in order to return? This triumphant return is a transformative rite de passage featuring a ‘betwixt and between’ (van Gennep, 1960; Turner, 1974) involved in the making of a new self. This converted being has a mouth that can shape consumption and carries with her a Borgesian map on a scale of 1:1 (Baudrillard, 1994) in which the map precedes the territory. Such imagination, along with others like de Certeau’s (1984) spatial stories, inhabit the spaces of the city and everyday life: Their story begins on ground level, with footsteps. They are myriad, but do not compose a series. They cannot be counted because each unit has a qualitative character: a style of tactile apprehension and kinesthetic appropriation. Their swarming mass is an innumerable collection of singularities. Their intertwined paths give their shape to spaces. They weave places together…. They are not localized; it is rather they that spatialize. They are no more inserted within a container than those Chinese character speakers sketch out on their hands with their fingertips (p. 97).

There’s no place like food  89 Food such as instant noodles, for example, may be understood as mobile food products that confer agencies that spatialize rather than localize (see below). Just as the ‘returning’ 回 (huí) is consuming and consumed at the same time, the hermeneutic travel cycle in tourism needs to adjust its fixation with ‘going’ towards the ‘destination’, and reweigh the element of becoming embedded in the return journey in the making of place. Tourist stories encapsulated as memories are not only consumed passively, but they also provide agency in the ‘experiences and sensibilities attributed to these commodities by both producer and consumer’ (Hannam & Knox, 2010, p. 14). This is not only an outward reflection that glimmers as representation of self, but also an inward retrospection in assimilating self within environment. The materiality of food delineates place meanings attached to consuming the very geographies of food (see Bezzola & Lugosi, 2018). Hence ‘there is no place like food’ underscores both the relation of food to home – a selfhood that one ‘returns’ to that in turn determines tourist practice, and how food determines place, as opposed to the more conventional mode of travelling to a place to consume food. Food is being recognized as a direct crystallization of the physical and symbolic landscape (Oakes, 1999), providing a link between place and its identity (Everett, 2019, p. 6). Howes’ (1996) understanding of food as cultural artefact and how identities are developed while simultaneously experiencing the ‘Other’ is most relevant in this age of versatile mobilities, when we confront who and what is being othered as food travels with ‘us’ across frontiers, especially when ‘abroad’. ‘Food mobilities’ such as the ubiquity of instant noodles captures an ‘Out of Asia’ sentiment to reify the experiences of what the representation of food is to cultural embodiment. In other words, food, rather than being in place, becomes place when consumed. By employing ‘place’ as a verb, we can enquire how we place meaning in food tourism. Lowenthal (1985) relates ‘nostalgia’ as a way to express the modern disillusionment of globalization and the use of symbolic capital and material culture to engage with a socially constructed past. As Giddens (1991, p. 81) has iterated, we have no choice but to choose, swayed by a destabilizing process that alters the ways in which we understand a consumer good, alongside the reappropriation of cultural meanings. Nevertheless, if an object such as food is indeed invested with sensory memory that speaks (Seremetakis, 2019), it is also possible to advocate agencies of consumption in invoking memory through multiple sensory registers, as constitutive in the social life of food and the bearing of synaesthetic qualities (Sutton, 2010). The power of recollection and becoming is conferred through ‘emotional geographies’ (Davidson & Milligan, 2004) in which the making of self is reordered through space and time. Traditional, dualistic models where cultures and belonging are situated in terms of inside– outside categories (Massey, 1992) are being remodelled to include the dynamic participation of people in commodified places. There is a blurred distinction of what it means to be in place or out of place, as outside could be very much inside. By elucidating Relph’s (1976) sense of ‘existential insideness’, which relates to a strong sense of identification like home, in contrast to an ‘existential outsideness’ in which that same place may be distorted through time, change or experience, what would it feel like to be at the same place, but from the ‘other’ side with different perspectives, experiences and meanings? Is out-of-place food already place(d)? Appadurai (1996, p. 13) conceptualized food as habits of consumption that could stimulate temporal rhythms, and ‘perform a percussive role in organizing large-scale consumption patterns’. If this kind of consumption conveys the modalities of time, then we could also question how this time is reorganized in terms of memory, or memorial practices, and how these rhythms are carried across space, from childhood to adulthood. For Appadurai (1996),

90  Handbook on food tourism his take on the consumption of food was also at the same time the consumption of the city as he relished the smell of the city, the same way Proust (2006) would recollect his childhood instinctively through olfactory memory of madeleines. Harvey (1989) went forward rather than backwards with his notion of time–space compression, delineating how cuisine has migrated and diffused across culture, but with ‘an acceleration, because culinary styles have moved faster than the immigration streams’ (p. 300). Both Appadurai (1996) and Harvey (1989) sensed modernity through socio-geographical imaginaries based on the mediatization of global consumerism, capital flows and cultural commodification ahead of the more traditional mobilities involving human migration. However, neither Appadurai, Harvey nor Proust could match Doc Brown’s flux capacitator in Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985) and transport Marty McFly backwards and forwards across time. What they did do were to suggest a culinary order that transcended borders and continents, age, and maturity, while accumulating a trajectory of life experiences and the consumption of those life experiences. Whether the past is manifested as identity, an ‘unfinished game … moved into the future through a symbolic detour through the past’ (Hall, 1999, p. 43) or mobilized as ‘heritage’ in the present through emotions, affect and feeling (Wetherell et al., 2018), what is evident is a provocation of the imagination and the affordances based on creation or recreation (see Gravari-Barbas & Graburn, 2012). Negotiations of past experiences and future expectations exist both as practice and discourse, revealing the ‘paradoxes of place making’ (Wee, 2021). Hence, memorability can be said to be derived from the episodic nature of tourism experiences where ‘both emotions and memory are intertwined within consumer’s self-narratives, and thus stretch before and beyond the actual on-site experience’ (Rickly-Boyd & McCabe, 2017, p. 59). In other words, ‘[r]ather than thinking of a static heritage and fixated authenticity, a reimagination of self and identity can be developed in the creation of place…’ (Wee, 2021, p. 245). ‘There is no place like food’ becomes a deeper pun about the familiarity of food by way of both past memory and future imagination, and the ingestion of self-narratives that travel across spatial jurisdictions via emotional attachment to food that is placed, out of place.

3.

INSTANT NOODLES ‘AROUND THE WORLD’, HERE

Indeed, the experience of food (out of place) may precede the self (in place) – one might not need to leave home at all to feel elsewhere. By eating particular foods such as instant ramen or cup noodles, one may become a tourist by way of imagination, embodying manga with Tokyo at once. Indulging Indomie may also conjure nostalgic memories of childhood and belonging, vicariously ‘returning’ to Southeast Asia when living abroad. What emerges is a combination of imagination and nostalgia that embody the practice of instant noodle consumption as place(d) mobility, fostering another kind of food tourism in which the destination is where the food is. Instant noodle packets are arguably one of the most quintessential items of any Asian food store in the Western world, recognizable by their wide array of selection on the racks, colourfully assorted in different Asian languages (see Figure 7.1 of an Asian food store chain ‘go asia’ in Germany). This simple, easy-to-cook staple embodies ‘Asia’, creating multifarious complexities as it is embedded with identity – requiring different skillsets and knowledge of the product variance and perceived quality for picking, cooking and then eating. The ubiquity

There’s no place like food  91 of instant noodles and its everyday consumption around the world cannot be understated, but what does ‘around the world’ mean, especially when constructed along the lines of self, identity and place-making?

Figure 7.1

‘go asia: asien supermarkt’ in Karlsruhe, Germany

On YouTube, ‘Strictly Dumpling’ (July 2022) features Mike ‘Mikey’ Xing Chen with many viral videos devoted to consuming instant noodles. In ‘Trying instant noodles from around the world’ (Strictly Dumpling, 2021), Mikey spent almost three minutes of his video just walking around Pan-Asian Supermarket in St. Louis and selecting instant noodles from ‘around the world’. When he returned home, he displayed his array of instant noodles on his kitchen counter: I’m now back home with all these instant noodles from around the world. We have a lot of representations here – Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Vietnam… (Strictly Dumpling, 2021).

But based on the representations, why was the title of his video not ‘Instant noodles from all over Asia?’ What was particularly revealing was when he arrived in ‘South Asia’, ‘Let’s try out the Indian Maggi and the Pakistan Knorr…’. Since Maggi is a well-known Swiss brand alongside Knorr, a household name in Germany, what did he mean by Indian Maggi and

92  Handbook on food tourism Table 7.1

Table matching brands, origins and recipes

 

Brand of instant noodle

Produced in

Recipe of someone from

1

Nissin

Japan

Brazil

2

Indomie

Indonesia

Nigeria

3

Saikebon

Italy

Italy

4

Wai

Nepal

Nepal

5

Maruchan

Japan

Trinidad and Tobago

6

Indomie

Indonesia

Indonesia

7

Maggi

Switzerland

India

8

Nongshim

South Korea

Singapore

Pakistan Knorr? Perhaps this was to do with Maggi being of ‘masala flavour’, and Knorr was ‘chatt patta style’ – which was vaguely seen in the video, but only described verbally as ‘these noodles are from Pakistan…’ (Strictly Dumpling, 2021). Yet, in a different segment on the video, Mikey mentioned that ‘this is the instant rice noodle Phnom Penh style and I know Phnom Penh is not in Vietnam, but this is made in Vietnam, so let’s try it out’ (Strictly Dumpling, 2021). Suddenly the production (and brand) mattered. This analysis serves not to undermine the authority of the YouTuber nor the authenticity of the product; rather, it highlights the co-creative, consumer perceptions of how instant noodles and their consumption are invariably connected to some sense of place, often in arbitrary, yet discrete fashion attached to an individual. Beryl Shereshewsky of Great Big Story (2020) produced a YouTube video on ‘8 Ways to Eat Instant Noodles | Around the world’: I asked on YouTube how you guys liked to prepare instant noodles where you lived, and the response was crazy… I’m going to prepare eight of your recipes from eight countries to see the different ways that people prepare instant noodles around the world (Great Big Story, 2020)

For Beryl, the eight countries referred to where her followers came from, but how is this connected to the flavour of the instant noodles, where they were produced, where the brand originated, where the people came from or where they lived (see Table 7.1)? Beryl was less concerned with where the instant noodles came from, and more with what the respondents from the various countries recommended. In fact, what was most poignant was: I also really enjoyed this experience of trying these different foods here at my house, ’cause it shows that all of these dishes are attainable. You don’t have to necessarily travel to those countries to get a taste of them (Great Big Story, 2020).

But travel to which countries – Brazil or Japan, Nigeria, or Indonesia, where it is cooked or where it is from (see Table 7.1)? What is clear is that one can tour while at home, heightened especially during the global pandemic. In other words, by making these varied combinations of instant noodles, and tasting them, one may travel to other faraway places and consume the experience of being elsewhere. In a strange way, this effect is organic at the same time, reproducing the experience for others on social media via a jellyfish effect and a mimetic gaze that afford surrogate tourists (Arzbaecher, Sillanpää & Wee, 2022). The consumers of the video become tourists traveling to various spaces on the planet, while consuming the video or the instant noodles, wherever they are. Hence, food not only travels, but induces travel at the same time ‘around the world’.

There’s no place like food  93 Although bearing similar titles, the difference between the two videos, ‘Trying instant noodles from around the world’ (Strictly Dumpling, 2021) and ‘8 Ways to Eat Instant Noodles | Around the world’ (Great Big Story, 2020) could not have been starker. The first was about following instructions as closely as possible and judging the quality of the product based on taste, texture, and consistency. This was based on the origins of taste as opposed to the making of the food itself. The second was about doing away with instructions and being innovative to create something flavourful and entirely unique, at the same time. It was about making the food and crediting the origin of the creator. Rather uncannily, both referenced ‘around the world’ and conflated entire jurisdictions of known space by co-creating new geographies of consumption. The first situated Asia from the purchase in an Asian store all the way to representations of place, which were all Asian and, yet, global simultaneously. The second were recipes, indeed from around the world, but these recipes became local in how they were imagined by Beryl’s followers and subsequently by her. How were inventive recipes and dishes connected to place of origin?

Figure 7.2

MiX Store, Alor Setar (Flagship), Malaysia

Figure 7.2 is an image taken in an Asian food store in Malaysia that specialized in sweets and titbits. The familiar racks of instant noodles were reminiscent of Figure 7.1, but with greater detail, such as designated national flags that signified the ‘origins’ of every packet of instant noodles. The flags of Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, China and Vietnam (compare Figure 7.2

94  Handbook on food tourism with Table 7.1) seem to highlight that ‘production places’ have transformed into ‘consumption spaces’ (Everett, 2012) with a commingling of multifarious identities. The issue of geopolitical boundaries appears to be ‘displaced’ by the symbolic representation of otherness; however, this is imagined, in which the materiality of consumption is constructed over an assemblage of an enveloping ‘Asianness’ of the instant noodles, with everyday culinary practices of ‘who’, rather than ‘where’ the recipes came from. Nationhood was already incorporated into the instant noodles and the conglomeration of nations encompassed a region – Asia – for which these noodles are then known to be from. It is as real as it is in ‘Asia’, and discursive as it is ‘around the world’, and vice versa. The fascinating Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama, Japan, is dedicated to ‘[learning] about the creative thinking of Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products and inventor of Chicken Ramen, the world’s first instant ramen that revolutionized eating customs all over the world’ (Cup Noodle Museum, n.d.). The museum is modern, informative and interactive, but most intriguing is the Noodles Bazaar situated on the top floor that features: eight varieties of noodles that Momofuku Ando encountered during his travels in search of the origins of noodles. Enjoy the noodle culture that has spread to every corner of the world in an ambience that is like an Asian night market (Cup Noodle Museum, n.d.).

Here, the ‘world’ is conflated with ‘Asia’ once again, in which the street-themed food court displayed menus with pictures that documented their countries of origin: Pasta (Italy), Lagman (Kazakhstan), Lanzhou Beef Ramen (China), Cold Ramen (Korea), Pho (Vietnam), Tom Yum Goong Noodles (Thailand), Laksa (Malaysia), Mie Goreng (Indonesia) and finally Mini-Chicken Ramen, without brackets. Nissin cup noodles did not need brackets to signify ‘Japan’, as both place and the national identity were already embodied and redistributed for further consumption. This multicultural diversity of noodles converged to form ‘World Noodles Road’, a co-creation of how production and consumption merged. Cup Noodle Museum was on one hand reaching out to document the creativity and success of a national hero and treasured heritage, and on the other, relating how this deeply ingrained tradition has revolutionized eating customs all over the world. The World Instant Noodle Association (WINA) was established with the desire to enjoy instant noodles with ‘peace of mind’, and: contribute towards a healthy and varied diet for people all over the world and for the healthy development of related industries – to contribute to the world through food (WINA, n.d.).

This was made evident on their website, highlighting the donation of instant noodles to victims of typhoon-hit Philippines, hurricane Eta in Guatemala and people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in California and Pennsylvania. The ‘History Movie’, also presented on the website, documented the evolution of noodles starting from China and its development into instant noodles in Japan: ‘Instant noodles continue to evolve while taking in the food cultures and flavors of regions around the world…’ (WINA, n.d.). Around the world once again, and striking is the slogan, ‘Noodle as a Planet’, without needing translation in the Japanese or the Chinese languages offered on the website. WINA was not only advocating a global ethic of consumption, but at the same time championing their role as cultural ambassador to the world via Asia.

There’s no place like food  95

4.

INSTANT NOODLES MEDIATED AND MASTERED

Kim et al. (2019) have investigated food tourism motivations of domestic noodle tourists in Japan. More specifically, Kim and Iwashita (2016) researched the extent to which local food and identity of a region can be used as tools for tourism development using the case of udon, how this contributed to cultural values, identity construction, characteristics of the place and authentic tourist experiences. Rather than the udon or ramen that tourists seek in Japan, this chapter focuses on bringing ‘Japan’, ‘Korea’, ‘Asia’ or elsewhere home via instant noodles. Unlike Kim and Iwashita (2016) and Kim et al. (2019), this is less of a search for authenticity and other factors of motivation, but more an unbridled and rather simple everyday practice at work. Cooking instant noodles is about the most effortless and elementary ritual on the stove top, without needing any real expertise. One either follows instructions on the packets or ‘watch YouTube videos on how to pimp up the instant noodles’ (Y. Riffel, personal communication, July 29, 2022) (see above). An interview with Yanik Riffel, a master’s student at the Karlshochschule who wrote an insightful paper on ‘Ethnography in an Asian Supermarket’, revealed his reflexivity as a German who had visited Japan only once but had an intuitive connection with ‘Asia’. He emphasized an alterity that was nurtured over various forms of socialization: Asian culture gained a lot of attention and popularity during the last decade in my perception. Food, but also films, bands and art from eastern Asia got into the focus of the younger generation. Whereas I eat a lot of Asian food regularly, my grandfather never ate sushi nor cooked an Asian meal for example (Riffel, 2022, p. 9).

Much has been discussed about the rise of Korean pop culture (K-pop) in terms of ‘soft power’ across geopolitical boundaries (Nye & Kim, 2019) and how it has built a unique cultural phenomenon since the birth of South Korea’s culture industries, most visible being Hallyu or the Korean wave (Lee, 2008; Shim, 2008). One cannot also forget the cultivation of an avid following across Asia as Psy took the western and global music scene by storm a decade ago via social media (predominantly YouTube) with ‘Gangnam Style’ (in Korean), making it the first music video, and the first non-English video, to hit a billion views (see Wee, 2017). Since then, according to Riffel (2022): it is immensely interesting to watch, how the Korean entertainment industry is on a phenomenal wave of success within the last few years. The movie Parasite, the Netflix series Squid Game and the boyband BTS are just some examples (p. 8).

What is important to understand is the relevance of this ‘soft power’ to food consumption, specifically that of Korean instant noodles known as 라면 (Ramyeon). When asked if ‘Asian’ was cool, Riffel emphasized, ‘pretty cool’, and he gave the example of his two little sisters who were totally into BTS and the Korean train – who both ate cup noodles not because it was good, but because it was in. ‘It is a thing with the youth nowadays,’ he said (Y. Riffel, personal communication, July 29, 2022). Manga is a genre of Japanese comics or graphic novels with a long-developed tradition out of the Edo period art form. Alongside manga, anime, a popular genre of Japanese animation, has also made its way into the Western markets. In ‘A gift from the past’ in Masashi

96  Handbook on food tourism Kishimoto’s (2017) ‘Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’, Boruto appeared as Naruto was seen paying respects to Master Jiraiya’s grave, foregrounded by a bouquet of flowers: Naruto:

So why did you want to see me?

Boruto:

Oh, yeah!

Naruto:

This is – ! It’s Ichirakaku Ramen’s super rare, special soy sauce flavour!

Boruto:

You gave it to me… Let’s go eat it together!

(In unison):

Thank you for the food! (Slurping)

(In unison):

So good!

Naruto:

You’re finally starting to know what good ramen tastes like.

The snippet disclosed a very tender father–son relationship heightened through the conviviality of eating cup noodles together. It demonstrated the esteemed worth and protection of cultural knowledge – the value of instant noodles as a product, the exclusiveness of the flavour and, most interestingly, the skillsets involved in the cultivation of the art of eating instant noodles. In the final scene was a zoom-in onto the grave again, with the etching ‘Master’ more visible, but even more pronounced is an unopened cup noodle in front of the flowers. What was revealing was the symbolic importance of cup noodles as an offering, juxtaposing remembrance, respect, and nostalgia for the protagonists across generations. In another anime, Dr. Stone’s ‘Let there be the light of science’ (Season 2) (Lino, 2019), ‘space ramen’ was reinvented by Senku and described meticulously over the painstaking processes in order to preserve food. As Chrome erupted in ecstasy after being allowed to be the first to taste the instant noodles, Senku exclaimed, ‘This is science!’ In reality, one could argue that he learned this from Momofuku Ando, the founder of instant noodles and cup noodles in Japan when Ando invented space ramen in 2005 (see Cup Noodle Museum, n.d.). Indeed, it was also the same year that Soichi Noguchi became the first astronaut to eat instant noodles in outer space. Senku’s father (in Dr. Stone, Ishigami Byakuya) was incidentally also depicted eating space ramen in space before he saw the petrification of fauna on earth.

5. DISCUSSION What emerges from these cases are surprising skillsets less about cooking, but more about the appreciation of instant noodles, the mastery of the facile and the competence of pure consumption. It is hard to forget the scene in ‘Tampopo’ (Itami, 1985) when the ramen master demonstrated the art of Shirouto (素人) by expressing deep affection to ramen. When eating instant noodles, one may remember or imagine a memory, an idea, an image, or a place – a place that is beyond ‘destination’, but a nostalgic space that conveys emotions of the past (childhood or travel memories), a socially mediated space that produces and reproduces discourses of food (YouTube or Instagram) and a fantasy-oriented space of pure imagination through pop culture (manga or anime). These spaces of both recollection and projection co-produce a representa-

There’s no place like food  97 tive space, aided further by tourism and place marketing, to encompass real places of association with food. Instant noodles may be identified as ‘Asian’ and ‘Japanese’, if one appreciates Naruto with the likelihood of visiting Tokyo to embrace manga, anime, cup noodles and ramen. What becomes evident in eating instant noodles is participation ‘in a performance that will bring an imagined past back to life’ (Salazar, 2012, p. 870) and induces revisiting a place by ‘straddling imagination and memory and finding the halfway point in which nostalgia evokes new ideas of reimagining self in place’ (Wee, 2020, p. 122). This self-identification in relation to nostalgic past or imaginative future makes apparent how place and identity are interwoven with the collapse of the physical and the symbolic (Oakes, 1999). Mak et al. (2012) consider food consumption as ‘symbolic’ and as a way for encountering and experiencing other ‘foodways’ ‘imbued with cultural meaning, experience, and permanence’ (Timothy & Ron, 2013, p. 99). If meaningful everyday objects such as instant noodles are located within wider systems (Griswold, 2004), their representation on a symbolic register is also a personal process of identification and the creation of ‘experience through performance, enquiry and engagement’ (Ellis et al., 2018, p. 261). In her article entitled, ‘Consuming nostalgia in a bowl of noodle soup at the Shin Yokohama Rāmen Museum’, Satomi Fukutomi (2013) related the nostalgia of consuming noodles to the idea of ‘Furusato’ – an old village that is ‘more of an emotional space than a physical one’ (p. 56), or an imaginative place to which one’s heart belongs, where one wants to be, but cannot go (2002, p. 174, cited in Fukutomi, 2013). This fatalistic charm that combines nostalgia and imagination can be ‘placed’ alongside the dream-like and familiar Ukiyo-e style prints reminiscent of Hokusai and Hiroshige in the Edo and early Meiji period. ‘Ukiyo’ (浮世絵) means literally ‘pictures of the floating world’ – first a Buddhist conceptualization of ephemeral existence of landscapes and travel scenes, followed by the characterization of a cultural, hedonistic form to include kabuki, sumos and geishas (see Kozbelt & Durmysheva, 2007). It was about reproducing the everyday lives of ordinary people amidst urban development and economic growth by way of imagination. The great wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai depicted this rapid change and uncertainty, foregrounded by the permanence of Mount Fuji. While ‘Furusato’ was a longing, a complex Fernweh of place attachment involving internalizing a self entrenched in nostalgic memory, ‘Ukiyo’ was focused on presence and what was fleeting on externalizing self and projecting the everyday. Both, however, required some kind of imagination. This combination of the two forces seems to be what emerges in the consumption of the modern instant noodle – instant elsewhere. A solidarity of what constitutes ‘Asian’ is also a multiculturalism of the various nation states displayed on the racks (see Figure 7.2). The selection may be based on taste, but with hundreds of different brands and flavours to choose from, there is greater meaning in the strength of selection. Someone with prolonged exposure in Asia may be familiar with some of the brands represented, hence consuming instant noodles both as a tasty treat and a remembrance of the past. Someone else may be in the store with a desire perhaps to be connected to an imagined ‘Asia’. Lived experience, historical documentation and commodification of culture foster culinary appropriations in a way of framing global mobilities involving food.

98  Handbook on food tourism

6. CONCLUSION The basis for tourism marketing is to conjure for the potential tourist, an alluring place imagination that will consistently and successfully precede the experience (at destination) (see Ye & Tussyadiah, 2011). Perhaps it is also possible to frame the converse, where the experience at home reproduces the imagination of destination. In other words, the frequent discussions of how food may enhance the attractiveness of place could be replaced by how food already embodies place. If so, place becomes meaningful only after food is consumed, a posteriori, via memory, discourse, and imagination. What emerges is a kind of place(d) food – in which the nutrients are the plethora of meanings attributed to place. Hence, food tourism is not only about travelling to a particular destination, but a consumptive process which stimulates imaginative travel and personal connections that ‘transcend space and time as infinite reproductions of the tourist imagination’ (Wee et al., 2021). Duruz and Khoo (2015, p. 19) related food spaces such as the kopitiam (coffee shop) and the hawker centre having the power ‘to evoke collective memories of intergenerational bonding, ambience of place, and precise smells, tastes, and textures…’. The same could be said of the Asian store, the noodle museum, or an open space where cup noodles are shared, where the spaces of food are consumed inasmuch as the food. Imports rather than exports seem to be what ‘constructs’ us – where we now live and who we now are will determine our positionalities in some of these ideas of food and consumption that were discussed. The characterization of ‘Asian food’ via instant noodles seems to generate a strong interplay relating existential insideness and a contrasting existential outsideness (Relph, 1976). What becomes apparent is that the outsideness is put on a trajectory to achieve insideness, and probably vice versa if the consumers of instant noodles abroad returned to their respective global homes, in situ. The return leg of the hermeneutic cycle (回 (huí)), the imagination of nostalgia (Furusato) and pictures of the floating world (Ukiyo) remind us that individual, everyday contribution of the experience of instant noodle consumption cultivates personal meanings and place attachment via memories and imagination. If every story is in essence a travel story and a spatial practice (de Certeau, 1984), Instant Elsewhere, in an uncanny way, becomes the title of the film that already was. Mikey from Strictly Dumpling (2021) translated the rather ‘poetic’ slogan on the ‘Boys and girls steam cup noodles’: ‘the warmth of a bowl of noodles is the distance between me and you… I think it’s romantic,’ he says. And so do I.

NOTE 1. This chapter is dedicated to my kids, Anaïs and Lukas, who showed me how instant noodles take you instantly elsew(here).

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There’s no place like food  101 Wee, D. (2021). Walking with the Little Prince in Busan: Paradoxes of culture making and place identity in a tourist slum. In S. K. Dixit (Ed.), Tourism in Asian cities (pp. 226–248). Routledge. Wee, D. (2020). Revisiting ‘Singapore’ on Tour at the Venice Biennale. In P. Mura, K. Tan & C. Choy (Eds.), Contemporary Asian artistic expressions and tourism: Perspectives on Asian tourism (pp. 105–126). Springer. Wee, D. (2017). Home Away at Home: Mediating spaces of tourism and narratives of belonging in the German Village of South Korea. In S. K. Kim & S. Reijnders (Eds.), Film Tourism in Asia (pp. 221–237). Springer. Wee, D. (2014). Hospitality on a platter, in retrospect. Hospitality & Society, 4(1) 93–98. Wee, D., Amato, A., & Schmitz, M. A. (2021). Where do the actors live? The Chinese tourist gazes in Hallstatt. Journal of China Tourism Research, 17(4), 570–591. Wetherell, M., Smith, L., & Campbell, G. (2018). Introduction: Affective heritage practices. In L. Smith, M. Wetherell & G. Campbell (Eds.), Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present (pp. 1–22). Routledge. WINA. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2022 from https://​instantnoodles​.org/​en/​noodles/​history/​ Ye, H., & Tussyadiah, I. P. (2011). Destination visual image and expectation of experiences. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28(2), 129–144. Zemeckis, R. (Director). (1985). Back to the future. [Film]. Amblin Entertainment, Universal Pictures, 116 minutes, USA.

PART II FOOD TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND STAKEHOLDERS

8. The notion of local in rural food tourism: insights from the Swedish context Josefine Östrup Backe

1. INTRODUCTION This chapter studies the relationship between the notion of local and rural food tourism, from a Nordic perspective. In European countries such as Spain, France and Italy, locally produced food and beverages have long attracted tourists, and these countries are perceived as well-established food tourism destinations, which hardly need profiling (Andersson et al., 2017; Boniface, 2003; Everett, 2016). Yet, other, less obvious destinations appear to have discovered the benefits that their particular culinary culture can generate in terms of tourism revenue (c.f. Graham, 2021). In the Nordic countries, the provision of activities and experiences based on or connected to locally produced food has received growing attention during the past decade. The use of local food as a means for rural tourism development has become a widely adopted strategy by tourism providers at the national, regional and local community level, in order to showcase the unique characteristics of a particular area and “put the destination on the map” (c.f. Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016; Blichfeldt & Halkier, 2014). In the still intensifying competition to attract visitors, it is essential for destinations to differentiate themselves. The notion of local is one element that can serve to highlight what is unique about a particular region or area, not only in terms of food ingredients and raw materials, but also, for example, culinary heritage, traditions, and the origin of products, which can add extra value dimensions to the tourist experience (Östrup Backe, 2020). What is meant by local in terms of rural food tourism is subject to various interpretations within the academic literature. The definition of locally produced or locally sourced food is often related to perceptions of geographical distance, and can range from the wider regional level down to a single community (Ilbery et al., 2006; Sims, 2010). Other researchers call for more holistic interpretations of the concept of local which, in addition to the geographical provenance of the products, recognise dimensions such as food safety, health-related factors, freshness and quality, as well as craftmanship and relations between providers and consumers (c.f. Halkier et al., 2017; Eriksen, 2013). Further, it has been argued that locality is manifested in the constant interaction between the material and the immaterial things, provided for and performed by various stakeholders (Hultman & Hall, 2012). Local food is also often connected to authenticity; notably, the raw materials as well as aspects such as culinary culture, heritage, and traditions are perceived as being able to evoke tourists’ feelings of having an authentic experience (c.f. Cohen & Avieli, 2004; Scarpato & Daniele, 2003). Simultaneously, there is a pronounced idea of rural communities as idyllic and picturesque (c.f. Lovell & Bull, 2018). Being the arena for the raw materials and small-scale food production, the proximity of these communities to the local produce, as well as the people providing it, adds to the image of rural locations as being able to offer genuine and authentic food experiences (c.f. Baldacchino, 2015). 103

104  Handbook on food tourism Accordingly, it appears that, when food products and activities are promoted as local, they imply something good and positive. However, the notion of local appears to be a multifaceted concept, and it must therefore be considered from a critical perspective, as to its particular attributes and whether it can in fact be seen as exclusively positive. This chapter aims to understand in which ways the concept of local is employed in rural food and food-related experiences as a positively loaded dimension. In considering the multifaceted nature of the concept, it is also discussed whether there might be a limit beyond which the local is no longer local. Taking into consideration that the phenomenon may well look different depending on its geographical context, this chapter limits its focus to a Nordic context, and Swedish rural communities in particular. Looking at the particular case of rural small-scale food tourism providers, this chapter investigates how different attributes of local are made part of their offerings. While the chapter is not focused on the perspectives of the food tourists and their perceptions of local per se, it is acknowledged that they – like the providers – are a heterogenous group with various perceptions, needs, and preferences regarding food and food experiences (Sims, 2010; Sundbo et al., 2013), who are likewise active participants in the construction of the food tourism experience (c.f. Everett, 2019).

2.

LOCAL FOOD IN RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Tourism and tourism-related activities and collaborations between local tourism providers play an important role in rural areas, in terms of economic, social, and cultural development (c.f. Boesen et al., 2017; Everett & Slocum, 2013; George et al., 2009). Further, local food is perceived to have a significant influence on business opportunities in rural areas suffering from economic decline as a result of, for instance, political and agricultural regulations, outmigration, and other crises (Everett, 2016; van der Ploeg et al., 2000; Sims, 2010). Following this, new uses of rural resources have come forward, with tourism being one such alternative that can contribute to a socially and economically sustainable rural development (c.f. Hall & Gössling, 2016; Rinaldi, 2017). In addition, the growing interest in local can be seen in the light of certain societal trends, such as an ever-increasing focus on sustainable food production and provisioning, and a demand for ecological and organic produce with clearly stated origin (Gössling & Hall, 2021). This also links to climate consciousness, ethical food production and health awareness (Baldacchino, 2015; Okumus, 2020; Rinaldi, 2017). Seen in the light of these developments, local is perceived by some as a counter-reaction to globalised society, where an increasing degree of standardisation characterises destinations and their offerings (Ritzer, 2017). When finding the same restaurant chains, supermarket chains, clothing chains, and coffee shops in every urban destination throughout most parts of the world, many visitors want to experience something different and authentic to the destination. Local food culture, specialities, traditions, etc., can accommodate these desires and needs. This in turn makes rural destinations interesting as a contrast to the standardised offerings and stressful everyday life of cities (Ekström & Jönsson, 2016). Rural areas are often perceived as “real” (Lovell & Bull, 2018) and able to accommodate the desire for more individualised experiences, building on, for instance, local traditions, history, and heritage (c.f. Bessière, 1998; Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016; Sims, 2009).

The notion of local in rural food tourism  105 The growing interest in Nordic local food experiences is explained by some researchers as an effect of the New Nordic Kitchen movement, which was introduced in the beginning of the 21st century. The main idea of the New Nordic Kitchen is to foreground the food products unique to the Nordic regions, as well as how they are sourced, prepared, and served, in connection with key values related to tradition and innovation (c.f. Sundbo et al., 2013). The Michelin-starred and four times awarded “World’s Best Restaurant” Noma in Copenhagen is seen as the front runner of the movement and has been a springboard for several successful Nordic chefs. Subsequently, the idea of the New Nordic Kitchen has become a natural symbol of Nordic food culture, and has also contributed to highlight local produce, in terms of both actual crops and products, and the values they entail (Gyimóthy, 2017; Manniche & Sæther, 2017). In this sense, there is a close relationship between the notion of local and rural tourism development, as most of the basic ingredients are grown and sourced in rural areas. 2.1

Attributes of Local

It has been argued in previous research that there is a need to understand how tourism activities are performed (c.f. Edensor, 2001; Everett, 2019). Performance in this sense involves a “more active bodily involvement”, where food possesses the ability to activate all of the senses and contribute to a deeper tourism experience (Everett, 2019, p. 7). Moreover, there has been a growing focus on co-creation in tourism experiences, and tourists are to an ever-greater extent seeking experiences “out of the ordinary”, which often include learning elements and allow for active participation in the production of the experience (Richards, 2012). Further, the fact that food tourism activities involve both material and immaterial aspects, while simultaneously encompassing all of the senses as well as active engagement from both hosts and visitors (Agapito et al., 2014; Boniface, 2003), makes local an ideal departure point for creating and performing memorable experiences which involve and connect all of these aspects. When local food and related values are embedded in rural tourism experiences, they are thus often connected to concepts such as origin, craftmanship, and heritage, and place-specific attributes (c.f. Graham, 2021; Hultman & Hall, 2012). In a more practical sense, storytelling is a strategy that is often applied in the performance and provision of rural food tourism experiences (Manniche & Larsen, 2012; Mossberg, 2008). Given that it presents opportunities to foreground what makes the destination unique, in terms of both material and immaterial attributes, storytelling is said to be able to generate more meaningful tourism experiences (Mossberg, 2008). In this sense, food can be a way to create emotional attachment to a destination, and local specialities as well as recipes, traditions, origins, and similar values are effective elements that can be used to reinforce the narrative of a destination (Ben Youssef et al., 2019; Mossberg & Eide, 2017; Richards, 2002). While most studies of local food in relation to rural tourism development have considered the phenomenon from either an economic or a sociocultural perspective (Everett, 2019), some attempts have been made to integrate these perspectives and recognise the complexity of local food in food tourism (e.g., Hall & Sharples, 2003; Richards, 2002). Hall and Sharples (2003), for instance, argue that food tourism activities are not only a commercial means for providers of tourism activities and experiences, but they can also add to visitors’ identity processes, since “why, what, and how we eat, says something about ourselves, why we travel, and the society we live in” (Hall & Sharples, 2003, p. 2).

106  Handbook on food tourism Further, the notion of local can be seen as one way of integrating the economic and sociocultural elements that are related to rural tourism development. While there are obviously commercial intentions behind the providers’ activities, embedding the local simultaneously emphasises more idealistic motives. Overall, the literature emphasises that local is often presented in a rather positive sense, as something that adds extra value to the tourism experience, both for the tourists and for the providers themselves. Yet, while the notion of local may be seen as able to ascribe food tourism experiences with positive connotations and enhance the differentiation of one destination from another, there is also a risk that the local itself becomes subject to standardisation (Born & Purcell, 2006). In similar vein, Baldacchino (2015) calls for cautiousness in using food for rural tourism development, as the positive notion of the values embedded with local food may create false hopes about its ability to generate positive development. With this in mind, there is a need for a critical approach to the ways in which local is embedded in tourism activities in order to fully comprehend the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon.

3.

METHODS AND MATERIAL

In order to fully understand how local is employed as a positively loaded dimension of rural food tourism experiences, a qualitative approach was used in the form of an ethnographic study involving a number of small-scale, rural food tourism businesses in the region of Scania in the southernmost part of Sweden (see Figure 8.1). This particular area was selected due to its large number of small-scale businesses whose activities are concentrated on various types of food provisioning, such as production and cultivation of crops and food produce, and food crafting, combined with offerings of tourism activities and experiences. The empirical study was carried out as a continuation of the author’s previous work, where 28 small-scale rural food tourism businesses were studied (Östrup Backe, 2020). The data collection comprised additional observations at eight different small-scale, rural establishments between 2020 and 2022. The observations, which lasted between one and three hours each, were of a participant nature, meaning that the author took part in the activities and experiences provided, as well as conducting what are referred to as ethnographic interviews – that is, shorter conversations with the food tourism providers – during the visit. Silverman (2005) claims that the ethnographic interview can be a more suitable method than the conventional interview for gathering informants’ perspectives of the phenomenon in question, as they tend to occur naturally and spontaneously. During the participant observations, the performance of various food tourism activities was considered, including the ways in which local food products were displayed and talked about by the business owners and/or employees. In relation to each observation, notes were written down, including the main content and key quotes from the conversations. In addition, photographs were taken during visits in order to support the notes, and to document, for example, particular storytelling elements, or to illustrate the ways in which food products were packaged and portrayed (c.f. Gradén & Kaijser, 1999). Data from the participant observations and field conversations were ordered into categories and themes, reflecting the various ways in which the local was represented in the activities offered by the tourism providers. The categories identified were: material and immaterial attributes, place-related attributes, storytelling, and the relationship between commercial and idealistic motives. In the analysis below, the various dimensions of the local are analysed

The notion of local in rural food tourism  107 according to these themes, and its positioning as a positive attribute of the tourism experience is considered. When referred to in or through quotes, participants were given aliases.

Source:

Maps data: ©2023 Google, GeoBasis-DE/BKG (©2009).

Figure 8.1

4.

Map of Sweden and the area of study, Scania (Skåne)

ANALYSIS: PROVIDING LOCAL FOOD TOURISM EXPERIENCES

In Sweden, the use of food for rural tourism development is a relatively new phenomenon, which has gained ground only during the past one and a half decades or so. Nordic food was previously not considered capable of enhancing the attractiveness of destinations, as products and crops from these areas were associated with being fatty, boring and of poor taste (Bringéus, 2009). Yet, in recent years, interest in locally produced food has grown and resulted in a demand for activities and experiences around such products and the values they entail.

108  Handbook on food tourism Today, Sweden and the Nordic countries overall are strong on the culinary scene, recognised internationally in terms of, for example, Michelin stars and top positions in the Bocuse d’Or, with restaurants and specific regions ranked on the New York Times annual “52 Places to Go” list. Nordic food and food values have thus contributed significantly to put the Nordic countries on the food tourism map (c.f. Gyimóthy, 2017; Mossberg & Eide, 2017). Local food production plays an important role in this development. Increasing interest in rural experiences, along with the demand for natural, healthy ingredients and the locally grown, present an opportunity for food providers to put forward what is perceived to be unique to Sweden and its particular regions and local communities. 4.1

Local as a Means for Rural Small-scale Businesses to Provide Food Tourism Experiences

While the number of rural tourism businesses in Sweden has remained more or less constant over the last decade, the number of local food processing businesses grew by more than 50% between 2013 and 2020. With a simultaneous decrease in primary production businesses, this indicates a redistribution within the rural food system (Federation of Swedish Farmers, 2021). This development can be related to a political vision of integrating the primary production and tourism sectors. Accordingly, there is said to be a need for new ways to strengthen the entire food industry and contribute to the development of an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable countryside (Swedish Board of Agriculture, 2022). Historically, there has been a tradition of self-suppliance and food provisioning in Sweden based on resource industries such as fisheries, farming, agriculture, and forestry, providing the rural sector with a crucial role in the Swedish food system. With a decline in these industries due to societal changes (e.g., growing urbanisation, globalisation, and technological developments), as well as sharpened regulations and directives for the resource industries, conditions for people working and living in the countryside have worsened. This has encouraged the development of experiences connected to the food offerings, culinary culture, and traditions specific to particular areas and regions. Politically, such development is emphasised by stressing the importance of strengthening: the diversification and combined businesses … which in different ways are based on the use and management of cultural heritage, nature and cultural environment, such as tourism, entrepreneurship, small-scale food processing, and farm sale (Swedish Board of Agriculture, 2022: 95).

This can be interpreted as an encouragement to continue to pursue new business opportunities that can contribute to strengthening and accelerating the development of a holistic food system. Thus, from a Swedish national policy perspective, there appears to exist a rhetoric that pursuing such interests is of positive value. According to Scania’s regional destination management organisation, Tourism in Skåne, the region is leading in terms of food-related experiences due to the combination of its mild climate, soil, and surrounding sea, along with a large variety of local products offered within relatively short distances (Tourism in Skåne, 2016). The region is also leading when it comes to the production of beverages such as wine, cider and juices, local brews, and liquors, with the highest number of wine and cider producers per capita in Sweden (Federation of Swedish Farmers et al., 2021).

The notion of local in rural food tourism  109 The rural food tourism providers in the area under study represent a variety of businesses, including traditional tourism establishments (e.g., hotels, B&Bs) as well as cultivators of various vegetables, fruits and herbs, farm-based businesses, and various small-scale entrepreneurs, who work in various capacities with local food products and/or tourism experiences. Activities and experiences include herb garden safari, baking classes, and tastings of cider, mustard, charcuterie, etc. Common among these providers is an interest in promoting local foods and the values attached to them, such as origin, local culture and heritage, and tradition, in order to emphasise the uniqueness of the food and food experiences of that particular area. Apart from providing food-related experiences or selling their produce from their own establishments, food markets, festivals, tours, and trails offer opportunities for small-scale rural businesses to emphasise their products and create experiences that can showcase the unique characteristics of a particular area. 4.1.1 Foregrounding material and immaterial attributes of local Acknowledging that the local includes both the actual food products and the values embedded therein, such as culinary heritage, traditions, origin, and place-specific attributes, the concept contains both material and immaterial elements, all of which play an important role in the production of the tourism experience (Richards, 2012; Sidali et al., 2015). In the performance of the activities offered by the businesses under study, these elements are brought together in different ways. On the one hand, the performance of the local includes the portrayal of physical products in farm shops, general stores or on the shelves in individual businesses, and how these are packaged in ways that appeal to visitors. In most cases, this entails product labelling declaring the origin of the product, often stating the name of the community, area or farm where it has been sourced. Displayed in these ways, the products can be seen as manifestations of the more commercial aspects of the food tourism experience, being sold and contributing to the economic profit for the businesses. That said, the physical products are simultaneously carriers of more intangible, locally attached values, which can endow the product with meaning and reinforce the visitor’s feeling of having a unique, memorable experience (c.f. Moore et al., 2021). The attachment to the local through connection to place, product origin, history, and traditions seems to be central in the performance of the activities offered by the providers. For example, it is common to see restaurants and inns stating the origin of the products on their menus down to the level of the specific farm. Among the providers, words and phrases that refer to traditions or heritage related to particular products are also commonly used (e.g., “like grandma used to make it”, or “using traditional recipes”), both in the marketing material (brochures, websites, product labels), conversations with visitors, and guided tours. Such references can be seen as different ways of highlighting the unique character of the products and emphasising their positive qualities of being local. 4.1.2 Making memorable experiences The dimension of the local as something good and positive is also expressed in other practices of the Scanian food tourism providers. A common strategy employed by the businesses under study is the use of storytelling, which is used to an even greater extent in tourism marketing in order to enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of destinations (c.f. Ben Youssef et al., 2019), and add meaning to the tourist experience (Mossberg, 2008). In the performance of food-related activities, the businesses use storytelling to emphasise qualities such as product

110  Handbook on food tourism origin and the history of the products and of the area where they are grown and produced. One example comes from a vineyard situated in the southeast of Scania. Entering the establishment, the visitors are met with a large blackboard on the wooden barn wall, which introduces the products that are made there as well as the people working on the farm. The produce of the vineyard is presented in combination with an introduction to the owners and their staff: G’day and welcome … Just around the corner you will find our VINOTEK where Tom and Bettina will help you fill your glass with something local … In the vineyard you will find Ove perched on his tractor or Katja singing and caressing the vines or in the apple cider orchard … We hope you will enjoy this place as much as we all do!!

Visitors are encouraged to interact with Ove, Katja, and the other staff while strolling through the premises, and are invited to enjoy the various corners of the vineyard and garden, which offer small benches and a café area serving dishes based on the farm produce, along with the wine produced on the premises. During their visit, visitors can learn about the crops grown on the farm, the traditions of the vineyard, and the place-specific characteristics that distinguish the establishment and its products. The way in which the tourist experience is packaged and performed here thus seems to be a means of awakening visitors’ curiosity about the products provided, as well as the actual people behind them. Establishing this personal connection with the visitors may further be a way to reinforce their experience of taking part in the local. The food and food-related activities are presented in a way that appears personal and intimate, leaving the impression that each encounter with visitors is unique (c.f. Andersson Cederholm & Hultman, 2010). However, one dilemma that is particular to the Swedish case is the government-regulated restrictions that allow the sale of alcoholic beverages only in special monopoly stores, the Systembolaget. The visitors to the vineyard are thus not able to buy the wines produced on the site (they can, however, order them for pick-up at the monopoly store some days later). The owner explains how many of their visitors from abroad do not understand the Swedish monopoly system and get disappointed when they realise that they cannot buy the wines directly from the farm. The small restaurant attached to the vineyard, however, makes it possible to sell the produced wines by the glass (at normal restaurant prices), and they can arrange wine tastings for prebooked, private groups. The vineyard owner expresses a worry about the risk of mediating negative values, in addition to loss of profit from potential cellar door sales: Both we and the tourists lose on this. We are missing out on quite a lot of potential income from cellar door sales, but the main problem is that they [the visitors] end up with a negative experience (Owner, Vineyard).

This limitation is a potential constraint that may affect the visitor experience negatively. In this light, the experience on site becomes even more important – that is, to put forward the immaterial values and stories that can evoke a positive feeling of being part of the performance of the experience, in order to compensate for the potential disappointment that the visitors might end up with. While the vineyard emphasises the personal and familiar to create an ambient and intimate atmosphere, there is a significant contrast when visiting the cider factory, which is one of the country’s most well-known producers of fruit juices and non-alcoholic ciders. Founded at the end of the 19th century as a small, family-owned business entirely focused on growing fruit,

The notion of local in rural food tourism  111 the business, now run by the fourth generation, has turned into a large establishment, combining the production side with experiences, such as fruit exhibitions, workshops, tractor safari in the orchards, an annual fruit festival, as well as a café and restaurant and a well-stocked shop on the premises, selling mainly products of their own brand. The establishment appears to be a popular destination, considering the full car parks outside and queues to enter the shop and the crowded restaurant. According to its website, the company welcomes more than 250,000 visitors per year, which is more than 13 times the population of the entire municipality. Despite the differences in the size and appearance of the two different establishments, storytelling plays a significant role to both businesses. To the cider factory, the history of the family and thus also the business’s development seems to play an important role in the company image. The story of the family business and its development – founded on tradition, heritage, and passion – is communicated in various ways: on the website, on wooden boards on the walls of the facilities, and on the product packaging. The consensus seems to be that even while the company is expanding and going through various innovation processes, the basic philosophy remains the same: to safeguard the roots and core values that are the foundations of the company. The storytelling used in the performance of the food experiences offered thus seems to be a way of establishing a more personal relationship with the visitors, and emphasising the particular elements that make the products or activities unique and memorable. From this point of view, it is not surprising that the notion of local is often put forward in a positive fashion, but could there be a limit beyond which the local is no longer perceived to be “good”, or “really local”? The bureaucratic regulations restricting the completion of the idyllic vineyard experience (if the desire is to bring home a bottle of wine as a souvenir) may lead to a negative experience of the local. Similarly, at the cider factory, being met by full car parks and queues to enter the shop and restaurant does not seem to correspond to the positive ideals about the local that are communicated. A visitor passing by on a busy Saturday in the mid-season expressed her disappointment accordingly, pointing at the “Please queue here” sign: “Sadly, this place has turned into a theme park.” Hence, there appears to be an expectation that food and food experiences emphasised as local should be small-scale and offered in a more personal or intimate context, without crowds, queues, or restricting signs or regulations. For the providers, this constitutes a delicate balance between the commercial implications of scaling up, and more idealistic dimensions of the tourist experience, which can be difficult to master. 4.1.3 Balancing business and passion As illustrated above, the performance of local contains both material and immaterial dimensions, which in combination have the ability to provide memorable experiences for the visitor. The examples discussed above also reflect a shift towards a more experiencified rural sector, where tourism has become an option to overcome the challenges that have come with changed working conditions in rural areas. Selling local produce at a smaller scale, and/or offering activities related to these products, can become a way for food producers to support their main occupation. For others, it offers a possibility to pursue an interest according to what is often referred to as lifestyle entrepreneurship, where values other than economic profit are at hand, such as following a passion (for, e.g., cider or winemaking) or engaging with visitors (Andersson Cederholm & Hultman, 2010; Sjöholm, 2019). This passion and engagement is

112  Handbook on food tourism articulated by providers both as a part of the performance of the experience, and when reflecting on these performances: To me, this is not just any job, it’s my life, my passion. I live and breathe for this place, you know, everything you see, the restaurant, the café, the courtyard, the cultivations – I made this! (Owner, farm restaurant and orchard).

This provider emphasises a sense of pride at having built up the entire business; the establishment is the result of hard work, knowledge, and passion. Thus, it is not the economic aspects of the business that are most important. While, obviously, the profit is welcome, it appears that other, more idealistic aspects also provide motivation; producing locally cultivated and home-grown crops and herbs, and experiences related to them, is a lifestyle rather than a source of income, giving meaning to the work that is carried out (c.f. Sjöholm, 2019). The outcome for the food tourism providers thus seems to be twofold: on the one hand there is a strong commercial motive for employing the notion of local in the performance of the activities and experiences, which is to earn money and secure the business’s economic stability. On the other hand, it is also about living a certain lifestyle and sharing one’s passion for a profession or hobby. Hence, the notion of the local seems to be capable of adding to the meaningfulness of the provided experiences not only for the visitors, but also for the providers themselves. Seen in a wider perspective, the activities of the food tourism providers not only support the respective businesses in commercial or idealistic ways, but they also have the potential to add to the social resilience of the community, and stimulate the integration of the tourism and primary production sectors. An important point which should be emphasised here is that the performance of the local as a part of the food tourism experience is highly dependent on the local community and its residents (Rinaldi, 2017). This means that the offerings that are put forward must reflect the produce available in the area as well as the culture, traditions, and related lifestyle. Further, the engagement of the local residents becomes crucial to the success of these offerings, as this signals honesty and trust in the products and business, and gives an indication of a certain quality. Hence, if the locals do not find any reason to partake in such efforts (e.g., finding the products and activities offered of poor quality, too expensive or not representative of the area), the tourists probably will not either. That is, if promoted as a food destination, the notion of local must be based on the actual culinary specialities and reflect the special characteristics of the area in question, including both tangible and intangible values. With more and more destinations being promoted as food tourism destinations, this viewpoint is particularly important, as there is a certain risk that even the local becomes subject to the standardisation it sets out to distinguish itself from. The products that are put forward and sold as local are often of similar nature – such as jam, honey, herbs, juices and various fresh vegetables – and could basically have been grown or produced in any rural location. It is thus the intangible elements – the stories, the culture and traditions, the place-specific characteristics, the passion – that give meaning to the products and can mediate the experience as being memorable. However, it seems that it is not only the food products and their mediated values that are at risk of becoming subject to standardisation. Despite the heterogeneity of their businesses, the food tourism providers themselves are a quite homogenous group in terms of age, gender, and professional background. A majority are women aged 35–55 years, who have previously worked in well-paid professions before becoming lifestyle entrepreneurs. Being a central part

The notion of local in rural food tourism  113 of the tourism experience themselves, this is an interesting aspect which might indicate that even lifestyle entrepreneurship in itself could be subject to a certain degree of standardisation.

5.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION – THE NOTION OF LOCAL IN FOOD TOURISM: A MEANS FOR DIFFERENTIATION OR STANDARDISATION?

This chapter has examined how the notion of local is embedded as a positive dimension in the activities and experiences that are offered by small-scale rural food tourism providers in southern Sweden. The analysis has shown that local means more than just locally produced or locally sourced crops or produce; it also encompasses immaterial attributes related to, for instance, culinary heritage, tradition, and place. Together, these attributes are packaged and put forward in different ways in order to provide memorable tourism experiences. Common to these efforts is how the notion of local is used as a positive dimension, which can further enhance the tourism experience and be of value to both the tourists and the providers themselves. What, then, do these ways of employing the notion of the local add to the understanding of rural food tourism? On a local community level, such activities play an important role in the development of the area, economically as well as socially (Boesen et al., 2017; Everett & Slocum, 2013). Seen in a wider perspective, the efforts of the rural food tourism providers in packaging the local into a tourism product can also be seen as a way of fulfilling the overall ideal of a culinary destination, building on unique food products and experiences. Hence, food-related initiatives can be strong elements in the branding of food tourism destinations and what distinguishes them (Björk & Kauppinen-Raïsänen, 2016; Blichfeldt & Halkier, 2014; Everett, 2016; Freire & Gertner, 2021). Understanding how new phenomena – such as the notion of local in food tourism – emerge is therefore of great value to the general understanding not only of food tourism, but also of how experiences in general are planned and carried out. While the examples discussed in this chapter are limited to a particular geographical area, they do point to some common ways in which the food tourism providers interpret and implement the notion of local in the performance of their activities. Despite, or perhaps rather because of, its ability to both act as a commercial tool and simultaneously reflect more idealistic motives such as sharing a passion, the notion of local becomes a means to create coherence in the food experience. Accordingly, it becomes a focal concept based on which the involved actors can work towards a more focused tourism development that connects commercial and idealistic motives, and which in turn can increase visitors’ perception of taking part in memorable experiences. Further, the local has the potential to act as a central concept around which rural tourism providers are brought together and form a common narrative of the unique food destination. Zooming out, this adds to the ideas of the New Nordic Kitchen and its representation of Nordic food culture, which has not only permeated the national branding strategies of the Nordic countries, but has also had a significant influence in the rural sector where the actual food is produced. While the New Nordic Kitchen is a geographically delimited concept, based upon geographically delimited values (Sundbo et al., 2013), the local can basically be adapted any-

114  Handbook on food tourism where, in any destination. This may seem somewhat paradoxical, and leads to an unavoidable critical discussion on the actual uniqueness of a concept such as the local. As has been pointed out in this chapter, the local is, with almost no exception, put forward as something predominantly good and positive, which possesses qualities that can add extra dimensions of value to the food experience. Furthermore, local food is considered in contrast to globalised food, which is often associated with standardisation and opacity. This perspective has, however, been criticised as being too simplistic and fixated with scale (Born & Purcell, 2006). Accordingly, it should be the actual content and outcome of the tourism efforts that is valued, and not the local per se. Because, what happens when local is adapted by every destination as a differentiation strategy, or as a means for creating memorable experiences? While the local dimensions of food experiences have indeed become increasingly popular in recent years, and as still more destinations adapt the concept in their branding efforts, there is a risk that it might lose its glory and attractiveness. On the other hand, with the pandemic of the past few years – and the newly established term “staycation” – interest in experiences close to home has grown even stronger, along with an interest in food that is locally grown, produced, or cultivated. Local experiences have then become an opportunity for getaways and holidays when people have been unable – or less willing – to travel abroad. Not only do these new travel behaviours offer an opportunity to partake in local food and food-related activities, but they also encourage an awareness of environmental and climate impacts caused by increased mobility, and support the growing interest in contributing to sustainable tourism development, not least in rural destinations. With this development, it could be argued that local will remain strong as a tool for distinguishing what makes destinations unique. However, the challenge for the food tourism providers remains to find new or alternative ways to emphasise this uniqueness to avoid a situation where even the local becomes subject to standardisation and globalisation.

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9. Regenerative practices and the local turn: food tourism in rural regional context Maree Gerke, Can-Seng Ooi and Heidi Dahles

1. INTRODUCTION Regenerative tourism and the focus on the local are an attempt to make tourism more responsible towards the environment and to host communities, such as addressing challenges of climate change, worker welfare and cultural commodification (Fennell, 2018; Jamal, 2019). Essentially, tourism development must be respectful of the destination and the community, be of the right size and must benefit the host society; these also mean taking the ‘local turn’ and being place-based. The local community knows what is best for themselves and have the embedded local knowledge to not just sustain themselves, but to also grow and develop in ways that are most socially, economically and environmentally appropriate. The local turn in food tourism is situated in this context. Besides being related to other tourist activities, and extending beyond eating and drinking, food tourism is also understood through other perspectives (Park et al., 2019; Richards, 2015; Tarulevicz & Ooi, 2021). Drawing on a holistic and complex foodscape approach, Hjalager (2015) points out: food links into local and regional economies in multifaceted value chains, which include agriculture, fisheries, food producers, a variety of media, entertainment, learning, research, and numerous service providers. As a consequence, the regeneration of rural economics, the discovery of local identity and the revaluing of heritage and tradition can all flow from growing, processing, marketing, distributing, eating, and enjoying food and beverages (Hjalager, 2015, p. 2).

And to many travellers, restaurants such as Noma in Copenhagen, Central in Lima, and Odette in Singapore have become destinations in their own right, as if they are a city, region or country (Mohamed et al., 2022). There are also a number of ways to understand the ‘local’ in tourism, including the use of locally sourced ingredients, the celebration of local food heritage, revitalizing local ways of preparing food, and strengthening the food relation to the local community (Jolliffe, 2019; Ooi & Pedersen, 2017). Empirically, this chapter presents the Australian case of Timbre, a popular restaurant in the north of Tasmania that is about a 10-minute drive from the city of Launceston. Matt, Timbre’s owner, wants to ensure that his business reflects, serves and contributes to the local community, culture and economy. Timbre is an example of a food tourism business taking on the local turn. And just as importantly, he aims to contribute to the regeneration of the local community by placing focus on supporting local producers, businesses, heritage and knowledge (Gerke et al., 2023). The local turn and the regenerative practices at Timbre have led to a sustainable business enterprise, but the path is fraught with challenges. These challenges reveal how we imagine the ‘local’ and regenerative tourism practices. We highlight three tensions. 117

118  Handbook on food tourism The first tension focuses on the conflicting and complementing expectations between visitors and the local. The second tension stems from how local authenticity is imagined, manifested and perpetuated. The last tension reflects the aspirations of the business and the inertia towards change established by local hierarchies and traditions. By examining these three tensions, we reveal that the local turn is very much a global cosmopolitan concept that has been adopted by communities. The local foodscape is not insular but is expansive and complex. It also points out the limitations towards regenerative tourism practices as social and institutionalized boundaries must be overcome. To help us make sense of these tensions, we use a Bourdieuan perspective. Bourdieu’s theory of practice (Bourdieu, 1977) provides the conceptual lens for the analysis of how established tastes and patterns of doing things both enhance and inhibit progress towards adopting change and regenerative food tourism practices. Many scholars have identified the relevance of Bourdieu’s work for the tourism sector (e.g., Çakmak et al., 2018; Czernek-Marszałek, 2020; Ferguson et al., 2017; Gerke et al., 2023). Based on qualitative research, featuring ethnographic fieldwork completed in 2021, we show how the ‘local food’ is variously imagined in the community and by visitors, and how established social, cultural and economic habits and practices affect the way the business navigates towards a reimagination and reinvention (Becken, 2019, p. 423) of local food culture.

2.

CONTEXTUALIZING REGENERATIVE TOURISM AND THE LOCAL TURN IN FOOD TOURISM

In acknowledging the negatives from tourism, regenerative tourism aims to address the social and cultural impact on the community and the environment (Gössling & Hall, 2016; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020; Sharpley, 2020). In arguing that the local community is in the best position to take care of their own environment and society, it is necessary for tourism businesses, policymakers and planners to ‘give a voice to community members’ (Becken, 2019, p. 423). Regenerative tourism can also be seen as a set of principles and practices that are driven by a mindset rather than a prescriptive model (Dredge, 2022); creating public good, by being accountable for economic and social impacts (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020); mirroring natural systems and boundaries (Wahl, 2016); integrating positively with people and place (Cave & Dredge, 2020); and incorporating alternative ways of doing things, including informal trading and economic practices (Cave & Dredge, 2020; Gibson et al, 2014). Regenerative tourism is an approach that values and celebrates people, place and diversity, that aims for quality over quantity (Hall, 2010; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020; Pritchard et al., 2011). Ontologically, it embraces a living systems and ecological perspective (Dredge, 2022). Essentially for tourism to continue to flourish, it must have more transparent and positive connections with communities that are more regenerative (Wise, 2016). Food is central in tourism as eating and drinking are part of daily activities. This set of everyday activities has become a focus and transformed into food tourism. Many food tourism activities, like in many other tourisms, embrace both the local turn and regenerative tourism practices. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has identified food as central to sustainability goals, recently recognizing that food businesses can ‘design out waste and pollution’, ‘keep products and materials in use’, and ‘regenerate natural systems’ (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019, p. 23). Sustainability in the food business is an issue because we still rely heavily on

Regenerative practices and the local turn  119 industrialized food production and supply chains to manage the price and consistency of produce (Ateljevic, 2020). Businesses demand that consistency, and subsequently, food, and particularly food consumed at restaurants, has a significant impact, often further intensified by popular and social media, which propels food trends and fashions that shape and legitimize the production and consumption of certain foods (Cleave, 2020; Hall, 2020). While food businesses cannot create wholesale changes to consumer behaviours, they can contribute to changing consumer habits by presenting them with a more sustainable food option (Bertella, 2020; Long et al., 2022). Turning away from industrialized production and global sourcing of ingredients, the move towards local producers and ingredients resonates with many visitors, and is promoted by many restaurants. The focus on the local is part of the regenerative tourism movement. Scholarship on regenerative tourism is relatively new and is still being debated. It first emerged under banners such as ‘hopeful tourism’ and ‘responsible tourism’ (Pritchard et al., 2011). Scholars emphasize the social issues created or exacerbated by tourism. For example, Cole and Morgan (2010) identify the social inequities that tourism creates. Higgins-Desbiolles (2008) advocates for moving away from market-driven tourism; and Minnaert, Maitland and Miller (2009) explore ‘social tourism’ focusing on the inclusion of people who cannot normally participate. More recently, scholarship has included terms such as ‘conscious tourism’ (Pollock, 2016), ‘transformative tourism’ (Tomljenovic & Ateljevic, 2017), and ‘slow tourism’ (Balletto et al., 2020). As part of the holistic appreciation of how the environment and people are interrelated, are interdependent and mutually affect each other, socially and environmentally responsible tourism scholarship has continued to grow in recent years. These values are embedded in regenerative tourism practices, and have the common tenets of being more respectful and accountable to the host community and the local environment. In this context, the local turn is embedded in a regenerative tourism mindset. The local turn in food tourism is often associated with regenerative tourism practices because of three assumptions that celebrate aspects of the local foodscape (Ooi & Pedersen, 2017). The first assumption is the view of authenticity and the local turn in food tourism. It indicates a celebration of the local and the locality, in contrast to food from industrial agricultural production and imports. By going local, one supports local villages and farms, with an emphasis on authentic quality rather than costs. It also supports local workers and local food heritage and food ways. It thus economically sustains the local economy and celebrates authentic local food cultures. The second assumption is that local ingredients are fresher and of a higher quality because they take a shorter time to transport from nearby farms. With fresh, quality ingredients, the dishes will also be healthier and more delicious. So, besides supporting the local food system economically, local produce is better and tastier. The third assumption on local food tourism is related to local culture. Many dishes are traditional and time-tested, and are part of the local heritage. Local food tourism celebrates local knowledge, the traditional local kitchen, and regenerates the local community and economy. From our case, it shows that going local may be an attractive idea, but there are issues and tensions that need to be addressed. Going local is necessarily selective, in the same way that global and cosmopolitan ideas have infiltrated most parts of the world, including rural and regional ones. Ingredients may not be produced locally. Also, local social networks and practices may hinder innovations and changes in local food production and consumption. So, some issues arise, including the challenges of glocalization or the adaptation of global

120  Handbook on food tourism practices in local contexts, and limitations to using local ingredients and suppliers and the conflicting imaginations of what local food culture is. Local embeddedness must be navigated by the business owner, local stakeholders and residents as they celebrate their localness. The idea of regenerative tourism and the local turn inevitably takes on perspectives that differ from outside visitors. There is also inertia to change, as local hierarchies and ways of doing things are ingrained in local practices. And to help us understand, we are using a Bourdieuan heuristic to map, layer and frame the challenges and opportunities of embracing the local turn as part of a regenerative tourism project in a regional context.

3.

BOURDIEU AND LOCAL CAPITAL

The lasting legacy of Pierre Bourdieu, a distinguished French sociologist, is the comprehensive theory of social practice (1977, 1989). This theory offers an understanding of the mechanisms underlying the creation, perpetuation and transformation of social structures (fields) which configure the dispositions of individuals towards the world they are living in. Such dispositions, comprising assumptions, perceptions and behaviours – habitus in Bourdieu’s vernacular – are simultaneously reinforced and transformed through the strategic investment of competitive resources (capitals) accessible in a field. Bourdieu’s theory of practice – also known as field theory – provides a heuristic framework through which the local-turn practices and regenerative tourism can be understood as contextually embedded and dynamic social phenomena, as will be argued below. Bourdieu defines fields as dynamic structures with malleable boundaries comprising particular sets of practices, institutions and laws, which identify them as unique and delineate them from other fields. Where boundaries between fields overlap, spaces of fluidity and contestation emerge, capitals are leveraged to gain advantage, assumptions become challenged, behaviours adjusted, rules redefined, boundaries reshaped, and structures transformed. Habitus, including deep-rooted habits and beliefs, is the lens through which social actors perceive and symbolically construct the social world around them. Bourdieu defines habitus as ‘a pre-reflexive concept, a second nature, durable and largely unconscious to social actors’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 133). Social actors absorb in their conduct the routines and social traditions common to a field and they rarely do so with full agency. Instead, the field doxa (i.e., the taken-for-granted truths of a field) sets guidelines and rules of conduct within the limits of what is deemed acceptable in a field (Bourdieu, 1977, 1989). Consequently, habitus contributes to a sense of local identity, tradition and reluctance to change and, in so doing, underpins the various ways in which social actors imagine, manifest and contest local authenticity. Habitus transforms along with the accumulation of capital such as wealth, qualifications, and membership in specific social groups and, in so doing, defines the evolving place and role of social actors within the fields to which they (wish to) belong. The theory of practice identifies a number of different forms of ‘capital’ that serve both as material and tacit resources in human exchanges, among which economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1984). Bourdieu’s concept of economic capital refers to wealth in the narrow sense, represented in monetary value. Cultural capital denotes certified knowledge and expertise, accumulated through (formal) education, and cultural competence, represented by diplomas or (academic) titles (Bourdieu, 1984). Cultural capital takes a long time and considerable effort

Regenerative practices and the local turn  121 to accumulate, and acts as an instrument of inclusion and exclusion, by distinguishing group members (those with the appropriate cultural capital) from non-members (those without). Whilst group members may view the exclusion of ‘outsiders’ as legitimate, cultural capital can be disputed, causing tensions. The concept of social capital – which Bourdieu defines in terms of network relations, trust and credentials (1984, p. 248) – focuses on membership in formal and informal groups where people obtain skills such as negotiation, compromise, and reciprocity and where they establish durable social connections. While social capital can be exchanged for money, knowledge, jobs or promotions (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 253), it can be made operational only by securing the cooperation of other actors – and efforts to do so can be frustrated by conflicting interests. Symbolic capital, in Bourdieu’s thinking, is ‘the form that the various species of capital assume when they are perceived and recognized as legitimate’ (1989, p. 17). The above forms of capital are interrelated, in the sense that social, cultural and symbolic capital can generate economic capital, but economic capital does not buy social, symbolic or cultural capital in a simple, straightforward way (Bourdieu 1984, p. 252). Together, these forms of capital interact – converge and diverge – as local capital in the microcosmos of a local community where the web of social relationships (social capital) and the body of local knowledge (cultural capital) organize the distribution of economic capital against the background of global industries, supply chains and consumer demands. 3.1

Tourism and a Bourdieuan Perspective

As the dynamic field of gastronomy becomes entwined with the transition from conventional to regenerative tourism, culinary standards (habitus) are reshaped by strategically employing a range of resources such as gastronomic competencies (cultural capital), recognized reputations (symbolic capital) and social capital in the form of multi-layered networks extending far beyond local communities. As our study will exemplify, this transition is wrought with tensions between stakeholders caused by deviating food practices and tastes, and the appreciation of economic capital. In the context of this study, we lean on Bourdieu to understand the emergence of ‘local capital’. The local place-based set of social dynamics has come to define the boundaries of what is considered regenerative food tourism and the local turn. People who travel and engage in leisure are more likely to have resources (or ‘capitals’ in Bourdieuan terms) at their disposal, enabling them to consume in ways that align to their tastes and strengthen their identities through symbolic lifestyle consumption practices (Ahmad, 2013). Bourdieu (1984) referred to these agents as ‘cultural intermediaries’ as they influence the tastes, artefacts and behaviours to be considered legitimate among varying social categories (Ahmad, 2013; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). They may do so, for example, by enjoying buffet-style food offerings during all-inclusive mass packaged holidays, while others – such as foodies and niche tourists – engage in a bespoke food and wine tour. Tourists may spend more (in terms of economic capital) than locals, especially foodie tourists who are often identified as being high-yield customers (Cleave, 2020; Gössling & Hall, 2016). They are seen as more discerning (investing cultural capital), looking for food that is special, with connections to place and people, while also aligning with their tastes and identity (Cleave, 2020; Stringfellow et al., 2013). Online technology platforms (providing social capital) may intensify the go-local message by providing unprecedented access to imagery, information and popular opinion via online booking systems (Cleave, 2020).

122  Handbook on food tourism Tourist destinations, including destination restaurants, present themselves as authentic and traditional, inviting visitors to experience the local culture and heritage. These factors combined with restaurants offering local food are particularly attractive to tourists, while also making tourists attractive to the business. As restaurants in foodscapes outside of cities can also be attractive to urbanites seeking a regional experience, many of these restaurants cater largely for their local communities (Gössling & Hall, 2016). For locals, eating out is a leisure pursuit that is about the food, but equally about seeking out places where they have a social connection (Cleave, 2020). As food is highly symbolic, it reinforces a sense of identity and belonging (Cleave, 2020), making it a medium for conveying an ideological position (Bourdieu, 1989). Ideological aspirations and positions are not fixed, but rather malleable and dynamic and highly dependent on context (Bennett et al., 2020). For example, many elements of youth culture are embedded within the habitus of food tourism businesses such as choice of music, décor and artefacts, and the personal style and presentation of employees. More recently, the global pandemic has highlighted the importance of trusting relationships between businesses and their communities, as consumers shift further towards prioritizing local and sustainable options, and a desire to support local business owners with whom they have a connection (Cornejo-Ortega & Dagostino, 2020). Regenerative tourism emerges as a sub-field (in Bourdieuan terms) where individual actors travel to gain new perspectives and take responsible action (Cave & Dredge, 2020). Networks of change-makers are well connected via social media and through various events where they congregate to advance their shared interest in social transformation (Lee et al., 2014). In a study on the impact of attracting tourists for supporting business innovation, Hall and Baird found that wine businesses in New Zealand who attracted tourists were more innovative than those who mainly attracted locals (cited in Gössling & Hall, 2016, p. 19). Conversely, while cultural capital is the key mechanism through which social and economic capital is reproduced, not all valued cultural capital aligns to the middle classes (Bennett et al., 2020). Therefore, both locals and tourists can help progress regenerative goals through new transformative experiences and events that trigger individual change. It is argued that a strong alignment to a socially and environmentally responsible business can positively shape consumption practices and identities (Stringfellow et al., 2013), which, in turn, may motivate businesses to pursue regenerative practices. Yet, adopting regenerative tourism practices poses challenges to tourism businesses, and there are two particular areas where such challenges occur. First, tensions arise around the practice of the local turn and regenerative tourism. As we accentuate the fact that regenerative tourism is an attitude, there are different perspectives and approaches that are embedded with a particular context. Tourists from urban areas, for instance, are attracted to experiences that provide insights into place and heritage, but their imaginations of an authentic experience may diverge from the ideas that community members may hold regarding their local identity. Second, tensions arise at the intersection of established and embedded social and political ways of organizing the community and having to do things differently to progress towards practices that support regenerative tourism. Before we present our case, the next section explains how data was collected. The empirical data was collected by the first author, Maree Gerke. The owner of Timbre, Matt, is a friend and neighbour. A collaboration to write an application to enter Timbre into a local business awards initiative was the starting point that led to a co-creative process of developing Timbre as the empirical case of this study.

Regenerative practices and the local turn  123

4.

DATA COLLECTION

Focused ethnography (Fusch et al., 2017) applied to a single case study underpins this research, building on existing connections between researcher and stakeholders. This method ‘explores a real-life, contemporary bounded system (a case) … over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information’ (Creswell, 2013, p. 97). Whilst criticized for its limited scope for generalization (Yin, 2009), a single case study is particularly relevant for theory development in the exploratory phase of researching new phenomena and concepts (Eisenhardt, 1989). At the beginning of this project, ethics approval was sought and obtained at institutional level. We are mindful that Timbre’s owner and their staff members chose to remain identifiable; other participants, however, remain anonymous. Participants in this study were initially approached by Timbre, based on categories discussed and agreed upon with the key participant, as suggested by Adams (2015). This approach allowed greater control for the business, and simplified the process. Thirteen participants, all stakeholders of Timbre, were interviewed, including staff members, suppliers, business network members and local customers. Participation was voluntary and no personal or work performance information was collected. An information sheet and a short password-protected information video outlining the study rationale and process were provided to set the scene. Timbre staff were interviewed during paid work hours. The semi-structured interviews lasted from 30–60 minutes, with pre-planned questions and topics serving as prompts to be used if needed. This flexible approach encouraged the sharing of relevant narratives, without unnecessary interruptions (Adams, 2015). Interviews were recorded using a mobile phone application and then fully transcribed manually. Onsite observation was conducted at the restaurant on three occasions and focused particularly on observable differences across service times and days, mainly observing customer arrivals time and their initial interactions with Timbre staff. Observation notes were taken, including fieldwork reflections on observable behaviours and the process of observation. Data storage planning occurred upfront to ensure that any ethical issues related to data management were minimized. A process of sorting and eliminating was undertaken as part of initial data analysis, with irrelevant data being discarded. Remaining data was analysed in two ways. First, it was mapped out into themes by identifying words and phrases that were significant to stakeholder perceptions, but also to determine if there were any unexpected tensions evident. Comments that provided some insights into stakeholder perceptions about regenerative tourism were arranged into categories. Second, data was mapped out and analysed according to Bourdieu’s field theory to identify key fields evident, typical habitus apparent in those fields, and how capitals were being exerted by stakeholders to reinforce or influence and push the field boundaries. Quotes from stakeholder interviews were chosen to represent the varying perspectives and positions of stakeholders apparent within these fields, including how perceptions impacted on Timbre’s regenerative goals. Observations and images were reviewed for evidence of conflicts in data and to validate interview data. This approach provided in-depth data on the varying perceptions of stakeholders within the areas of tension being explored.

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5.

TASMANIA AND THE CASE OF TIMBRE

Tasmania is an island state situated in the southeast corner of Australia. It is sparsely populated with most people living in rural communities. Timbre is situated in the north of the state, at the gateway to the Tamar Valley wine region, in an area branded the Northern Forage Drive. It is a short drive from the regional town of Launceston and is surrounded by a mix of residential housing, small farms, and niche food and tourism businesses. The West Tamar region is one of the fastest-growing areas in Tasmania and as such there are several infrastructure projects under way, including two that will be situated opposite Timbre on the other side of the main road, including a new public school and a food fermentation enterprise incubation and tourism hub that has no connection with Timbre. In the past 20 years, Tasmania has experienced significant tourism growth, from approximately 897,000 arrivals in 2008 to 1.32 million in 2019, the vast majority (over 1 million) being visitors from other Australian states (Denny, Shelley & Ooi, 2020; Tourism Tasmania, 2021). Tourism is Tasmania’s second industry after mining, and one of the promising sectors in the state’s economic strategy. Tourism contributes about 10.3% (AU$3.2 billion) to the gross state product, the highest proportion across Australia (Tourism Tasmania, 2021). Tasmania’s tourism strategy, known as the T21 Visitor Economy Strategy, aims to increase visitor arrivals and constrain demand in more popular destinations, such as the capital city of Hobart and Cradle Mountain (Tourism Tasmania, 2020). The West Tamar Destination Action Plan for the West Tamar region (Tourism Northern Tasmania, 2018) designates ‘putting out the welcome mat’ as a key role for the local community to diffuse some perceived community resistance to growing tourism within the region. Although the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted Tasmania’s tourism economy throughout 2020 and 2021, continued local support for hospitality and tourism businesses, such as Timbre, became an important mitigating factor that helped such businesses to remain operational. It is within this setting that data was collected. Timbre, established in 2017, sits within one of the leading vineyards in Tamar Valley, offering a place to enjoy distinctly local cuisine and drink estate-produced wine, in a rustic rural setting (see Figure 9.1). The restaurant is leased from the vineyard and operates separately. As a restaurant that wants to use mainly local ingredients and to support the local community and business, it is a business that collaborates with local producers, artists and performers. For example, community members can bring excess produce to Timbre and exchange it for Timbre vouchers, as part of an informal bartering system, and assist with recycling by taking food waste for composting or recycling cooking oil into biodiesel. Timbre prioritizes local customers and community by collaborating with others to share ideas and skills, getting involved in local events that enable them to progress social and environmental goals, and working with community members on initiatives that increase social connections. The owner of Timbre, Matt Adams, is a celebrated Tasmanian chef with significant experience within the hospitality industry. A small group of permanent, full-time staff is employed at Timbre, supported by casual front-of-house staff. Often featured in travel magazines and other media, Timbre is a destination that some visitors identify as their primary motivation for travel. Opening, prior to COVID-19, on Wednesday to Sunday for lunch, and dinner on Friday and Saturday, it offers a sharing-style menu. This weekly menu is backwards-designed by chefs who use produce that they have on hand. The restaurant atmosphere is friendly and considered unpretentious, with staff who present as quirky, cool and genuine, aiming to provide

Regenerative practices and the local turn  125

Source:

Images courtesy of Elle Marquis, Luelle Images.

Figure 9.1

External view of Timbre

an enjoyable and accessible experience for a wide range of people. At the same time, it has a trendy, contemporary, cosmopolitan and recognizable restaurant aesthetic (see Figure 9.2). 5.1

Tension 1: Local Turn and the Cosmopolitan Rural Imagination

Timbre is not a typical Tasmanian restaurant, in the sense that it is modern, contemporary and has a cosmopolitan feel. Its aesthetics, in terms of its decoration and how food is prepared, presented and served, are similar to restaurants like Oxomoco in New York and Disfrutar in Barcelona. Fancy images of dishes from Timbre are found and promoted through highly visual social media, like Instagram. Global audiences will recognize Timbre as a trendy contemporary restaurant. When asked about the type of cuisine that Timbre offers, Taylor, who is one of the chefs, stated: It’s a hard thing to explain to people…how do I really describe what we do here because there is no cuisine but it’s not fusion, we use fire to cook, but we don’t only use fire to cook…when people asked me about Timbre, I pull up the Instagram page and say have a look and they go oh wow this is very different, some people will have a look and go, oh so it’s a little bit Asian and I’ll go, that day it was. But then here’s a Middle Eastern thing. I would have once described it as modern Australian, but Matt doesn’t like that term, because like what is that?

126  Handbook on food tourism

Figure 9.2

Inside Timbre during service

Consequently, Matt has to educate local customers, and the restaurant has become a force of food-culture change, transforming the food habitus of people whilst creating new cultural capital defining fine dining. The vineyard owner, who is a frequent customer, recalled: I’m 80 this year, so I’m in the old class. The other [vineyard] partner, he has a lunch club…they come here regularly, but my daughter says to me it’s for 30- and 40-year-old people…I’ve brought some of my friends here, who are my age, who are more used to the pub meal or restaurant in town. I am a bit cautious who I bring, but then when I bring some of them over, they really enjoy it, but there are other people that I wouldn’t bring. It’s the type of food and the shared plate thing, but by the same token we went out [to dinner] after the film society and our meal was just too big for us. We don’t eat as much and I hate leaving food and I made the comment last night that it’s nice to be at Timbre and have a shared plate and take how much I want and even if you leave a bit there it’s not on your plate.

Matt, the owner has localized and adapted social and environmental causes. When talking about his upcoming participation in a local food and arts festival and how it could help him to do this, he asserted: …maybe adding in zero waste for the event…there is a fair bit of packaging waste and all that sort of stuff, any food waste could maybe come back to the site, or something, and maybe someone can buy us a composting machine.

Locally run food events can present opportunities for Timbre to collaborate with other like-minded people and to gain practical support to progress their regenerative goals. These events can be viewed as arenas where social capital is boosted beyond the local and where

Regenerative practices and the local turn  127 reputations – symbolic capital – are consolidated. This is particularly true for practices that are widely understood and supported. Therefore, it can be argued that the local is not that local. As society’s priorities change, new ways of doing things emerge. This propels further adoption of outside influences and cosmopolitan practices causing them to be embraced readily, with limited resistance. It indicates that the local turn in food tourism is not just about the local, but actually is also about how ideas, knowledge, practices and habits travel. The local is actually part of a global field. 5.2

Tension 2: Selective Authenticity

Alluded to by the discussion above on the cosmopolitan character of Timbre, the issue of authenticity is contentious. Even though ingredients are used, food traditions and habits are not particularly accentuated, albeit respected and adapted. The legitimacy and authenticity of being local for Timbre has to come from elsewhere. A largely accepting local clientele would provide the legitimacy of the place – enhancing its symbolic capital far beyond the sheer local context. Another local food business owner, who often collaborates with Matt and Timbre, alludes to this when she said: Like Matt, establishing a local client base…was our philosophy from the start, and the tourism kind of stuff is like the cream on the top!

Authenticity emerges. While Timbre embraces global ideas, the restaurant also challenges rural notions of what it is expected to serve, thereby changing the doxa – in Bourdieu’s vernacular – the hitherto unchallenged cast of the local palate. Aimee, an employee, revealed this when she said: They [customers] always ask if we do wood-fired pizzas, guaranteed. Two times a day I reckon they’re like, oh wood fire, wood-fired pizzas and it’s just like, you just ate the whole menu. Did you see pizzas, like no! Every other restaurant does wood-fired pizzas that’s why we don’t. That’s one of the main questions customers ask.

The sense of authenticity may be more important than the material authenticity of culture and heritage (Prayag & del Chiappa, 2021; Prentice & Andersen, 2007). Through staging, the feeling of authenticity can be invoked (Ooi, 2022; Wang, 1999; Walter, 2017). A supplier to Timbre stated: You can’t sell wine for $35 a bottle when it compares with a $15 bottle of Shiraz, just for an example. You’re going into the territory of what you charge for spirits. But if people get an experience, they will buy the wine and they’ll be coming back.

The many stories about how Timbre goes local have been internalized by employees and customers. Timbre’s local authenticity is created through its sourcing of ingredients, which foster a connection to local networks and being place-based. There is a mixture of global knowledge capital and local social capital involved, as another local chef, who Matt sometimes works with at events, indicated:

128  Handbook on food tourism I saw what he was doing and just how much fun he was having and how much freedom he had…with locals rocking up and dropping off bags of beans, cooking it on the fire and eating it…it was extraordinary. I hadn’t seen that for a long time…he had more connection with people than I was used to.

However, this connection and collaboration is selective, involving like-minded people, who share similar views and operate similar types of food businesses, as the following section reveals. 5.3

Tension 3: Selective Local Collaboration, Competition and Networks

In 2021, the nearby city of Launceston was designated as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy – a welcome boost for the area’s symbolic capital. This recognition is welcomed by the whole region, including Timbre. Regardless, there are many eating places, and Timbre has competition. Matt, the owner, highlighted this when he reflected on the discourse that resulted from him sharing information about the opening of a new food business on his social media page: …people thought that they were us when they were opening. Like, people were emailing me about it, and I was like, it’s not me. I’m just promoting it. Because, it was like no one would ever promote anyone else. I think we were probably the first to do that really, in the restaurant industry in Launceston.

Another local chef made a similar comment, showing that competition in the state is fierce: We lack collaboration within the industry in Tasmania. Matt and I talk a lot, to share information and ideas. Collaboration within the industry in Tasmania is poor. Visiting chefs should be about helping everyone. The end goal is for people to eat better, and use quality ingredients, and this only works through collaboration.

Prior to Launceston being recognized by UNESCO for its food culture, Matt was already trying to shape the social capital needed to function more effectively and profitably in the restaurant industry. It has to also shape the cultural capital of the community. A fellow restaurant owner, who works closely with Matt, explained: It’s easy to become complacent and take the path of least resistance and like sit back and sit comfortably on this space and this is just what we are going to do. On an international level there is like Noma that do a lot of work behind the scenes, like holding the industry to account for its role in the greater sustainability of it. That’s what I mean by boundaries, pushing that forward because there is always room for improvement…having Matt, who is very focused on that as well, gives us confidence.

Eventually, Timbre’s type of food is localized and accepted, largely due to social capital, extended through friendships between customers and Timbre staff. A regular customer said: I’ve always been pretty fussy with food…the chef there says, just trust me and eat whatever comes out and I promise you you’ll like it…he’s not going to give me anything that he thinks I won’t like eating. And it’s got me eating more foods, and different foods, stuff I have never had before, so we just love it…we got friendly with the front-of-house staff…she pretty much put her foot down and said she wasn’t going to let them cook it [a raw beef dish] for me once and so then I ate it and loved it.

Regenerative practices and the local turn  129 Habits and ways of doing things can change. Bourdieu has highlighted how institutionalized social and cultural practices can inhibit change. The case of Timbre indicates that change is possible, and must be concerted. However, the direction of change is geared towards Timbre’s view of the local turn and regenerative food tourism practices. While respecting the market, the restaurant is also redefining what is local and, in so doing, creating local capital for the homegrown tourism industry and its stakeholders that is more inclusive, superseding petty rivalries.

6. CONCLUSIONS Timbre is an example of a local-turn restaurant, and it is also seen as such by residents and customers, due to its use of local produce, and links with local supply chains, but importantly because it is Tasmanian owned and operated, employing and connecting with community residents in multiple ways. On the other hand, it embraces a familiar, cosmopolitan and global view of the local. The food presentation, cooking methods and processes, and the use of fire are all highly recognizable elements of the Timbre experience. Timbre’s local and regenerative practices are fraught with challenges, and this chapter has addressed three salient tensions. There are also three lessons. First, going local is selectively imagined, as global and cosmopolitan ideas have infiltrated even rural and regional places. Not all ingredients may be produced locally and some social networks and practices within the community may hinder innovations and changes that are necessary to achieve increasing local food production and consumption. The challenges of glocalization are widespread, creating the impetus for the adoption of some global practices into local contexts, limiting the use of local ingredients and suppliers, conflicting imaginations of what local food culture is. Second, authenticity emerges and is negotiated. Local embeddedness must be navigated by the business owner, local stakeholders and residents as they celebrate their localness. Adopting principles and practices of regenerative tourism and the local turn inevitably causes conflict with some of the mainstream, deeply embedded views of visitors. Third, changing local food culture faces challenges, albeit surmountable. Businesses must navigate the inevitable inertia to change and the politics of local hierarchies and their accepted ways of doing things that are ingrained in local communities and practices. Given the impact of such sociocultural structures, a Bourdieuan heuristic has been adopted to map, layer and frame the challenges and opportunities encountered by Timbre as they embrace the local turn and continue their journey towards embracing regenerative principles applied as practices.

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Regenerative practices and the local turn  131 Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2008). Justice tourism and alternative globalisation. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16(3), 345–364. Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2020). Socialising tourism for social and ecological justice after COVID-19. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), 610–623. Hjalager, A.-M. (2015). Scholarly creativity and contributions to the development in tourism and gastronomy: The nature of editorial coincidence. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 1(1), 1–4. Jamal, T. (2019). Justice and ethics in tourism. Routledge. Jolliffe, L. (2019). Cooking with locals: A food tourism trend in Asia? In E. Park, S., Kim, & I. Yeoman (Eds.), Food tourism in Asia (pp. 59–70). Springer. Lee, K.H., Scott N., & Parker, J. (2014). Habitus and food lifestyle: In-destination activity participation of Slow Food members. Annals of Tourism Research, 48, 207–220. Long, F., Ooi, C-S., Gui, T., & Ngah, A.H. (2022). Examining young Chinese consumers’ engagement in restaurant food waste mitigation from the perspective of cultural values and information publicity. Appetite, 175(August), 106021. Minnaert, L., Maitland, R., & Miller, G. (2009). Tourism and social policy: The value of social tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 36(2), 314–332. Mohamed, M.E., Kim, D.C., Lehto, X., & Behnke, C.A. (2022). Destination restaurants, place attachment, and future destination patronization. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 28(1), 20–37. Ooi, C.-S. (2022). Tourist experiences as attention products. In R. Sharpley (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of the Tourist Experience (pp. 113–127). Routledge. Ooi, C-S., & Pedersen, J.S. (2017). In Search of Nordicity: How New Nordic Cuisine Shaped Destination Branding in Copenhagen, Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 2(4), 217–231. Park, E., Kim, S., & Yeoman, I. (Eds.) (2019). Food tourism in Asia. Springer. Pollock, A. (2016). Social Entrepreneurship in Tourism: The Conscious Travel Approach, Tourism Innovation Partnership for Social Entrepreneurship (TIPSE), 7, 38–46. Prayag, G., & del Chiappa, G. (2021). Nostalgic feelings: motivation, positive and negative emotions, and authenticity at heritage sites. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 1–16. Prentice, R., & Andersen, V. (2007). Interpreting heritage essentialisms: Familiarity and felt history. Tourism Management, 28(3), 661–676. Pritchard, A., Morgan N., & Ateljevic, I. (2011). Hopeful tourism: A new transformative perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(3), 941–963. Richards, G. (2015). Evolving gastronomic experiences: From food to foodies to foodscapes. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 1(1), 5–17. Sharpley, R. (2020). Tourism, sustainable development and the theoretical divide: 20 years on, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(11), 1932–1946. Stringfellow, L., Maclaren, A., Maclaren M., & O’Gorman, K. (2013). Conceptualizing taste: Food, culture and celebrities. Tourism Management, 37, 77–85. Tarulevicz, N., & Ooi, C.-S. (2021). Food safety and tourism in Singapore: between microbial Russian roulette and Michelin stars. Tourism Geographies, 23(4), 810–832. Tomljenovic, R., & Ateljevic, I. (2017). Co-creating and Transforming the future of travel and the world: An ethnographic journey, Revista Turismo & Desenvolvimento (RT&D), Journal of Tourism & Development, 27/28, 109–111. Tourism Northern Tasmania. (2018). West Tamar Council Strategic Plan 2018–2028, https://​www​.wtc​ .tas​.gov​.au/​Your​-Council/​Governance​-Law​-and​-Publications/​Strategic​-Plan Tourism Tasmania. (2020). T21 Visitor Economy Action Plan 2020–22, Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania & Tasmanian Government, https://​www​.t21​.net​.au/​_​_data/​assets/​pdf​_file/​0005/​91418/​T21​ -Visitor​-Economy​-Action​-Plan​.pdf. Tourism Tasmania. (2021). Tourism Snapshot: Year ending June 2021. https://​www​.tourismtasmania​ .com​.au/​_​_data/​assets/​pdf​_file/​0019/​103807/​Tasmanian​-Tourism​-Snapshot​-YE​-March​-2021​-TVS​,​ -NVS​,​-IVS​.PDF. Wahl, D. (2016). Designing regenerative cultures. Triarchy Press. Walter, P. (2017). Culinary tourism as living history: staging, tourist performance and perceptions of authenticity in a Thai cooking school. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 12(4), 365–379. Wang, N. (1999). Rethinking authenticity in tourism experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(2), 349–370.

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10. Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development: the case of South Africa Hennie Fisher and Gerrie du Rand

1. INTRODUCTION This chapter aims to contribute to an understanding of how culinary innovation can promote food tourism in South Africa, with specific focus on the food tourist. The food tourist is defined as a tourist with a high level of income and education, sophisticated, with a habit of dining out, and is open to innovation with an explorer characteristic (IGI Global, n.d.). Phases 1 and 2 of the culinary innovation model, developed by Harrington (2004a), are applied in this chapter to contextualise South African cultural food heritage and the celebration of indigenous ingredients to further national food tourism. We present examples of selected Western Cape (a province of South Africa) high-end restaurant menus applying South Africa’s indigenous ingredients, produce and traditional dishes that inform the national cuisine. The chapter reflects an analysis of selected menus to illustrate how innovators (such as chefs) reimagine and reinterpret the ingredients and produce at their disposal to create unique dishes referencing the South African cultural food heritage. The Western Cape high-end restaurant industry (also referred to as fine dining) relies on tourism, the reason why so many awarded restaurants are situated in this province (Magida, 2021). These restaurants with celebrated chefs and innovators are considered leaders in innovation of heritage food, setting trends that are often followed by restaurants in other parts of the country. Innovation is considered a critical contributor to meeting the needs of consumers while achieving a competitive advantage (Christensen et al., 2016). In the foodservice environment, culinary innovation creates value through product differentiation, as part of a generic strategy for competitive advantage (Harrington, 2004a; Porter, 1997). Culinary innovation is complex, multidimensional and based on the creative actions and interactions of innovators such as chefs which influence what they produce (Stierand & Lynch, 2008). Personal innovation and creativity by chef-innovators also contribute to culinary innovation and the development of new foods and recipes suited for the food tourist. Chefs use food to create a material or symbolic artefact – in this case a dish or recipe – which may be novel or an amendment of an existing dish or recipe (Stierand & Lynch, 2008). Harrington and Ottenbacher (2013), however, propose a structured approach to culinary innovation to minimise risk in innovation. This procedure should be formal, controlled, and eventually repetitive in nature, as proposed in the culinary innovation development process. In reality chefs and foodservice culinary innovators are more flexible, and do not adhere strictly to all elements or steps of the culinary innovation model developed by Harrington (2004a). Culinary innovation involves much more than just serving creative new dishes in high-end restaurants (Graham, 2017; Williams et al., 2014). It encompasses the ability to be creative and brave, and to approach challenges in a new way. In the food tourism sector this implies being able to react to food travellers’ needs and desires by making decisions that would ultimately 133

134  Handbook on food tourism contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of the broader industry. It is essential to develop the correct skills that would enable stakeholders in the industry to approach challenges in a creative manner that would satisfy both the customer and the industry (Graham, 2017). To elevate food tourism and increase interest in South Africa as an appealing food destination of choice for both local and global travellers, culinary innovation using indigenous foods and celebrating cultural food heritage could be used to appeal to food tourists and achieve the desired competitive advantage. Future research could identify and describe the functionality of the remaining phases of the culinary innovation model, in order to improve the success of culinary innovation as a promoter of food tourism.

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Food Tourism in South Africa

Food tourism has grown exponentially on a global level over the last two decades and is defined by the World Food Travel Association as ‘the act of travelling for a taste of place in order to get a sense of place’ (WFTA, 2014). South Africa has not been perceived as a potential food destination until recently, and food tourism has not yet achieved the local or global recognition it deserves (Coughlan, 2017; Du Rand, 2006; Reinstein, 2017). According to a Wine and Cuisine report (Wesgro, 2017), South African tourism has gained new momentum, food tourism operators in South Africa have seen a rise in foodie experiences, and the food tourism sector grew by more than 60% (Correia, 2019). This may partly be because of improved, authentic gastronomic experiences offered to the food tourist. South Africa has a unique potential to provide ‘taste of place’, as wine makers produce high-quality wines and there is a wide range of excellent local fresh and indigenous foods (Wesgro, 2017). Both the International Culinary Tourism Association and the International Culinary Tourism Development Organisation ranked South Africa as a travel destination with considerable global growth potential but pointed out that it was least prepared to achieve this growth (Coughlan & Saayman, 2018). One of the most important travel motivations for food tourists is to travel to a destination to experience the food and consume local and ethnic foods that represent the local culture in situ (Türker & Süzer, 2022). 2.2

South African Cuisine and Food Tourism

South African cuisine represents a melting pot of cultures (Du Rand & Fisher, 2020), and is internationally known for its fine wine and some of the world’s most talented chefs. Chantel Dartnall was named the World’s Best Female Chef in 2017, and Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, one of the first South African chefs to obtain a Michelin star for his restaurant ‘Jan’ in Nice (Reuters, 2020). Van der Westhuizen celebrates South African cuisine, food culture and heritage through menus that present modern adaptations of the country’s food and ingredients. Within South Africa numerous well-known restaurants run by world-renowned chefs deliver similar food experiences. Kobus van der Merwe, the chef and owner of Wolfgat restaurant on the South African west coast, serves a tasting menu showcasing locally sourced produce and foraged ingredients (Reuters, 2020). Applying culinary innovation in delivering

Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development  135 the authentic food experience to the food tourist assures that the experience meets their needs and delivers an unexpected element. Contemporary culinary innovations and interpretations of classic cultural dishes using indigenous ingredients have considerable potential to confirm the authenticity of South Africa as a tourism destination and increase its competitive advantage (Coughlan, 2018). Increased food tourism could provide the necessary stimulus for economic growth and brand building that would benefit and elevate local communities. 2.3

South African Food History

2.3.1 South African food culture South Africa is a complex society made up of many ethnic races who, despite their cultural differences, are all South African. With 11 official languages and many more demographic differences, South Africa is home to a vibrant melange of cultures, ethnicities, spoken languages, immigrants and others who together make up a society with many cultural backgrounds and a culturally diverse cuisine (Du Rand & Fisher, 2020). Numerous definitions for cuisine exist and can be summarised as the construction of four basic elements, namely: ingredients; characteristic flavourings; processing or production methods and tools; and the social context and interaction associated with eating, which includes rituals around food and eating (Laeis et al., 2020). South African citizens are classified into one of four official race groups: coloured South Africans, South African Indians, African ethnic groups of South Africa, and European races. Within these race classifications, those classified as coloured South African also distinguish between those who consider themselves coloured, and those who consider themselves Cape Malay – and these differences may extend to the classification of their cuisine. In the same way, the cuisines of black race South African groups would differ among the different ethnic groups, such as Zulu, Xhosa, Bapedi (North Sotho), Ndebele, Basotho (South Sotho), Venda, Tsonga, Swazi, and Botswana. The cuisines of those who consider themselves English-speaking white South Africans are different from Afrikaners or of other European descendants. Similarly, Hindu South African Indians have a different cuisine from Muslim South African Indian people (Du Rand & Fisher, 2020). These different ethnic groups favour different selections of ingredients, flavourings, methods, and social uses. However, crossover influences have led to what has been proposed as an inclusive South African national cuisine, the Rainbow Cuisine (Snyman & Sawa, 2001). Biryani is a typical example of such a crossover food which could be considered part of the broader South African cultural food heritage, as this very Indian dish is typically also found in Cape Malay cuisine and that of the Afrikaner (Van Zyl, 1985). Decades ago, references to South African cuisine would have been limited to Afrikaner or Cape Malay food (Sitole, 2009). The current South African cuisine has been shaped over time and influenced by its people, the geography and agricultural practices of the country, indigenous ingredients, the influx of migrant people from other countries, and the political changes that the country has experienced over the years (Du Rand & Fisher, 2020). It is therefore safe to say that the South African cultural food heritage is a culmination of the ancient food cultures of the indigenous San and Khoi people who used indigenous ingredients; indigenous African migrants who moved South from higher up in Africa; European settlers from the 18th century; and various other cultures such as the Malay, Indians, Greek, Portuguese, and Jews who made South Africa their home over centuries (Essop & Fraser,

136  Handbook on food tourism 2012). In addition, the dishes that represent the country’s food culture also bear influences of neighbouring countries and groups (Du Rand et al., 2016). 2.3.2 South African cultural food heritage Almansouri et al. (2021) explain that heritage food and food heritage are often incorrectly used interchangeably. Heritage food has been described as traditional local food which is inherited, prepared and practised daily, rooted in a mixture of various cultures, religions and beliefs (Omar et al., 2015). In South Africa, pap (a stiff maize meal porridge) is such a dish that is widely eaten in various forms by all South Africa’s cultures. On the other hand, food heritage has been defined as ‘the set of material and immaterial elements of food cultures that are considered as a shared legacy or a common good’ (Bessière & Tibère, 2011.). These authors explain that food heritage typically includes aspects related to agricultural products (raw materials, farmed or wild), ingredients, dishes, preparation techniques, recipes, food traditions, table manners, as well as the symbolic dimension and material aspects such as utensils and dishware. Ramli et al. (2013) suggest that food heritage is also informed by historical elements, food characteristics, value of uniqueness, as well as practices and integration elements. Brulotte and Di Giovine (2016) explain that heritage can be small in scale, for instance demarcating only a particular group or community. An example is the fish-shaped maize porridge slices called Mikonde (Sengani, 2013) made by the Vhavenda people from the finest milled maize meal called vhuswa, mostly reserved for special guests. Heritage can likewise be on a large scale, solidifying nationalistic ideologies and multicultural ideals that purport to unify, homogenise, and celebrate cultural diversity, such as the National Braai Day, which is celebrated on a large scale throughout all communities of South Africa. Unfortunately, South Africa does not have many small independent eateries offering food of different South African cultures, such as the numerous eateries selling Indian food in New Delhi, Thai food in Bangkok, or Chinese food in Shanghai or Beijing. Such is the dearth of eateries selling authentic local food in South Africa that one needs insider information about where South African Indian people consume their favourite Indian food in Durban. There may well be pockets – such as large city markets – where local people can find their ‘own’ food, for example Marabastad, Pretoria, where an array of street vendors sell food from many South African cultures. Exceptions exist, such as the shisanyama (Ndlovu, 2021) or shisa nyama (Zulu word for burnt meat), also known as a ‘bring-and-braai’ (Asman, 2020), or ‘a social braai where meat is bought from a butcher and braaied and enjoyed on site by many people’ (Nomico, 2013, p. 49). This practice spearheaded the establishment of a chain of restaurants called Chesa Nyama, which had more than 320 outlets by 2016 (Dutton, 2016). 2.3.3 Indigenous ingredients informing the South African food culture South Africa has a rich array of endemic, indigenous and naturalised plant material used as wild or cultivated food ingredients. These include Msoba (nightshade), which refers to both the berry and the product Nastergal jam, Amasi, mielie meal, sorghum, and others. Some products are innovatively used in new dishes, such as Idombolo (a type of steamed bread or buns) flavoured with Mondia whitei; a vegetable ‘cheese’ made from tiger nuts; steamed sorghum and nasturtium flower petal bread; a sorbet made from Carissa (Carissa macrocarpa) or num num; jelly made from a desert plant, the horned melon (Cucumis metulifer) (Figure 10.1);

Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development  137 marula (Sclerocarya birrea) (Figure 10.1) pulp incorporated into fruit cake and made into a sphere applying the molecular gastronomy technique of spherification, served with shellfish. Other examples include amaranth (generally considered a weed in urban areas, but also one of the lost crops of Africa) (Figure 10.1) in items such as amaranth double-baked soufflé, amaranth risotto or dried amaranth powder baked into sourdough breads. Finally, ingredients such as roasted Bambara (Vigna subterranean) ice cream, and the desert truffle or n’abbas (Kalaharituber pfeilii) (Hall et al., 2007) and many other examples of local food heritage ingredients can be applied through culinary innovation. Figure 10.2 shows examples such as Strychnos spinosa, Adansonia digitata and Solanum macrocarpon.

Figure 10.1

Horned cucumber, marula, and amaranthus caudatus, respectively

Figure 10.2

Monkey orange, baobab, and African egg plant, respectively

Even though the value of South African cultural food heritage in the commercial food sector (enticing food tourists to visit the country) has only been recognised recently, research has

138  Handbook on food tourism shown that authenticity is a vital trait and key motivator for tourists drawn to genuine indigenous experiences.

3.

CULINARY INNOVATION AS THEORETICAL AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

Harrington’s culinary innovation model (2004a) consists of a unique collection of tacit skills and abilities that is used to create a potential competitive advantage when innovation is applied as an integral component in food innovation, product development and product differentiation. Traditional innovations and food product development in the foodservice industry are more rigid and based on research executed by a specific division in the industry. In the foodservice industry, an integrative and selective method is followed to achieve a competitive advantage (Harrington, 2004a; Reed & De Fellippi, 1990). On the other hand, innovators such as chefs need to integrate all aspects in the new food and product development process to limit imitation and deliver a unique product that has a sustainable advantage (Reed & De Fellippi, 1990; Harrington, 2004a; Demirkol & Cifci, 2020). Comparative research done by Ottenbacher and Harrington (2007a, 2007b) on the innovation development process followed by Michelin-starred chefs verified that they applied only selective elements or phases of the culinary innovation model of Harrington (2004a). The culinary product development model in Figure 10.3 consists of four main elements or phases which are used to introduce a newly developed food product or recipe: culinary innovation formulation; culinary innovation implementation; evaluation and control; and innovative introduction (Harrington, 2004a). The model also considers external and internal resources and focuses on learning-by-doing throughout the development process. The solid single-sided arrows indicate a direct relationship with the phases and processes, whilst the double-sided arrows indicate an iterative/ reciprocal relationship (Bupo, 2020). The dotted lines refer to an indirect relationship (Bupo, 2020). For this research focused on the food tourist, only phases one and two of the culinary innovation model were applied and used for analysis to investigate new product development and new or reinterpreted recipe or food item development. 3.1

Phase 1 (Culinary Innovation Formulation)

This is where the culinary product is conceptualised and defined (Dougherty, 1997; Ottenbacher & Harrington, 2007a). During the planning and linking process in this phase, the main areas involve market research to understand the customer’s needs, ingredient functionality and sensory techniques (Pyne, 2000). Here a combination of strategy, consumer research, culinary techniques and food science are applied to successfully formulate, test, and launch a new product into the market. It is imperative that the innovator must assure that the product reflects the customers’ needs, market structure, and the abilities and skills of the chefs (Betoret et al., 2011; Dougherty, 1997). This process is indicated in Link 1 in Figure 10.3, where the relationship and integrative component that ensures the needs of the external environment are balanced with the needs and abilities of the internal environment. The main elements of this process are: setting the scenario (menus suitable for food tourism); selecting the team (chefs and innovators with knowledge of cultural food heritage

Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development  139

Source:

Harrington (2004a).

Figure 10.3

Culinary product development model

and indigenous foods, and the skills to prepare and present them); planning and linking (the steps followed during the development of the recipe/dish); product definition (appropriate, seasonal indigenous ingredients for menus suitable to and authentic for the food tourist); chefmanship; and food science (Harrington, 2004b). A new food product for the food tourist must address their needs, reflect the local cultural food heritage, use indigenous ingredients, and showcase the ability and skills of the innovative chef. The planning process should take internal and external elements into consideration, as reflected in Links 2 and 3 in Figure 10.3. This will ensure that a successful product that meets the needs of the food tourist is developed, and that it will comply with ingredient functionality and sensory requirements (Pyne, 2000). External factors comprise changes to consumer behaviour over time (e.g., changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic), competitor analysis, trends, seasonality, nutrition and dietary considerations, and the demands of consumers and the industry (Harrington, 2004b). Internal elements include the knowledge and skills required to apply innovative product development, facilities and equipment, and culinary identity within the industry (Harrington, 2004b). Culinary identity includes the geographic location of the product developed, the trends around regional and local foods that exhibit cultural diversity, appropriate and authentic flavour profiles and the application of local recipes using typical ingredients, techniques, and authentic yet innovative presentation (Harrington, 2004b).

140  Handbook on food tourism The product is now defined based on the basic adherence to the required factors, the information gathered by the chef or development team, plus the application of chefmanship and food science techniques. Chefmanship comprises culinary knowledge regarding food preparation, presentation, and suitable flavour and seasoning combinations (Harrington, 2004b). Food science techniques are based on the chemical properties of food, and the application of advanced techniques such as food preservation and cooking (e.g., sous vide and dehydration), inclusion of speciality products and specific sensory analysis techniques (Harrington, 2004b). Once the aspects of Phase 1 have been determined after considering external and internal factors, and the product to be developed has been established, Phase 2 culinary innovation implementation can be initiated. 3.2

Phase 2 (Innovation Implementation)

This phase encompasses the product development process, which begins with gathering ideas and exploring how appropriate they are for the business, capability, marketability, and technical and manufacturing feasibility (Fuller, 2011). The product is developed and tested until a prototype is produced, which is then benchmarked against competing products. In this stage, innovators should address aspects which need improvement, such as flavour, texture or balance when compared with similar products of competitors (Rudolph, 2008). During this phase, general consumer preferences, the production capabilities, consistency requirements, costing, sensory aspects, timing, and process improvement are put to the test. Once the prototype has been developed, improvements and recommendations are considered and adapted, and a final evaluation is done. After all these aspects have been addressed, a product concept is determined, and the product specifications are stipulated. This concludes the technical research for the food product, and the culinologist or chef produces a recipe or formulation (Fuller, 2011). The new product is then subjected to testing, costing, shelf-life determination, and food safety testing feasibility (Fuller, 2011) to create the new prototype. 3.3

Phases 3 and 4

Phases 3 and 4 were not included in any of the sections of this chapter and are only mentioned for clarity and theoretical purposes. These phases require additional consumer feedback and retail marketing, which was not the focus of this chapter. Phase 3 of this process is evaluation and control. This can be done through consumer testing, upscaling, and HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) control. Phase 4 (innovation introduction) is the final phase, where the product is made available to the market. This section summarised the application of the menu offerings and food dishes as ‘products’ of a formalised culinary innovation process aimed at the food tourist. For culinary innovation to provide a sustainable competitive advantage, it must adhere to four criteria: it must be rare; valued; have no substitutes; and not be easily imitated (Barney, 1991; Harrington, 2004b). However, the culinary innovation process followed in reality differs. It can come ‘naturally’ to many creatives or innovators, but it can also be achieved by purposely followed methods driving the culinary innovation process (Harrington & Ottenbacher, 2013). For this chapter, the authors present an analysis of food items on restaurant menus where Western Cape culinary innovators utilised some of the culinary innovation processes, mostly a ‘naturally developed’ culinary innovation method, to develop a product that would appeal to the food tourist.

Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development  141

4. METHODS The methodology applied in this chapter comprised an extensive desktop search of food and menu development practices from menu examples by selected South African chefs favoured by food tourists. Thematic analysis was used to identify past and present menu offerings from sources such as the authors’ personal restaurant experiences; analysis of restaurant reviews in the South African Eat Out Guide; reviews by restaurant bloggers such as The Joburg Foodie; newspaper and magazine reviews; and correspondence with South African food media stakeholders. Data searches in various collections were conducted to purposively identify, extract, and compile available cultural food heritage examples from high-end restaurants that reflect innovation on menu offerings. The next section presents a discussion of culinary innovation focusing on Phases 1 and 2 of the culinary innovation model. Selected examples of food items informed by South African cultural food heritage and the culinary innovation procedures followed by South African high-end restaurants and chefs – whether ‘naturally’ or by purposely following considered methods – to attract the food tourist are presented.

5.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Much like the rest of the world, local and foreign food tourists visiting South Africa dine out for leisure and entertainment. However, eating out is only one aspect of the modern food economy. The rise of food as a non-utilitarian commodity has brought ‘grande cuisine’ into the homes of everyday people through food shows, celebrity chefs, branded merchandise, printed and online food media, social media and much more. ‘Eating has been transformed from a mere perfunctory activity into big business’ (Broussard, 2020, p. 691), and staying ahead of the game requires the food industry to continuously innovate and offer customers and the food tourist something new – constantly creating uniqueness in order to differentiate themselves. Food innovation is one of the leading criteria for most of the world’s restaurant award systems. Restaurants pay dearly for innovative creatives who can adapt and amend local foods, indigenous ingredients and apply the relevant cultural food heritage to attract the attention of restaurant reviewers as well as local and global culinary award organisations. Even though Africa is the only continent on which a restaurant has yet to receive a Michelin star, other acknowledgements, such as ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’, the relatively new ‘La Liste’, and the ‘World Restaurant Awards’, have included many stellar South African restaurants. 5.1

South African Culinary Innovation Formulation (Phase 1 of the Culinary Innovation Model)

If Phase 1 of the culinary innovation model is applied, it appears that similar to global high-end restaurants, South African innovators spend considerable resources on planning and conceptualisation, which involves different forms of market research. South African innovators are applying current trends such as indigenous foods, ingredient foraging and the provenance of foods in the conceptual and planning phase of their innovations. South African culinary innovators have innate understanding of the South African cultural food heritage, as well as having practical sensory abilities to reinvent traditional recipes.

142  Handbook on food tourism Chef Margot Jansen, previously from The Tasting Room in Franschoek, illustrated a deep understanding of the need to assimilate the different cultures of South Africa in her menus that celebrated local, indigenous produce as early as 2009. Chef Jansen is ‘well known for her African-inspired cuisine’, and ‘has added a South African stamp to her dishes, including buchu, chakalaka, and baobab’ (Food-on-the-Edge, 2021). A crisp wafer was served as part of the bread course – a reinterpretation and modernisation of a core South African food, pap, porridge made from maize meal. Planning and conceptualisation of new dishes and menu items furthermore require specialised knowledge of the food system, keeping in mind the availability, seasonality, costs, delivery, and sustainability of produce. The use of oysters with specific geographical provenance (Luderitz), trout from the icy waters of the landlocked country Lesotho, the incorporation of savoury marshmallow in the crayfish course, a nod to molecular gastronomy, foie gras from the Limpopo province of South Africa, the iconic buchu of the Karoo, and the combination of naartjie and buttermilk are only a few observations from the following menu to illustrate careful planning and conceptualisation. Lightly smoked Luderitz oyster, chorizo, cucumber and granadilla Lesotho Royal Highland trout, squid ink, avocado, wasabi Lemon poached West Coast crayfish tail, prawn wafer, marshmallow Crisp skinned red roman, pearl barley ragout, miso, celery, soya Northern province foie gras, prosciutto, cranberry and whisky dressing Jerusalem artichoke and buchu risotto Sous vide Paradyskloof quail breast, truffled quail egg, asparagus Roasted impala loin, leek and buchu ash, lentils, Jerusalem artichoke Braised, free range Klein Karoo lamb breast, chakalaka marmalade, basil, salted grapes, roast garlic Dalewood fromage Huguenot cheddar, quince, blue gum honey Swissland chevre ash mousse, tomatillo, pickled turnip, cocoa pepper Whipped kimilili Tulbagh blue, mustard pear, pistachio sable Naartjie and buttermilk cannelloni, raw Jersey milk sherbet, fennel Boysenberries, bitter chocolate ganache, lemon thyme and buffalo yoghurt sherbet, cashew nut savarin, coconut sorbet, passion fruit, banana, curry The menu from chef Bertus Basson’s restaurant Eike in Stellenbosch (Figure 10.4) illustrates a deep understanding of the seasonality of indigenous ingredients, as illustrated by the use of makataan along with the Kudu tartare. Makataan (Citrullus lanatus) is a desert watermelon with low sugar levels often used in black South African culture as a vegetable. Afrikaner people mostly produce a sweet preserve from the rind, as seen on the Eike menu. Makataan is very seasonal and preserving the rind addresses sustainability.

Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development  143 However, the innovator needs to carefully consider harvesting time, location and transportation. The menu furthermore provides excellent examples of how South African cultural food heritage informed the planning of menu items. Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen of Michelin-starred restaurant ‘Jan’ in Nice, the author of multiple cookbooks and a biannual journal, showcases pap arancini and mozzarella balls as well as pap French toast omelette (Mkwanazi, 2021). Chef van der Westhuizen’s Innovation Studio in Cape Town ‘explores South Africa’s unique food heritage and ingredients with the aim of developing new dishes’ (Journal, 2019). About the newly opened Restaurant Klein Jan at Tswalu, a large private game reserve in the Kalahari, Jane Broughton (2019) says that it ‘is brave, experimental and theatrical, obliterating any preconceived notions of “fine dining”. From biltong-dusted savoury lamingtons to a fish velouté made with Kalahari camel’s milk served with wafer-thin, ice-cold apple slivers, it showcases South Africa’s food heritage with an irresistible “tongue in cheek” sassiness.’ Culinary innovation emphasising the utilisation of indigenous ingredients and the celebration of South African cultural food heritage is no longer only the reserve of high-end restaurants. The following examples were found in family restaurants, everyday media and in home-cook offerings. South African Master Chef judge Zola Nene created an amasi and peach ice cream (Nene, 2021) by replacing the traditional dairy component with amasi, a South African fermented milk product similar to cottage cheese or plain yogurt, mostly consumed as a beverage. Annette le Roux, the chef/owner of Jemima’s restaurant in Oudtshoorn, created an innovative rooibos tea parfait with muscadel zabaglione (Conlyn, 2006). Rooibos tea is an iconic South African ingredient often used to flavour dishes undergoing the innovation process. Chef Absalom Kotsokoane of Leano Restaurant similarly serves mogodu (tripe and intestine stew), chicken feet and chakalaka, a spicy vegetable relish, in a modern way (Emond, 2022). South African culinary innovation is not confined to local soil. Chef Jean Delport, who received his first Michelin star in 2019 for his work at Restaurant Interlude in Horsham, West Sussex, continuously strives ‘to introduce guests to a South African flavour journey’ (FinGlobal, 2021). Consumer needs should be considered in Phase 1 of the culinary innovation model. Restaurants such as Wolfgat in Parternoster on the South African west coast receive consumer and guest acknowledgement through winning prestigious awards. Wolfgat was ranked number 90 on ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022’ list. This acknowledgement of customers’ needs informs new innovations which take into account ingredient functionality and sensory techniques. Phase 1 of the culinary innovation model guides the planning and conceptualisation of food innovations after relevant cultural food heritage and other influences have been considered. Phase 2 of the culinary innovation model guides the formulation, testing and launching of new products (food dishes or whole menus) on the market. 5.2

South African Culinary Innovation Implementation (Phase 2 of the Culinary Innovation Model)

During Phase 2 of the culinary innovation model, new food products, dishes or menus are evaluated in terms of appropriateness for the restaurant, considering restaurant and staff capabilities, marketability, and technical and manufacturing feasibility. Many restaurants these

144  Handbook on food tourism days have dedicated spaces for development and innovation separate from the main functional kitchen. After careful consideration, adaptation and improvement, worthy dishes would eventually be implemented in the restaurant kitchen, after taking production capabilities, consistency requirements, costing, sensory aspects, timing, and process improvement into account. Aspects such as how long food items can be stored if they are not cooked à la minute should also be considered and tested. The collaboration between chef Kobus van der Merwe and chef Richard Carstens (Carstens, 2022) of Arkeste restaurant below illustrates how innovations are tested. Chef van der Merwe’s Wolfgat restaurant was awarded ‘The Best Restaurant in Africa 2021’ award (The World’s Best Restaurants, 2022) and he has published a book on indigenous west coast dune foraging, Strand Veld Food (Van der Merwe & De Villiers, 2014). ‘Chicken legs’, Arkeste seed loaf, bokkom botter Saldanha Bay oyster, prickly pear, brakvygie ‘Mosslebank at low tide’ – Bokkom, pear and shoreline pickings Cape bream & late summer fig ‘Kasteelberg’ – Springbok loin, limpet, klipkombers, dune spinach ‘Fallen apple’ However, the ultimate test of the durability and sustainability of new innovations is customer responses, measured by way of reviews, return customers, booked-out meals and feedback from restaurants’ loyal guests. Restaurant menus are not only evaluated by guests, but also through restaurant reviews and restaurant awards, which is testimony to the durability and applicability of innovations. Two other South African restaurants are included in the 2021 ‘50–100 list’ of ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ awards. Fyn, at position number 92 on the list, and La Colombe, at number 81, are described as fusing local ingredients with French flair (Vialou-Clark, 2021). Restaurant Fyn, described as a neoteric Japanese African experience, celebrates African produce such as chokka, abalone, Kingklip and Outeniqua Springbok through careful blending with Japanese cuisine. Not all food items on high-end restaurant menus are available for an undetermined time. Seasonality, availability, food expenses and other factors may require menu items to be updated and replaced. Innovation is a core feature and determinant for high-end restaurant recognition. However, certain ‘signature’ menu items sometimes become so strongly associated with a restaurant or chef that they have no other option but to keep them on the menu. This is a typical success in Phase 2 of the culinary innovation model. Even though not contained in the Eike sample menu (Figure 10.4), the restaurant’s opsitkers is an example of such a signature dish. The word ‘opsitkers’ ‘harks back to rather historic farm times, when the farmer would light a candle when a suitor arrived to visit his daughter – the arrangement being that the suitor would need to leave when it burned out, so a well-liked suitor would get a longer candle… here it becomes a beef-fat candle that you dip your bread course into’, according to restaurant reviewer Jean-Pierre Roussouw (2018).

Cultural innovation of chefs and food tourism development  145

Source:

RestaurantGuru (2022).

Figure 10.4

Eike Restaurant Menu 4 July 2020

6. CONCLUSION In this chapter the authors illustrated examples of selected Western Cape high-end restaurant innovators’ application of the first two phases of the culinary innovation model to attract food tourists and to promote food tourism in general in South Africa. It furthermore illustrates how innovation in the greater South Africa can benefit the foodservice industry to achieve a competitive advantage. The discussion is premised on the notion that culinary innovations in the food environment create value through product differentiation as a generic strategy for competitive advantage (Harrington, 2004a; Porter, 1997). The chapter offers examples of innovative new food products or entire menus informed by the South African cultural food heritage construction or ‘heritagisation’, an important contributor to promoting tourism. The discussion acknowledges the notion of food heritage as a social construct and as a resource for action, while also highlighting tourist initiatives, mobilisation

146  Handbook on food tourism and legitimisation systems that characterise heritagisation processes (Bessière, 2013). If food innovation is considered the locus of intercultural exchange that contributes to the construction of social identities, it could also be considered an important resource for development strategies. As it is also strongly associated with the tourism sector, the construction and mobilisation of food heritage call into question the social and cultural dynamics of a given space. The foodservice industry, which includes food establishments ranging from small, independent neighbourhood restaurants and eateries (which South Africa is dearly lacking) to award-winning, high-end restaurants, could strategize their marketing based on local cuisine, and develop and partake in marketing campaigns that celebrate local and indigenous ingredients as well as traditional cooking methods which will offer a taste of the country and its food heritage. The South African foodservice industry should aim to protect local traditions and support heritage cuisine through identification of iconic culinary items. They should label local foods and beverages, providing the origins and stories behind products and menu items, and finally develop food routes and brand South Africa as a food tourism destination. Multiple role players invested in the food tourism future of the country must collaborate to ensure that the food tourists’ experiences meet their needs and provide an element of the unexpected. South African food innovators such as Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen have developed innovative and creative menu items and recipes that will appeal to the food tourist. Promoting and protecting South African cultural food heritage, as illustrated in this chapter of selected high-end restaurant offerings, could positively affect rural spaces, leading to new development policies, increase tourism or even possibly lead to the restructuring of the agricultural sector (Littaye, 2016). By means of successful culinary innovation and efficient and effective management in foodservice establishments, cultural and indigenous cuisines that appeal to the food tourist promote national food tourism.

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11. Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability: a supply-side discussion of noodle experiences in Suzhou Denian Cheng, Joanna Fountain, Christopher Rosin and Xiaomeng Lucock

1. INTRODUCTION There is a growing recognition of food tourism as a valuable form of tourism for destination sustainability (Ellis et al., 2018). Food tourism for visitors may be described as an intentional encounter with culinary culture (Long, 2004), while for food suppliers and tourism providers, it may be an effective tool for revitalising local culture and enhancing economic returns (Park et al., 2019; Wondirad et al., 2021). Government authorities worldwide have also realised the value of food tourism and are devoted to marketing culinary culture, gastronomic products, and food tours (Horng & Tsai, 2010; Maurer, 2019; Okumus et al., 2007). In short, food tourism promotes cultural distinctiveness while providing opportunities for creating and strengthening backward economic linkages, thereby enhancing both economic and cultural sustainability. Despite the increasing awareness of the importance of food tourism, there are still many critical issues to be researched, and in particular, a need for empirical research to contribute to theorising food tourism, particularly from the perspective of food producers and other supply-side stakeholders (Everett, 2019; Park et al., 2023). The focus of most previous food tourism research has been arguably tourist-oriented – either concerned with tourist food consumption or destination food marketing and management. By comparison, empirical studies of the perspectives and experiences of producers and suppliers are somewhat limited (Duarte Alonso et al., 2022; Stalmirska, 2021), despite their crucial role as frontline product and service providers and significant influencers of the involvement of visitors in food experiences. The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to add empirical contributions to this field by examining supply-side stakeholders’ perceptions of the importance of noodle tourism in Suzhou, China. The chapter is structured as follows. After clarifying the research purpose, the theoretical background is outlined – specifically, the role of food tourism in destination sustainability and the demand and supply sides of food tourism research – and a knowledge gap is then identified. The case study method used in this study is outlined and justified before the results of data analysis and discussions of these results are presented. The conclusions and implications are illuminated at the end of the chapter.

2.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This section outlines the role of food tourism in destination sustainability and discusses the significance of this phenomenon from the perspective of tourists and supply-side stakeholders. 150

Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability  151 The section concludes with a discussion of the knowledge gap that is subsequently addressed in this chapter. 2.1

Food Tourism and Destination Sustainability

It is widely acknowledged that food tourism can contribute to destination sustainability in many ways (e.g., Bertella, 2020; Everett, 2016; Gössling et al., 2011; Kuang & Bhat, 2017). For example, Everett (2016), in her book, discusses the way in which food tourism contributes to economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability. In particular, she argues that this contribution is critically founded on “how food tourism serves to retain and develop traditional heritage, skills and ways of life” (Everett, 2016, p. 310). Despite crucial challenges associated with retaining and developing the tradition, heritage and culture of the region (see Kuang & Bhat, 2017), food tourism can maintain cultural heritage and help local communities define their identities and create a sense of solidarity, which, in turn, may advance social empowerment (Timothy & Ron, 2013). Given this, food tourism has the potential to improve cultural and social sustainability. When communities provide locally produced food products for visitors, additional revenues may be generated in the economy (Ohe & Kurihara, 2013). In particular, if these products are offered in smaller portions and plate sizes, 50% of greenhouse gas emissions might be reduced (Gössling et al., 2011). We thus contend that food tourism offers a means of protecting cultural heritage, supporting social justice, developing the local economy and encouraging environmental preservation. To facilitate the understanding of the significance of food tourism to destination sustainability, we divide relevant studies into demand and supply perspectives, as reviewed in the following sections. 2.2

The Significance of Food Tourism: The Demand Side

A central theme in demand-side studies is motivations for food tourism. In some situations, food can be the primary travel motivation (Hall & Sharples, 2003; Quan & Wang, 2004) and, therefore, critical to the tourist decision-making process. The importance of food tourism in this context goes beyond physiological and safety needs to be closely linked to social, esteem and self-actualising needs (Tikkanen, 2007). For example, tourist consumption of food products might be motivated by strengthening social bonds or creating new social relations (Fields, 2002), or driven by an encouragement to taste food for prestige and status (Kim & Eves, 2012) or for the acquisition of new knowledge (Chang et al., 2010; Park et al., 2020). As such, tourist motivations for food tourism are “multifaceted and multidimensional” (Kim et al., 2019, p. 177). When food, or food-related activities, form the primary motivations in a tourist setting, they can contribute to peak tourism experiences that refer to cultural understandings of food different from one’s own (Mkono et al., 2013). It is this cultural experience of the other that often forms the basis of the conceptualisation of food tourism. Kim and Ellis (2015) suggest that food tourism culturally manifests how one is defined through the knowledge of the other food. Food tourism research is substantially about studying how culture is learned and shared between hosts and tourists through the medium of food (Ellis et al., 2018) and liminal production and consumption sites (Everett, 2019).

152  Handbook on food tourism The cultural experience of food tourism from the demand side is connected to people, traditions, place and identity. Food is an emblem of a given group of people (Bessière, 1998). For example, through host–guest encounters in cooking classes, tourists can gain knowledge of how local people approach cooking (Walter, 2017). A particular cooking method or belief will usually have been practised by local people for generations, and because of this, the way in which food is produced and consumed is deeply embedded in place (Timothy & Ron, 2013). Food, in this regard, becomes a significant marker of identity, making a statement about who we are and where we are. With the production and exchange of this identity marker, a sense of place is in a continuous state of “becoming” (Everett, 2012). As outlined above, demand-side food tourism research has paid close attention to the importance of food tourism in contributing to tourist experiences, primarily framed around cultural and social connections to people and places. Recent trends indicate that food tourism may further expand in the future. For example, there is evidence of a renewed appreciation of local food, driven in part by a desire to support ethical production practices and to address sustainability concerns about food miles and industrial agriculture (Fountain, 2022), and a desire amongst tourists for exclusive but fluid food experiences (Yeoman & McMahon-Beatte, 2016). It should be noted that food experiences are not “the sole regard of the tourist” (Park et al., 2023, p. 589); they rely on some level of interaction with contextual elements staged by service providers, including those food producers, retailers and tourist stakeholders (Park & Widyanta, 2022). The perceptions of supply-side stakeholders are therefore reviewed below. 2.3

The Significance of Food Tourism: The Supply Side

While the food experiences of tourists have most often been explored in terms of their social and cultural significance, the creation and design of food tourism experiences by food producers and other food tourism stakeholders are primarily framed in terms of financial potential and economic sustainability, although the cultural representation of destinations through food tourism promotion remains an important secondary consideration. In these accounts, food tourism is heralded as vital to sustaining regional economies through the purchase of local food products and consumption of traditional cuisine highly valued by tourists willing to pay more for geographically and culturally identifiable food products (Avieli, 2013; Hall & Sharples, 2003). Thus, food suppliers may perceive food tourism as a means of increasing tourist spending on their produce, and for local authorities, it is a means to increase spending in a destination as a whole (Everett & Aitchison, 2008). This increase is frequently the reason why local authorities encourage the touristic promotion of local food in order to add value to regional economies (Okumus et al., 2007). Such value can be added from direct economic effects, including food sales and employment generation for farmers, and indirect economic effects produced by visitor spending on accommodation and dining (Ohe & Kurihara, 2013), resulting in an increased multiplier effect of food tourism on destinations, the generation of additional income for local producers and suppliers, the creation of job opportunities and an increase in tax revenues (Wondirad et al., 2021). Thus, food tourism becomes a driver of economic development. Whilst the economic contribution of food tourism has been substantiated, as discussed above, there is also significant research discussing the challenges of deriving economic benefits from food tourism development. These include contextual challenges that link to the use of local food products in the marketing of destinations (Okumus et al., 2007); organisational

Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability  153 matters, referring to the networking within and between the food and tourism industries (Everett & Slocum, 2013); and relational difficulties, with a focus on the collaboration among stakeholders in the value chain (Wondirad et al., 2021). As has been highlighted, beyond the economic significance of food tourism, there is also a recognised potential for food tourism to promote cultural sustainability by stimulating the resurgence of traditional foodways. Timothy and Ron (2013) suggest that food tourism development recognises and assigns value to local cuisine and communities. This recognition and valorisation of conventional foodways and local cuisine are fundamental to constructing local gastronomic heritage, which is an integral part of, and a contributor to, the formation of regional identity (Bessière, 1998; Kim, 2016). As such, suppliers perceive food heritage as a distinctive cultural emblem to embrace the traditions of a particular place (Duarte Alonso et al., 2022). It is this ability that underpins the notion of “selling” food tourism to brand national cultures (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2006, p. 31). 2.4

Reflecting on the Literature

The above review suggests that food tourism has been appreciated for its significance to, and support of, economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability. However, the focus is somewhat different between demand- and supply-side perspectives. While sociocultural significance is recognised by both food tourists and food producers and other stakeholders, the economic significance of food tourism is a principal consideration for the supply side only. Even if food tourism is not the core attractor of a destination, it can still play an important role in representing tourism experiences of places, people and their cultures. Arguably, the importance of food tourism needs to be viewed with a “broader, more holistic” focus (McKercher et al., 2008, p. 146), that is, the role of food tourism in the broad context of destination experiences. Though the recognition of this view has been increasing (see Maurer, 2019), most current research remains tourist-centric (e.g., Chen & Huang, 2016), and the supplier perspective of food tourism is extremely limited (Duarte Alonso et al., 2022; Stalmirska, 2021). Hall and Gössling (2016) attach a lot of importance to understanding supply chain networks and relationships when setting the agenda for future research on food tourism. Hall (2020, p. 285) further explains that commercial food tourism activities are: undoubtedly important to some stakeholders but potentially of far more economic significance, for example, is understanding the supply chain to those who supply tourists with food and understanding what it is and where it comes from.

This call to understand “what it is” and “where it comes from” requires a practical understanding of food tourism from the perspective of supply-side stakeholders, at least encompassing their perceptions and provisions of food tourism experiences. While it is beyond the scope of the present chapter to address all these issues, the remainder of the chapter will explore the perceptions of supply-side stakeholders about the significance of a particular type of food tourism – noodle tourism – to destination sustainability. To achieve this purpose, a case study method was used, and the following section explains the use of this method.

154  Handbook on food tourism

3. METHODS This investigation has used the case study as a research method, following Yin’s (2009) guidelines to design procedures for understanding how supply-side stakeholders perceive the importance of food tourism. A case study method was considered an appropriate approach to this investigation for two reasons. First, the nature of the current research is exploratory because it attempts to explore subjective perspectives of food tourism experiences as a starting point for discussion. The study samples – and, more specifically, stakeholders on the supply side – are the second reason for this methodological approach. These stakeholders have different and sometimes contradictory interpretations of the food tourism phenomenon. According to Beeton (2005, p. 42), the case study method is “a holistic empirical inquiry” that enables the development of an in-depth understanding of differing interpretations of a tourism phenomenon. Yin (2009) has suggested that the identification and selection of the case(s) are essential to undertaking case study research. The city of Suzhou, located in eastern China, provides a study case for this research. Fieldwork in Suzhou by the first author occurred from the middle of February to the end of May 2019. During this fieldwork, multiple food products were included in the researchers’ participant observation, and 64 interviews were conducted with supply-side stakeholders who had significant experiences regarding Suzhou food and/or tourism. The choice of Suzhou noodles as the food product and tourist experience reported here is due to many secondary documents (e.g., books regarding Suzhou food and tourism brochures and guidebooks) which recorded the unique and attractive characteristics of Suzhou-style noodles (see Figure 11.1), hence the phrase “noodle tourism” used from here on. Critically, a quarter of all interviewees also mentioned this traditional food as a crucial component of Suzhou’s local food offering, and five respondents (Table 11.1) had in-depth discussions on Suzhou noodles. These five include one manager of a local restaurant (RE-Xing), one food consultant (FC-Yue), two tourism providers (TP-Hao and TP-Hu) and one government official (GO-Ren). Table 11.1

Demographic profiles of key interviewees

Occupation

Gender

Age

Years of experience

Code

Restaurateurs

Female

31–60

1–5

RE-Xing

Food consultants

Female

31–60

10+

FC-Yue

Tourism providers

Male

31–60

10+

TP-Hao

Male

31–60

5–10

TP-Hu

Male

60+

10+

GO-Ren

Government officials

The analysis of secondary materials and interview data followed a five-phased cycle recommended by Yin (2011, p. 177), consisting of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding. Fieldwork data was stored in a USB flash drive at the compiling stage. This stage was followed by reading through data and writing memos to disassemble a large amount of collected data. The data was then reassembled to develop initial codes that were further organised into different category codes and were found to fall within two themes – the cultural significance and economic significance of Suzhou noodle tourism. The following section outlines the findings and discussion emerging from this process.

Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability  155

Source:

Denian Cheng (author).

Figure 11.1

4.

Suzhou-style noodles

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The research data analysis suggests that supply-side stakeholders have shared perceptions of the cultural significance of Suzhou noodle tourism. Recognition of this cultural importance has resulted in the perception of noodle tourism as a potential tool for regional economic development. While there is recognition amongst supply-side stakeholders of the cultural significance of the noodle experiences – both personally and to the destination as a whole – recognition of the economic significance of noodle tourism to the city of Suzhou was not matched by food suppliers’ and tourism providers’ personal experiences of noodle tourism as economically beneficial to them. 4.1

Cultural Significance of Suzhou Noodle Tourism

Supply-side stakeholders expressed similar views of Suzhou noodles as traditional food and an essential component of culinary heritage and, therefore, a marker of regional identity and a representation of the local lifestyle. When discussing noodle tourism, interview participants always began with the history of noodles in Suzhou. For example, a local government official introduced the topic in the following way:

156  Handbook on food tourism Suzhou noodles have a very long history. It was recorded that the Association of the Suzhou Noodle Business was founded in 1757. There were more than 250 noodle houses in Suzhou by the end of the 19th century. (GO-Ren)

The historical association between noodles and Suzhou dates back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279), during which the mass migration from the north into the southern region, especially the royals, led to the popularity of noodles in Suzhou (Ji et al., 2013). Suzhou noodles, therefore, have served as a part of “a culinary system” for centuries (Long, 2004, p. 21). Notably, Suzhou noodles differ from those in northern China in terms of preparation techniques. In particular, the stock for Suzhou noodles is made by boiling meat (e.g., chicken, duck, or pork), fish bones, fungi (e.g., mushrooms), and Chinese medicinal ingredients. This stock is usually simmered for more than ten hours, which explains why Suzhou noodles are often called Suzhou Su Style Soup Noodles. By comparison, noodles from northern China are poured with oil and fried vegetables. Such a difference can be attributed to geographical and social conditions. Suzhou has favourable weather conditions, contributing to its fertility and abundance as a city in the Yangtze River Delta. This abundance was stated by the manager of a local restaurant (RE-Xing): “[Because] Suzhou people have better living conditions, they always taste the soup before eating noodles and are very particular about what they eat.” It is indicative from the statement that the cooking and eating traditions of noodles are deeply rooted in a terroir (Bessière, 1998) or, in particular, the physical and social environment of Suzhou. To express it another way, Suzhou noodles express the sociocultural differentiation of the region. Supply-side stakeholders on this account recognise that Suzhou noodles are a component of culinary heritage: Suzhou noodles are quite different from the ones in northern China. As I know, a local association attempts to include traditional Suzhou noodle-making techniques on the regional intangible cultural heritage list. (FC-Yue)

From this illustration, Suzhou noodles become a distinct cultural sign, a heritage component, and “a code of recognition” (Bessière, 2013, p. 276). As such, noodles can be considered a building block of the regional identity of Suzhou because an identity marker of the place is mainly associated with regional history, tradition, and heritage (Timothy & Ron, 2013). Thus, local noodles are integral to place identity (Kim & Ellis, 2015) when they have symbolic meanings of history, tradition, and heritage. For this reason, the cultural allure of Suzhou noodles – and their differentiation from noodles from Northern China – is highlighted in tourism brochures, such as the following: It is often said that northern China loves wheat-flour foods, while rice is the staple diet of southern China. However, Suzhou people are fond of noodles with a delicate, subtle flavour. They are particular about noodles in terms of flour, soup and garnish. (A tourism brochure)

To support the cultural attributes of Suzhou noodles, the tourism authority organises an event known as Suzhou’s Top Bowls of Noodles Competition to market noodle culture. A tourism provider (TP-Hu) commented: “This event provides a platform to display skills, techniques, and features of Suzhou noodles and raise the ‘voices’ of local gastronomic products from the era of Wu […].” As this comment suggests, the noodle festival is a cultural artefact to charac-

Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability  157 terise local foods, to celebrate excellence in craftsmanship, and to demonstrate the history of the place through food. From the above data, it is clear that Suzhou noodles are inherently embedded in the city’s history. Historical values of cooking and eating noodles make the food a vital part of the cultural heritage of Suzhou. In this regard, marketing Suzhou noodles in tourism experiences is a critical way of communicating terroir and retaining regional identity. Hence, we argue that noodle tourism can sustain regional cultural identity. When Suzhou noodles are seen to reflect the cultural identity of the place, the noodles also represent the life of its people. This representation is mirrored by the local pursuit of the first batch of noodles

in the early morning in many restaurants, including the

following, which provides a narrative that allows visitors to connect Suzhou noodles with a typical Suzhou life: The old residents are used to waking early in the morning, not for exercise or work but for breakfast – a bowl of soup noodles with a genuine Suzhou taste. Drinking tea, eating noodles, and enjoying Pingtan performances [Note: A form of local music] are indispensable recreational activities in their daily life. (The website of a local noodle restaurant;1 see also Figure 11.2)

Figure 11.2

The locals and visitors eating Suzhou-style noodles

158  Handbook on food tourism This bit of online information has underpinned the view that the residents traditionally breakfast on Suzhou noodles and that this traditional breakfast constitutes a significant component of their recreation. It is noteworthy that the noodle-based morning routine has already been culturally manifested in the touristic setting, as an official tourism brochure promoted: Noodles and tea are the breakfast of choice for many locals. Suzhou-ese are proud of their noodles, which they make with great care [and] attention, down to the most minute detail. Have a taste of traditional Suzhou noodles served in a savoury soup and with a garnish of meat or vegetables. (A travel guidebook)

Like costumes, arts, and other cultural artefacts, in this guidebook, the noodles have been highlighted as a sign of the Suzhou lifestyle – and more specifically, a slow life – that suggests a preference for “traditional, local, fair, organic, and authentic” experiences (Chung et al., 2017, p. 123). This touristic highlight could be understood as an attempt to commodify the culinary heritage (Gyimóthy & Mykletun, 2009), through which Suzhou noodles become cultural products for tourist consumption. The commodification, to some extent, has developed a cognitive food image of the destination (Lai et al., 2019), as expressed by a food consultant: When talking about Suzhou noodles, visitors must say that “the residents enjoy a bowl of Suzhou noodles every morning”. You can commonly read this on online travel posts. (FC-Yue)

This expression has at least two implications for understanding Suzhou noodle tourism experiences. First, breakfasting on Suzhou noodles plays a significant role in developing a sense of authenticity for visitors. It is reasonable to assume that eating habit is a principal criterion of authentic experiences of Suzhou noodles. Cohen and Avieli (2004) argue that eating habits significantly mark the concept of authenticity in food tourism. Second, this criterion has been further validated through the processes of socio-technological authentication (Lugosi, 2016). In other words, different categories of stakeholders, such as food producers, tourism service providers and tourists, are actively constructing authentic experiences of Suzhou noodles by generating content in the online environment. This technology-based construction of authenticity arguably is influential in motivating tourists to taste local noodles (see Kim et al., 2019). In summary, this section explains the supplier perceptions of the cultural significance of noodle tourism to Suzhou. It discusses the role of noodle tourism in the cultural promotion of Suzhou and the representation of the local lifestyle from the perspective of restaurateurs, food consultants, tourism providers and government officials. These discussions suggest that noodle tourism for supply-side stakeholders is a medium through which regional culture is manifested. This study, therefore, argues that food tourism offers a perspective on the sociocultural sustainability agenda. 4.2

Economic Significance of Suzhou Noodle Tourism

Whilst supply-side stakeholders stress the cultural importance of noodle tourism, some develop noodle tourism products to achieve economic gains by communicating the cultural meaning and symbol of Suzhou noodles in tourism experiences, with differing levels of success, as is discussed in this section. At the destination level, there are many ways in which the economic significance of noodle tourism is apparent. For example, the event Suzhou’s Top Bowls of Noodles Competition,

Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability  159 launched by the municipal tourism authority, commenced with online voting on the official WeChat account of the Suzhou Evening News of the Suzhou Daily Group in February 2018. This online voting attracted 1.87 million visitors and registered over 300,000 votes. Simultaneously, an official document provides evidence of how such a traditional food festival substantially fostered noodle consumption in the tourism market: According to statistics, more than 30,000 visitors from the Yangtze River Delta visit Suzhou to taste Suzhou-style noodles and enjoy Suzhou landscapes during the week. (An unpublished official document shared by GO-Ren)

Also, by implication, A Bowl of Noodles is a symbol of Suzhou culture and a souvenir of tourist trips; as a tourism provider explained: Visitors have very positive reviews of Suzhou noodles because it has special cultural features. However, visitors cannot take Suzhou noodles home and share the noodles with their family members, relatives, and friends. We then develop A Bowl of Noodles, making Suzhou noodles portable. (TP-Hao)

This response suggests that the cultural distinctiveness of Suzhou noodles enables the noodles to become a commercial tourist attraction. Tourists view Suzhou noodles as souvenirs when visiting the place. From this, it is reasonable to postulate that the design of noodle-related souvenirs can contribute to the tourist experience and produce economic benefits for the region. This result is underpinned by Kim (2015), who reports that unique noodles have increasingly become valuable tourism offerings with enormous potential for economic development. These findings suggest that the cultural significance of Suzhou noodles contributes to creating economic benefits. At the personal level, some local tourism providers have developed Suzhou noodle-based tourism products for visitors. Despite the economic benefits of noodle-based tourism products, achieving this benefit for individual stakeholders appears challenging. The data analysis suggests that the challenges derive from the lack of two forms of “intangible capital” (Hall & Gössling, 2016, p. 36), specifically, the difficulty in protecting intellectual property rights and building networks with other tourism stakeholders. Noodle production is a creative and, to some degree, innovative endeavour to which much thought and time are devoted. The process of selecting, preparing, cooking and presenting noodle ingredients requires a substantial commitment of time and energy. On this point, there is recognition that intellectual property can be used to protect noodle recipes, designs and other noodle-based creations legally. Though legal protection is considered influential in increasing food quality, enhancing the productivity of stakeholders, and commodifying their food businesses (Fields, 2015; Ravenscroft & Van Westering, 2002), the protection of intellectual property seems challenging to obtain in Suzhou, as a tourism provider illustrated: We are the first to introduce packed Suzhou noodles in the city. Soon after our introduction, the competitors make similar noodle products. We have applied for a trademark of our product brand and package. However, protecting intellectual property for food in China is difficult. As our lawyer explained, if competitors make a product copy with some changes, such as the package colour, their products would not be considered illegal. […]. The application period is too long. Even though the application is approved, we might also have an issue with [intellectual property] protection. (TP-Hao)

160  Handbook on food tourism This response demonstrates that the issue of intellectual property protection has posed a considerable restriction on the commercialisation of differentiable noodle tourism activities. Though the legal protection of intellectual property enables stakeholders and their enterprises to assert rights of exclusive use, tourism providers in this study were somewhat resigned to unethical food business practices. They were concerned that the current intellectual property law could not protect creative noodle tourism souvenirs. Such a concern is arguably not specific to Suzhou noodles but reveals the difficulty of registering food products as intellectual property. Although intellectual property rights are considered relevant to food (Ravenscroft & Van Westering, 2002), protecting food tourism products, in practice, is much more complex. This complexity can be attributed to the issue of ownership: Who owns a particular food product? Who or what can determine a person, organisation, or place’s right to the product? Furthermore, what level of ownership should this private person, business organisation, or place have? By way of illustration, Suzhou noodles have tangible properties (e.g., package) and intangible qualities (e.g., traditional cooking process). The former can be defined and protected, but the latter varies and evolves when stakeholders “learn from each other” and “take ideas forward into new dishes” (Fields, 2015, p. 129). From this perspective, it is challenging to determine the ownership of noodle-based products and achieve the protected status of this product. The issue of the intellectual property of food could be viewed as a macro challenge restricting the ability of some supply-side stakeholders from creating economic benefits from Suzhou noodle tourism. On the other hand, many stakeholders face the challenge of building partnerships with tourist stakeholders at the micro level, as the manager of a local noodle house explains: We have not collaborated with travel agencies. Our noodle house should be better in this aspect. Such collaboration could bring more visitors to us. However, we lack relational resources. To be honest, I have limited personal relationships with tour guides. (RE-Xing)

The expression points to a lack of social capital acting as a barrier to noodle tourism. According to Everett and Slocum (2013), social capital is the resources that different categories of stakeholders have through establishing relationships with others, consisting of structural, cognitive and relational dimensions. The structural dimension of social capital is underpinned by the collaborative network with travel agencies, which, as stated by the restaurateur, is insufficient to attract more visitors. The finding of low levels of structural social capital is resonant with the work of Everett and Slocum (2013) in the UK, where they suggest that the lack of networking between the food and tourism sectors has hindered food suppliers in their efforts to encourage substantial economic gains. This finding, however, is contrary to Henriksen and Halkier (2015), who discovered positive relationships among food and tourism businesses due to the launch of collaborative initiatives by the national business and tourism authorities. These contrasting results highlight the role of national and local governments in facilitating network campaigns to improve linkages among supply-side stakeholders. The relational dimension of social capital is also communicated in terms of personal relationships between the restaurant manager and tour guides. The interviewed restaurateur perceived that her poor relationships with tour guides had limited the ability to increase structural social capital stocks for the noodle house. This perception indicates that establishing personal relationships is a significant contributor to building networks with travel agencies. This finding

Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability  161 is also revealed in the study by Roy et al. (2017), who report that restaurants and chefs value personal relationships with tourist stakeholders. Based on their research, personally knowing their suppliers is significant to developing trust and providing networking opportunities for restaurateurs, which further affects the purchasing decisions of tourist stakeholders. In summary, this section reveals the economic implications of noodle tourism in Suzhou. Accordingly, noodle tourism provides a vehicle to generate direct sales of noodle-related products and encourage social entrepreneurship, suggesting the role of noodle tourism in promoting economic sustainability. Despite this, the challenges of protecting intellectual property and a lack of networks have the potential to limit the economic sustainability of noodle tourism in Suzhou.

5.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the food provider and tourism supplier perceptions of the significance of noodle tourism to a Chinese destination, through which the role of food tourism in promoting destination sustainability is critically discussed. The final section outlines the theoretical and practical implications of this study. From a theoretical standpoint, the current study sheds light on understanding the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability from the perspective of supply-side stakeholders. When food tourism is considered conducive to destination sustainability, previous research has primarily discussed the value of food tourism by investigating tourist motivations for, and experiences of, destination food products and activities. As such, there is much more limited knowledge of the way in which food suppliers and tourism providers view and engage with food tourism. The research results establish the role of supply-side stakeholders in understanding the food tourism phenomenon and identify implications for future studies in this field. Supply-side stakeholders perceived that noodle tourism plays a significant role in promoting destination culture and representing the local way of living, and this is supported through secondary data analysis of tourism websites and brochures. The research thus indicates that, when food is a manifestation of local culture, food tourism can be a cultural medium linking to tradition, heritage, and authenticity, through which people interact with the place (Ellis et al., 2018; Fountain, 2022; Kim & Ellis, 2015). The cultural significance of noodle tourism lays the foundation for realising its economic benefits. However, there is an apparent lack of uniformity between supplier and provider perceptions of the economic importance of noodle tourism. Though supply-side stakeholders recognised the economic value of noodle tourism to the destination and its commercial potential for personal business, the issues of intellectual property and lack of networks are critical obstacles to reaching this potential and causing the underperformance of food tourism. Identifying the barriers is one of the significant contributions of the study because it illuminates the scope for future research to shift the focus from food tourism as an economically contributing factor, to the importance of food supply chain networks and relationships to self-actualisation in relation to the provision of local food. Failure to consider the benefits of the critical stakeholders could jeopardise the sustainable commercialisation of destination food in order to increase tourist spending because their narratives and practices are significant to building the links between food, community and place. To this end, the question of who

162  Handbook on food tourism benefits from food tourism and why must be answered to enhance local economic, social and cultural sustainability. In the context of Suzhou, it is evident that restaurateurs and tourism providers benefit less from noodle tourism than tourism authorities. In such instances, it is necessary to improve the legal environment to protect creative noodle tourism offerings in the tourism market. Also, the launch of noodle tourism initiatives could help encourage the engagement of different categories of stakeholders and build partnerships among them. Consequently, appropriate food tourism strategies and plans should be fully considered in regional tourism development and cohesively consulted with critical stakeholders in the tourism sector. The limitations of this research remain, given the nature of an exploratory study. As a study focusing on noodle tourism, the case is confined to local traditional food that is cooked and processed. Not considered in this chapter is the role of primary farm produce as a critical component of food tourism, and in particular, the critical interdependencies of food production and environmental sustainability. The production of food ingredients is closely dependent on land resources, water quality, agricultural technology, and farming practices which are increasingly threatened due to the impact of human activity, including human-induced climate change (Gössling et al., 2011). As well as primary food producers, there is a range of other diverse supply-side stakeholders, such as food producers, vendors, and tour guides, who can be included to gain broad insights into the significance of food tourism to the destination. Despite these limitations, this study has illustrated the way that future food tourism research can move beyond a tourist-dominated analysis of food consumption, framed around tourist motivations and experiences, tourism marketing and destination images. Such analysis might substantially overplay the economic significance of food tourism to the destination but understate the sociocultural meaning for destination hosts and local communities. From these implications, producer and consumer research on food tourism needs to be critically examined through a cultural lens that contextualises food tourism more broadly in terms of sociocultural issues, including cultural identity, fair access to resources and inequality in the distribution of food tourism benefits. Such a culturally oriented examination can support the identification of the distinct value of food tourism as a field of research in its own right. In other words, it addresses whether this field is worthwhile for scholarly efforts, which aspects are worth pursuing, and how these aspects advance tourism studies and contribute to the knowledge generation and development of tourism discourse.

NOTE 1.

Suzhou Dongwu Noodle Restaurant. (June 2020). Traditional Suzhou breakfast: A deep affection for a bowl of Suzhou-style soup noodles. Source: http://​www​.dongwumianguan​.com/​dongwuyinshiwenhua/​ 104​.html.

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Rethinking the importance of food tourism to destination sustainability  165 Stalmirska, A. M. (2021). Local food in tourism destination development: The supply-side perspectives. Tourism Planning & Development, 1–18. Tikkanen, I. (2007). Maslow’s hierarchy and food tourism in Finland: Five cases. British Food Journal, 109(9), 721–734. Timothy, D. J., & Ron, A. S. (2013). Heritage cuisines, regional identity and sustainable tourism. In C. M. Hall & S. Gössling (Eds.), Sustainable culinary systems: Local foods, innovation, tourism and hospitality (pp. 275–290). Routledge. Walter, P. (2017). Culinary tourism as living history: Staging, tourist performance and perceptions of authenticity in a Thai cooking school. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 12(4), 365–379. Wondirad, A., Kebete, Y., & Li, Y. (2021). Culinary tourism as a driver of regional economic development and socio-cultural revitalization: Evidence from Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 19, 100482. Yeoman, I., & McMahon-Beatte, U. (2016). The future of food tourism. Journal of Tourism Futures, 2(1), 95–98. Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.). Sage. Yin, R. K. (2011). Qualitative research from start to finish. The Guilford Press.

PART III TRENDS, INNOVATIONS, AND NEW FOOD TOURISM ATTRACTIONS

12. The homeland of Sanuki udon: unconsolidated placemaking processes in a food tourism destination Kyungjae Jang, Sangkyun Kim and Timo Thelen

1. INTRODUCTION Food occupies an important place in tourism. It is the third most important motivator for tourism (UNWTO, 2017), and eating cannot be considered in isolation from tourism (Molz, 2004). Food and tourism in general, and food tourism in particular, have therefore emerged as a major theme of recent tourism research. The current literature on food tourism predominantly focuses on five themes: tourist motivation, culture and identity, authenticity, management and marketing, and destination orientation (for example, placemaking) (Ellis et al., 2018). Despite the variation of terms used (for example, taste tourism, culinary tourism, gastronomy tourism) and multi-disciplinary approaches to the subject, the literature widely adopts its definition from Hall and Sharples (2003, p. 10), who describe food tourism as ‘visitation to primary and secondary food producers, food festivals, restaurants and specific locations for which food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production region are the primary motivating factors for travel’. This is tourist-centric with particular attention to understanding tourists’ desires and activities of food consumption in a destination. From a local point of view, however, utilising food as an element of tourism resources has various advantages and disadvantages (Hall, 2012, 2018). Food can create a positive place branding, differentiating a place from other destinations, and drive tourists’ spending on local products and produce. Conversely, a focus on food may lead to neglect of other tourism opportunities or marginalise other potential tourism products. In other words, what should be considered essential when developing food tourism products and experiences in a region, includes but is not limited to: (1) the extent to which food plays an important role in placemaking and promoting of local tourism; (2) what kind of (food) tourism experiences can be designed and offered; and (3) whether or not food creates synergy with other existing tourism experiences in the region. When a region utilises food resources for tourism in its policy, it further establishes tourism promotion or marketing strategies that reflect the regional characteristics associated with these food resources (Muangasame & Park, 2019; Horng & Tsai, 2010; Huang, 2009). That said, the tourism strategies are expected to align with food production and consumption in the region, which in fact promote the identity of the region (Everett & Aitchison, 2008; Kim & Iwashita, 2016) and its tradition, heritage and history (Park et al., 2023). Regional or national governments take lead roles in setting the development agenda and in making policies and regulations that contribute to regional (re)development and sustainable tourism (Muangasame & Park, 2019). From the tourism provider perspective, food-based images and attributes for a destination are used to co-create a set of strategies which stage the local food and identity 167

168  Handbook on food tourism as a holistic experience (Lai et al., 2018; Xu et al., 2020). In other words, this is a dynamic process where the strategies of the public and private sectors intersect rather than one sector dominating another. Tourism placemaking is relevant here. Placemaking is an activity that makes a space a place by giving meanings to the people who use it (Dupre, 2019), which is a fundamental concept in tourism planning and marketing (Lew, 2017). Lew (2017) refers to the organic bottom–up process by individuals and groups as placemaking, whereas the master plan derived by the top–down approach by the public sector is called placemaking. However, in general use it is written as placemaking. This chapter deals with both top–down and bottom–up forms of placemaking and adopts the general term placemaking. In the context of food tourism, placemaking is the process of altering or changing a place of production with a place of consumption (Everett, 2012). Previous studies have focused on producers’ branding in economic geography or marketing studies (Lee, Wall & Kovacs, 2015; Lee & Wall, 2014; Tsai & Wang, 2017), regional or national policies (Muangasame & Park, 2019; Boyne, Hall & Williams, 2003), and the consumption side of place from an anthropological or geographical perspective (Costa & Besio, 2011; Kim & Ellis, 2015; Pink, 2008). However, there is still a lack of research on the processes through which diverse stakeholders engage in placemaking in food tourism. Although many regions nowadays undertake tourism promotion and marketing campaigns utilising their foods and foodways, there is a paucity of research on whether local foods and foodways are staged and consumed as a place of food tourism. There is a need to examine the dynamics and complexities of the public and private sector’s placemaking processes as well as the internal and external factors that may shape and/or influence the processes and subsequent outcomes. Additionally, strategic alliances in various sectors are important in influencing placemaking using food tourism (Horng & Tsai, 2011; Telfer, 2001), yet studies on these areas are still lacking. Particularly in placemaking, food exists in a milieu of top–down and bottom–up approaches (Lew, 2017). Taking this into account, when considering food tourism development, it is important to understand how a regional food (and foodways) is combined with tourism promotion in various sectors of the region to reveal the consolidated destination image of food tourism and placemaking. Furthermore, in the case of Japan, food plays an important role in the domestic tourism industry (Kim et al., 2019) – not only consumed during travel, but moreover as souvenirs for family members, friends, and colleagues. There is often the felt social obligation to share something with their peer group when returning home (Lin & Mao, 2015). The strategic promotion of regional food originates with the first boom of domestic tourism in the 1970s and 1980s, kickstarted by Japan Railways’ marketing campaigns ‘Discover Japan’ (1970s) and ‘Exotic Japan’ (1980s). The Japanese regional development programme ‘one village one product’ (isson ippin) in the 1980s fostered the idea that a municipality should focus on one special local product – usually locally cultivated vegetables or fruits – and make this its attraction for customers and tourists. This concept was considered a valuable approach for local ‘placemaking’ (furusato-zukuri) or ‘village revitalization’ (mura okoshi) in remote or peripheral areas (Knight, 1994). In the mid-1980s, Japan Post used existing ‘hometown parcels’ (furusato kozutsumi) sales catalogues through which customers could purchase a vast variety of regional food items from anywhere in the country and – maybe more importantly – made people aware of ‘local food specialities’ (chihō no meibutsu/meisan) which were thought to be symbolic for a certain place (Robertson, 1988, p. 510). This ‘today over-hyped category’ (Bestor, 2011, p. 279) of

The homeland of Sanuki udon  169 local specialities is further promoted by the still very popular travel guidebooks like Rurubu (published by Japan Travel Bureau Corporation, a former governmental travel agency and one of the largest worldwide) as well as by the many TV shows depicting idols or talents traveling throughout the countryside and consuming local food. As this overview demonstrates, local food promotion has a long history in Japan of linkages between local and central authorities, private (or former governmental) companies, and the domestic tourism industry. This chapter, therefore, examines how a regional signature, staple food is produced and promoted as a tourism resource through the placemaking processes, focusing on the three axes of top–down, bottom–up, and general media production regarding the food tourism of Sanuki udon noodle in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. Although Japanese udon noodle has less international recognition than sushi, kaiseki (fine dining), and ramen, it has a long history in Japan and has been proactively used as a regional food tourism attraction and attribute with its unique production and consumption patterns in various regions (Kim, 2016; Kim & Ellis, 2015; Kim et al., 2019). In particular, Kagawa Prefecture is uniquely recognised for the highest production and consumption of udon noodle per capita in Japan, so that tourism policies and experiences around the udon noodle have been implemented.

2.

UDON NOODLES IN JAPAN AND SANUKI UDON IN KAGAWA PREFECTURE

Udon noodle is a Japanese staple food defined as soup with thick elastic noodles. As Kim and Ellis (2015, p. 164) emphasised, it is ‘one of the simplest, cheapest, and humblest ordinary dishes in Japan’. The main ingredients of udon are wheat flour, salt and fresh water, while served with a broth made by mixing soy sauce, kelp, bonito (katsuo) and dried sardines (iriko). However, it is also a food with regional variations that include but are not limited to the ingredients for soup, the side ingredients for topping, the way to pour or dip the soup, and the thickness of noodles themselves. Among these, there is udon made with thin noodles such as Akita Prefecture’s Inaniwa udon, and there are udon noodles with curry on top rather than soup-base, thus making it difficult to define what udon is in the Japanese context. In the end, if the person serving and eating acknowledges it as udon, it can be called udon in Japan. As claimed in an earlier study on Japanese udon noodle tourism (Kim, 2015; Kim & Ellis, 2015; Kim & Iwashita, 2016), there are three major udon noodles and regions in Japan. This stems from the Japanese tradition of attaching the phrase ‘Japan’s top three’ to almost every field, for example top three famous tourism destinations. Strictly speaking, it is still debatable about the three major udon noodles and regions of Japan. Morisada (2015) suggested that Sanuki udon of Kagawa Prefecture and Inaniwa udon of Akita Prefecture rank first and second place, respectively. Nagasaki’s Goto udon, Gunma’s Mizusawa udon, Toyama’s Himi udon, Yamanashi’s Hoto, and Nagoya’s Kishimen are candidates for third place. In particular, which region is viewed third also relates to each region’s promotional strategy, and each of the relevant regions insist that their udon should be included. Udon is also a local food. Japanese cuisine including local food can be broadly divided into washoku, gotochi gurume, and B-kyu gurume (Jimura, 2022, p. 69). The category of washoku was established in the late 19th century to distinguish between Japanese and the – at the time – increasingly foreign dishes, as the country reopened to the Western world (Sternsdorf-Cisterna, 2020). In 2013, using the example of the traditional feast (kaiseki/

170  Handbook on food tourism osechi) eaten at New Year or in Buddhist temples at important gatherings, washoku was listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (Sternsdorf-Cisterna, 2020). Today’s concept of washoku is closely related to fine dining in Western cuisine, as distinct from everyday cuisine. The cuisine experienced by tourists on a gourmet trip to Japan mainly fall into this category (Tussyadiah, 2005). Gotochi gurume, which means local gourmet, is a food unique to or prominent in a particular place or region, such as Sanuki udon in Kagawa Prefecture. B-kyu gurume refers to B-grade gourmet and is similar to gotochi gurume but characterised by no specific locality (Jimura, 2022). The difference between Gotochi gurume and B-kyu gurume depends on where it is served. Jimura (2022) suggests that even same okonomiyaki, a Japanese-style savoury pancake, becomes gotochi gurume if served in Osaka or Hiroshima, where the locals have an infatuation with it and where it is nationally recognised as being associated with these cities. However, it becomes a B-kyu gurume if served in another region, for example Tokyo. Udon noodle can also be classified as gotochi gurume if served in a region such as Kagawa and Gunma Prefectures. Thus, what classifies Sanuki udon in Kagawa Prefecture as gotochi gurume is the unique production and consumption of udon noodles in the region, where the dish has been an essential part of the population’s everyday lives for centuries (Kim & Ellis, 2015). A distinctive feature of Sanuki udon is that, compared with other gotochi gurume, it is consumed extensively within the region, whether traditional or modern (see Figure 12.1). In Kagawa, udon noodle is traditionally consumed for annual events, such as New Year’s Day, autumn festivals, and winter solstice. This continues today (Kim & Ellis, 2015). According to a household survey by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2020), the population of Kagawa Prefecture purchase and eat the most udon noodles per household in the country. This reflects the close ties and relations between food, regional and local identity in Kagawa. This echoes a famous quote, ‘Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es,’ which translates: ‘Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are,’ in the French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1825)’s masterpiece book Physiology of Taste. However, apart from local consumption, Sanuki udon has only limited protection as a brand. In Japan, according to the Fair Competition Regulations on the Labelling of Raw Noodles, the label ‘Sanuki udon’ can only be used for noodles that have a set recipe, moisture, and salt content, aged for more than 2 hours, and boiled for more than 15 minutes. However, this applies only when used together with the label ‘specialty’, ‘mainland’, and ‘special product’. In other cases, the name ‘Sanuki udon’ can be used for any noodles produced and consumed outside the Sanuki udon region (Fair Competition Regulations on the Labelling of Raw Noodles). Thus, since this regulation covers and adheres to the manufacturing method only, even noodles from other regions can use the name ‘authentic Sanuki udon’, so long as they meet the conditions. Furthermore, there are no rules for broth making; thus, even if restaurants do not use dried sardines for the soup’s broth that is a typical characteristic of Sanuki udon, the use of the name is still allowed. Such limited protection makes Sanuki udon B-kyu gurume nationally, given that many places across the country sell Sanuki udon. This serves as both an advantage and a disadvantage to Sanuki udon’s food tourism in Kagawa Prefecture. The nationalisation of Sanuki udon as a B-kyu gurume contributes to strengthening the destination image of Kagawa by linking its udon noodle with the brand name of Sanuki or Kagawa Prefecture. At the same time, being able to eat Sanuki udon everywhere could undermine people’s motivation to go to Kagawa to sample the original udon noodles in loco, though some still do take their holidays to Kagawa

The homeland of Sanuki udon  171

Figure 12.1

Kagawa hotels offering self-serve-style udon breakfasts

for Sanuki udon (Kim & Ellis, 2015). The Sanuki udon boom in Japan is an example of Kagawa Prefecture using Sanuki udon to associate placemaking with the local signature dish. The Sanuki udon boom that occurred, regardless of the locals’ willingness and readiness, forms the destination image of Kagawa, instilling placemaking with Sanuki udon noodle. There are different schools of thought regarding when and how the Sanuki udon boom in Japan occurred, following the marketing concept of ‘one village, one product’ on a prefectural level. Takeuchi (2009) asserts in the Journal of the Japanese Udon Society that there were four Sanuki udon booms in chronological order: 1969–70, 1988, 1995, and 2002. The first boom

172  Handbook on food tourism was after Sanuki udon was served at the Kagawa Prefecture booth during the Osaka Expo 1970, although there is no official evidence of this. The new interest in domestic tourism and local products during the 1970s and 1980s might also be a reason for the increased popularity of Sanuki udon around that time. The second boom followed the opening of the Great Seto Bridge (Seto Ōhashi), which connects Honshu and Shikoku, increasing the number of tourists due to the improvement of the transportation infrastructure and the consequent increase in visitors to udon shops in the prefecture. The third boom resulted from media exposure in udon guidebooks and on TV, as mentioned in other studies (Kim & Ellis, 2015; Kim & Reijnders, 2018). The fourth was because of the increase in the number of Sanuki udon shops offering self-service style. Franchise udon restaurants such as Hanamaru Udon and Marugame Seimen, which opened in 2000, expanded their stores nationwide, including Tokyo, as an opportunity to spread the brand of Sanuki udon. The decisive trigger for the Sanuki udon boom, officially described in an interview with the Kagawa Prefecture Tourism Promotion Division in 2022, was the opening of the Seto Ohashi Bridge in 1988, a bridge connecting Honshu and Shikoku by car and rail. The Shikoku region, to which Kagawa Prefecture belongs, had the least domestic transportation connections among Japan’s four main islands at that time and still lags in development. As mentioned earlier, udon is ubiquitous across Japan, and B-kyu gurume restaurants named after Sanuki udon exist all over the country. There was no reason to go to Kagawa by ferry to simply consume udon noodles. The completed transportation network made it more convenient and accessible for Japanese tourists to eat udon in Kagawa and contributed to spreading the image of those who consumed Sanuki udon locally, which also contributed to the boom.

3.

RESEARCH METHODS

The findings of this study were from on-site and online interviews and the archive, forming the primary and second data, respectively. The on-site interviews with five people in charge of tourism and agriculture at the Kagawa Prefectural Government were conducted in early April 2022, while the online interviews conducted with the presidents of Udon Hotel and Udon School were conducted in late April 2022. The limited interview data was supplemented with the secondary archive data from the company history book, published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the company’s founding provided by Udon School, and tourism statistics and reports published by Kagawa Prefecture and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In doing so, the study reveals how the region under investigation turns its unique local food into a tourism resource and creates a food tourism place. This provides new perspectives on how placemaking works in the context of food tourism and contributes to promoting tourism as follows.

4. FINDINGS 4.1

Top–down Placemaking from Kagawa Prefecture

The Udon Prefecture Declaration in 2011 that aimed to make a nickname of Kagawa Prefecture as Udon Prefecture is an exemplar of the top–down placemaking strategy using

The homeland of Sanuki udon  173 Sanuki udon. The Kagawa Prefecture Tourism Association put forward the title of ‘Udon Prefecture’, and the poster and promotional videos were made by the effective collaborations between the public sector (that is, Kagawa Prefecture) and publicly renowned celebrities from the prefecture, especially Jun Kaname, a famous Kagawa-born actor who introduced himself as the vice governor of udon prefecture and said, ‘Welcome to Udon Prefecture’, which created a nationwide sensation. The Udon Prefecture Declaration is a combination of placemaking for promoting a new food tourism in the region capitalising in Sanuki udon noodle and regional tourism promotion to raise the public’s awareness of Kagawa Prefecture as the homeland of Sanuki udon, leveraging the already strong awareness of Sanuki udon nationwide. Prior to Kagawa Prefecture’s declaration as Udon Prefecture, the prefectural government officials had a low awareness of Kagawa Prefecture. An interviewed prefectural officer commented that promoting Udon Prefecture was triggered by the fact that the Kagawa Prefecture was ranked bottom in a nationwide awareness survey of area-wide local governments in Japan. In 2011, the prefecture independently surveyed the public’s awareness of local products from Kagawa Prefecture on the internet. The popularity of udon was more than 90%, while the awareness of the rest of the products was between 40% and 50%. Thus, utilising the Sanuki udon brand that everyone knew was most effective in promoting the prefecture. In this regard, the Udon Prefecture Declaration was seen as a top–down local tourism promotion and expansion of ‘one village, one product’ on a prefectural level with food resources as the traction device. In fact, the poster of the Udon Prefecture project had the phrase ‘Udon, not the only one of Kagawa’. The Kagawa Prefecture continued to make tourism places using udon noodle. In 2015, the Aini kite Udon Ken1 (Language play) project was implemented. The year’s promotion is noteworthy because it was the starting point for the prefecture to switch its placemaking strategy from udon noodles to art. In the promotional announcement, the prefectural governor of Hamada also announced that the Kagawa Setouchi art tourism zone had begun. Art was becoming a core topic of Kagawa tourism to replace udon noodles. The 2019 regional tourism report submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Kagawa Prefecture, showed a 16-fold increase in 2019 as the prefecture with the highest number of lodging guests, as compared with 2012. The report indicated that the main attractions in Kagawa are the art galleries and natural landscapes. The idea that art tourism – particularly through Art Triennale Festivals – can effectively attract new visitors or even potential I-turners (migrants from urban spaces moving to the countryside) gained popularity because of the success of the Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale in Niigata, initiated by the Japanese art entrepreneur Kitagawa Fram in 2000 (Klien, 2010). Similar International Art Triennale Festivals were inaugurated for the Seto Inland Sea (its islands/coastal areas) in 2010, to which Kagawa Prefecture belongs. The strategic shift to art tourism might also enable local authorities to receive new funding from the central government. In Kagawa Prefecture, since 2010, the Japanese education company Benesse has been the centre of the Art Triennale for the island area. Local revitalisation through such art creates a new destination image of Kagawa, which is becoming a major tourism resource, especially in attracting foreign tourists. In the Kagawa Prefecture Industrial Growth Strategy Report released by Kagawa Prefecture in 2018, ‘Art Kagawa’ rather than udon is mentioned as the prefecture’s tourism placemaking strategy (p. 30). Interestingly, the same report emphasised that food culture should be used as a tourism resource along with the art. However, it includes olives, not udon noodles. The report presents

174  Handbook on food tourism five key projects that will become the engine of industrial growth in Kagawa Prefecture, with Art Kagawa as the key tourism project and olives as the key food culture project. It may be a strategic decision from the top to perceive that olives would better suit the image of an art destination than udon noodles. As mentioned earlier, the categories of udon in Japanese food are gotochi gurume or B-kyu gurume, whereas olives are reminiscent of Western cuisine and fine dining in Japan. It is possible to think of olives as compatible with art, at least in administrative institutions. In fact, as of 2022, the main page of the English version of the website of the Kagawa Prefecture Tourism Association and the travel suggestions culinary page has pictures of olives, and not udon noodles.2 On the other hand, as a new prefecture’s top–down promotional event using the udon prefecture, since 2018, the project Yadon Paradise in Kagawa, a collaboration with Pokémon Yadon, is conducted once a year. It is based on the similar pronunciation of udon and yadon and the popularity of the game Pokémon Go released in late 2016. In 2018, its first year, a press conference was held to parody the 2011 project and rename Udon Prefecture as Yadon Prefecture. Among the promotions, tourism activities such as stamp rallies were held, where tourists can receive a present by collecting yadon stamps in various parts of Kagawa Prefecture, and products that combined yadon and udon, such as Yadon udon, were also developed. 4.2

Udon and Bottom–up Food Tourism Placemaking

Meanwhile, in Kagawa, a bottom–up approach of food tourism placemaking using Sanuki udon has been taking place through the private tourism sector. Some businesses in Kagawa have been established for more than 100 years, such as Udon School, while others are still young business owners who have just moved from Tokyo to Kagawa. Despite this difference, what is common in their mind is a strong belief that udon noodle is not just a simple everyday food for local residents. From their perspective, udon noodle is what makes Kagawa Prefecture an utterly unique place that provides an authentic cultural and food experience to both domestic and international tourists. This section introduces two examples that represent the bottom–up placemaking of food tourism in the region: Nakano Udon School and Hotel Udon House. Nakano Udon School is a private facility designed for tourists to have a hands-on experience of Sanuki udon noodle-making. Although it is called a school, it is not an educational institution but provides a relatively short cooking experience for about an hour (see Figure 12.2). According to one of the authors’ personal experiences whilst there in April 2022, the tourist programme in the school consists of kneading, treading, slicing, boiling, and eating. In the traditional Japanese udon recipe, including Sanuki udon, the traditional method of creating gluten to wheat flour for chewy texture is to tread it with the feet. At the Udon School, the process of stepping on udon dough on thick plastic is included. By stepping on the dough, along with dancing to the latest pop music (which the author assumed is not traditional), elements of such entertainment are incorporated into simple repetitive work for tourists. However, the participants do not eat the noodles they have stepped on. This is because the udon noodles need to be aged for more than two hours after stepping on them. The participants bring home the noodles they made and tread on, as a souvenir, and previously ripened noodles are cut for tasting. In the author’s experience, it is difficult to wait two hours to eat udon noodles that have been made and it is right to offer matured noodles.

The homeland of Sanuki udon  175

Figure 12.2

‘This is udon that I made.’ Nakano Udon School’s udon making experience

Nakano Udon School was born and developed due to the flow of local tourism. In an interview with the current CEO, Yuko Hato, he mentioned that its parent company was a bookstore opened by his ancestors in 1914. The second proprietor reconstructed a part of the bookstore and then turned it into a souvenir shop in 1952. In the Kotohira area where the bookstore was located, the number of tourists visiting the famous Kotohira Shrine and students coming on school excursions was increasing at that time. The Nakano souvenir shop, located on the approach route to the shrine, has also gradually prospered. It was in 1981 that the souvenir shop became an udon school. Nakano Udon School, started by Yoshitsura Nakano, the third proprietor, began as a criticism of mass tourism, which was booming at the time. He believed that, although he had benefited from mass tourism, the future of tourism would be centred on individuals’ tourist experiences. During this time, group-bus tourists were usually served boiled udon noodles from noodle mills that produced large quantities; thus, the udon was soggy and had no taste. After listening to the complaints of the tourists, and further predicting that future tourism will change from a mere tourist gaze to more hands-on experience, Yoshitsura opened an udon school where group tourists could enjoy udon making and eat them fresh on the spot. However, the first 15 years of the Udon School attracted few customers annually, and the school was criticised by the tourism industry. In these early days of the Udon School, Yoshitsura wore a white robe and gave explanations to tourists, focusing on classroom-type classes and lectures. Also, the system of the school was not understood by tourists. First, the

176  Handbook on food tourism customers perceived they were treated with not enough omotenashi (good hospitality, a catchword in Japanese tourism since the mid-2010s) because the udon noodle dishes were not just served, but the tourist had to produce them first by themselves – that is, they had to ‘work’ for their meals. However, in the 1990s, there was actually a boom of domestic tourism programmes in which the customers worked physically in traditional crafts at cultural experiences (Creighton, 1995) and tourists complained that their clothes became dirty. The very moment of change came in 1994. The current principal, Mrs Matsunaga, hired as instructor, added the entertainment aspects to the existing structure of the programme. The combination of dance, fun conversations, and music made udon-making a more enjoyable tourist experience, and according to an interview with the proprietor, it was transformed into a dancing udon school. As of 2019, around 80,000 visitors frequent the school each year at the two stores which offer the course. Hotel Udon House is a facility that aims to provide an experience of making and enjoying udon in the local area, and furthermore, a long-term stay-type travel experience related to udon, such as visiting udon-producing areas including traditional mills and local soy sauce manufacturers. Tourists can experience udon noodles during their stay, from kneading and maturation to meals at a hotel converted from an old Japanese house. The following morning, tourists are invited to visit the hotel and nearby udon shops to enjoy the unique udon eating culture with locals. Udon House is a company founded by Kanako Harada in 2018, when she moved from Tokyo to Mitoyo city, Kagawa Prefecture. What Ms Harada drew attention to was experiencing udon as a culture, not just a simple food consumption. In addition to the actual udon-making experience provided by the school, the hotel’s experience programme includes educating tourists in the different foodways associated with entering, serving, and eating at local udon restaurants. In the interview, Harada designed the experience of eating udon in various ways – which cannot be experienced in other regions or countries. For instance, tourists there not only make and eat their own udon during their stay, but they are also guided to various local udon shops and so further experience diverse ways of eating udon. Hotel Udon House started designing tourism placemaking, capitalising on udon noodles as a resource to encourage longer stays. Ms Harada formed the Setouchi Udon Tourism Promotion Council in 2019. The Udon House was the centrepiece of this project, linked with the Transportation Sector Kotohira Bus, which provides chartered tour buses and udon taxi services. To lengthen the current one-day/two-night tour to a week or longer, the council is currently providing a programme for tourists to visit the regions that produce udon ingredients in Kagawa Prefecture, thus expanding the tourists’ experience and understanding of making and eating udon and of food production in general. Ms Harada commented that the udon experience provided at the hotel includes making udon, but Kagawa’s udon culture includes production of ingredients such as wheat flour, iriko (dried sardines), and salt, and it is important to also visit these production areas. Tour programmes that include a sardine-drying place or a soy sauce production plant in Shodoshima are aimed at Western tourists who usually stay for a longer duration. It is common for these tourists to stay for a week or even a month; therefore, it is important to provide various experiences – hence, the need for the council.

The homeland of Sanuki udon  177 4.3

Media-focused Programmes Generating Sanuki Udon Food Tourism

It has been documented that Sanuki udon has appeared in various media, such as movies, manga, and animation, which has been mutually beneficial for food tourism placemaking. The most famous media production focusing on Sanuki udon is the film Udon (2006), as discussed in an earlier work on the udon noodle tourism boom in Kagawa Prefecture (Kim & Ellis, 2015). Produced by Fuji TV and directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro, who was born in Marugame, Kagawa Prefecture has a deep local and regional association with udon noodles. The film was created with his strong desire to make the film truly reflect the cultural history of Kagawa udon noodles and people’s stories. In the film production, the director made his younger brother, who was an office worker at a company he worked for, become an udon master. The udon in the movie was made by Katsuyuki’s brother, who later opened a Sanuki udon restaurant. In the year of the film’s release, the box office performance was 1.36 billion yen, ranking it 21st amongst Japanese films for that year (Japan Federation of Film Producers, 2006). The film production company Fuji TV provided 600 udon meals to the Cannes Film Festival at a cost of 100 million yen. Whilst this was not an official event of the film festival, since the film was not invited to the Festival de Cannes, the production team took advantage of the festival’s fame to promote the film and udon noodles. In 2012, the manga Poco’s Udon World (Udon no Kuni no Kin’iro Kemari, literally ‘The Golden Furball of Udon Country’) was created by Shinomaru Nodoka, a manga artist from Kagawa Prefecture. It tells the story of Sota Tawara, the main character, who moved to Tokyo because she did not want to continue the family business of udon making and selling, and then returns to Kagawa, where she meets a mysterious boy. Poco is actually a tanuki, a raccoon dog with shapeshifting powers – one of Japan’s most famous supernatural creatures from folklore legends (yōkai) and thought to be especially large in number on Shikoku Island (Casal, 1959); the name poco derives from a typical sound made by tanuki when clapping on their belly. As the title suggests, the narrative of the manga is about the travel of Sota and Poco to Kagawa Prefecture’s famous tourist spots eating udon noodles and other regional foods. It is ‘daily healing work’, a genre of Japanese manga that does not necessarily have a denouement but instead depicts daily life in a loose, relaxing but perhaps boring manner. In the settings where Kagawa Prefecture and udon noodle shops are portrayed, the cooperation since 2015 between Kagawa’s Udon Prefecture project and the manga collaboration assists in recognising Kagawa as the udon place. The 2015 Aini kite Udon Ken announcement, a project called ‘Nodokawa Poco’s Udon Prefectural Journey’, was made together with the manga artist and tanuki Poco introducing Kagawa Prefecture as a place for tourism. A special website was created to introduce this work and Kagawa’s udon culture, episodes where udon shops were interviewed during manga production, and famous tourist spots.3 In February 2016, Poco was appointed as the public relations manager of the prefecture. Meanwhile, the manga was made into a TV animation series in 2016, and location maps were added to the website to promote regional tourism associated with udon noodles. The manga series continued until its 13th volume in 2019. On the cover of the last volume, Jun Kaname, an actor who became vice governor in promoting the udon prefecture in 2011, left a recommendation that ‘this work is full of the charm and fantasy of Kagawa that I (the vice governor) did not know before’. Meanwhile, JTB, a major Japanese travel agency, published a guidebook Rurubu Udon no Kuni no Kin’iro Kemari: A Journey Through Anime in 2017. The book introduces

178  Handbook on food tourism tourist attractions in the Kagawa region and includes interviews with actors and directors, as well as an animation course guide. The collaboration between Poco’s Udon World and Kagawa Prefecture was not initially planned. The trend of Japanese media-induced tourism, especially in tourism promotion related to manga and animation in particular, so-called contents tourism in Japan (Seaton et al. 2017), is largely divided into a pattern of planning a collaboration from the initial production stage, and a pattern of requesting collaboration from the public sector which recognises the popularity of a work once it has gained popularity. Poco’s Udon World belongs to the latter. Kagawa is in charge of all tourism public affairs, tourism associations, and film commissions at the Prefectural Tourism Division, which is a little different from other local governments in Japan. In an interview with another government officer, the prefecture did not specifically support the production of udon-related media but later participated in the collaboration project of creating a location map for Poco’s Udon World. The prefecture, however, did not collect any specific tourist data but said it was an opportunity for a new class of anime and manga fans to visit Kagawa.

5. CONCLUSION This chapter examined how Sanuki udon from Kagawa Prefecture has been promoted and consumed as a tourism resource through the combination of top–down and bottom–up placemaking. The chapter also investigated how media production as an organic process has contributed to the placemaking of the region, and how local food becomes a tourism resource and a food tourism space. Sanuki udon is a local staple food that historically, culturally and symbolically represents Kagawa Prefecture and its own people who are thought to love eating udon regularly. The local public and private sectors have capitalised on the udon noodle as a symbol for the locals’ food-based destination image and as a significant tourism resource to create a unique tourism experience. However, with little consensus or consolidation taking place between the main players, the directions and approaches of each side were proven to be somewhat different and often contradictory. From a public sector perspective, Kagawa Prefecture mainly used the food-based destination image of udon noodles for the placemaking. In Kagawa Prefecture’s tourism promotion associated with the udon noodle, the nationally accepted image of Sanuki udon was used to expand Kagawa’s local awareness. The Sanuki udon as the regional signature dish was a temporary hook used in the placemaking strategy which promoted Kagawa’s destination image, but was later replaced with another more generally appealing resource. In other words, the udon noodle was a means rather than the goal of promotion. When announcing Yadon Prefecture as the replacement for Udon Prefecture, the governor joked ‘Udon will be soggy one day (that is why the prefecture renamed Udon Prefecture to Yadon Prefecture)’, illustrating how the public sector perceived their udon and its related destination image, which will gradually disappear from tourism promotion for the region. As discussed in this study, the recent trend of placemaking that emphasises the prefecture principally for its art, while maintaining the udon prefecture brand, reflects this mindset and strategy. On the other hand, the local businesses which are engaged in udon-related production and selling, representing the private sector of the region, show a different pathway of placemaking. They use their local and regional identity associated with the strong food culture and foodways

The homeland of Sanuki udon  179 displaying a greater emotional and psychological attachment to their staple food, which is the Sanuki udon noodle. The placemaking of the Nakano Udon School and Hotel Udon House is attractive to Kagawa, which is linked to food production, and promotes traditional culture through the process of making udon noodle, especially through the experience of producing and consuming the noodles. Unlike Kagawa Prefecture, which implements its tourism strategy for the entire region, private businesses use the charm of their one food-related tourism resource, Sanuki udon noodle, in placemaking and consider how Kagawa as a place for food tourism can provide the most utterly authentic experience for tourists, thereby differentiating their place and tourism products from other prefectures. As a strategy for the future, it will be necessary for the public sector to develop a new destination image while at the same time contemplating how to utilise the traditional and most distinctive udon resource to continue supporting local businesses. Local businesses will also need a strategy such as developing a new image promoted by the public sector in connection with the udon experience, e.g., with more links to media content depicting udon or in combination with other local tourism resources such as the arts. With Sanuki udon restaurants available nationwide in Japan today, udon consumption alone can hardly be expected to be the main reason for tourists’ continued attraction to the area, but should relate to experiences and cultural offerings for more sustainable tourist placemaking. Udon-themed media programmes generated a different destination image of Kagawa as an udon mecca, largely independent of the two sectors above yet combining food tourism with media tourism. In the process, it also colluded with Kagawa Prefecture’s placemaking strategy. The prefecture welcomes the growing media fan base and cooperates with the udon prefecture promotion through media production, independent of placemaking in other directions. The media producers are mainly from Kagawa but will continue to collaborate with the prefecture as an opportunity to promote media. Udon-related media, which creates destination images and promotes them widely to the public, are an important axis of placemaking in that they can bridge the gap between the public sector and local businesses and provide a new direction for placemaking through food. The case of Sanuki udon in Kagawa Prefecture, discussed in this chapter, shows how placemaking is evolving in the promotion of diverse sectors around tourism using one food as a resource.

NOTES 1. Meaning in Japanese is ‘come to love’ (愛にきて Aini kite), but it is grammatically incorrect and usually same pronunciation aini kite means ‘come to meet’ (会いにきて Aini Kite). Udon Ken means udon prefecture. 2. See https://​www​.my​-kagawa​.jp/​en. 3. See https://​www​.my​-kagawa​.jp/​poko/​.

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13. From a newspaper page to a must-visit food tourism attraction Francesc Fusté-Forné

1. INTRODUCTION This chapter sits within the understanding of the relationships between food, tourism and media (Frost et al., 2016), and how they have the potential to inform about emerging trends and geographical locations of tourism. Writing about food is writing about memories and traditions of people (Voss, 2012). Food journalism is a growing niche form of special interest journalism (English & Fleischman, 2017; Fusté-Forné, 2017; Hughes, 2010; Kristensen & From, 2012) which is predominantly developed from the mediatisation of celebrities (Jones & Taylor, 2013). However, little research has previously analysed the role of media chefs, and their restaurants, as destination landmarks, and the role of media in food tourism marketing requires further investigation. Food tourism is a growing niche form of special interest tourism (Ellis et al., 2018; Hall & Sharples, 2003; Okumus, 2020) which protects and promotes the relationships between people and places, and valorises both historical and contemporary practices. The discovery of a place via food is a form of lifestyle and leisure (Jones & Taylor, 2013). In this context, the popularity of chefs has contributed to the creation of a tourism attraction factor which is increasingly mediatised. Chefs have an ever more crucial role in tourism development (Zhang & Yu, 2018) and as a source of food tourism attraction (Mahfud et al., 2019). In line with celebrity-induced tourism (Lee et al., 2008), this chapter argues that celebrity chefs stimulate travel (see Busby et al., 2013) and, through media, engage people in food experiences (Leer & Povlsen, 2016). Food is a manifestation of culture (Lum & Ferrière le Vayer, 2016) and lifestyle (Sutton, 2001). According to Smith (2015), food is a key ingredient of sense of place (see also Barham, 2003; Fusté-Forné, 2020a; Trubek, 2008). Sims (2009) adds that a food experience “enables the visitor to connect with the place and culture” (p.333). Food tourism is defined as “the act of traveling for a taste of place in order to get a sense of place” (World Food Travel Association, 2022), where the sense of place is the amalgamation of meanings that people attach to place. According to Silver and Grek-Martin (2015), sense of place “combines emotions, impressions, beliefs, memories, and experiences with a place. An individual’s sense of place is constructed by their personality, their life histories, their values, and their interactions with that place” (p.32). Food emerges as one of the layers that informs the meanings that tourists attribute to a destination (see Therkelsen, 2015). As a continuation of previous research that analysed the narratives of food and tourism in Spanish newspapers (Fusté-Forné & Masip, 2020), this chapter studies the role of food in legacy media departing from the narratives of “chefs” in the context of the awarding ceremonies of the Michelin Guide and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants to discuss the potential opportunities for food tourism in Spain. In the context of Spain, the gastronomic boom has been 182

From a newspaper page to a must-visit food tourism attraction  183 led by the Basque and Catalan regions, whose chefs have gathered growing media attention, especially thanks to Ferran Adrià (Pujol, 2009). Here, “the fact that over the last decade a number of restaurants, both Catalan and Spanish – El Bulli, El Celler de Can Roca, Arzak and Mugaritz – have been named among the best in the world on several occasions brought the cuisine to the front pages of major printed media repeatedly” (Fusté-Forné, 2017, p.31). In this sense, Ferran Adrià was the leader of “a new cuisine, that, in addition to generating an unusual culinary corpus, will place the gastronomy as a leisure, artistic and even social prescriber” (Agulló, 2015). Chefs are seen as rock stars (see Huidobro, 2006), and their restaurants are included in the must-visit destination lists.

2.

CHEFS AT THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN FOOD, MEDIA AND TOURISM

Food journalism is defined as a special interest journalism which embraces “the reporting of food from a variety of perspectives that may include products, dishes, restaurants, events or the gastronomy as a social fact” (Fusté-Forné & Masip, 2020, p.144). Food journalism in the context of this chapter is related to the role of chefs as drivers of food-based media content which “serves to describe how a place is and how a place tastes through its food features” (ibid). In particular, food journalism is heavily linked to celebrity (Jones & Taylor, 2013), and chefs have “a central role in shaping the storytelling of contemporary interest on gastronomy” (Fusté-Forné & Masip, 2020, p.129). Media largely contributes to the popularisation of food (see Fusté-Forné, 2017). Previous research argues that food journalism fits within the development of lifestyle journalism, which encapsulates topics about food and drink (Cole, 2005; Craig, 2016; Fürsich, 2012; Hanusch, 2012). According to Kristensen and From (2012): today, the coverage of food includes good advice, recipes, reviews and expressions of taste and lifestyle, and the subject is therefore approached not only as guidance to cultural and/or gastronomic products or experiences (e.g. restaurant reviews) but also, like fashion, as a representation of ways of life and a symbolic marker of taste and lifestyle (p.34).

In addition, food journalism also fits within the notion of armchair tourism (see Damkjær & Waade, 2014), which shows that reading a food magazine or watching a culinary documentary are also examples of food tourism experiences. Celebrity chefs have been largely mediatised during the last two centuries. Back to the origins, Brillat-Savarin was one of the first food writers who published, in 1825, The Physiology of Taste, which is considered the basis of gastronomy science (Schraemli, 1982). Grimod de la Reynière, also in the nineteenth century, is considered the first food journalist (Sánchez, 2011). His work Almanach des Gourmands evokes a culinary landscape featured by establishments such as restaurants (Jones & Taylor, 2013). August Escoffier, chef and writer, also contributed to the understanding of the leisure dimension of gastronomy, protecting and promoting the culinary arts (Schraemli, 1982). In this sense, food journalism emerged with the arrival of nineteenth-century restaurants (Naulin, 2012), when gastronomy progressively became a cultural and social practice (Ferguson, 1998). Later, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Michelin Guide institutionalised gastronomy (Karpik, 2000) as a concern in

184  Handbook on food tourism relation to how people spend their leisure time (Fusté-Forné, 2017) and, recently, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants have confirmed this star system as a source of food tourism experiences. Chefs have engaged people with the discovery of food in a broader sense – and in relation to a diversity of topics such as agriculture, health, politics and tourism. Kim (2012) affirms that media have the power to develop attraction for a geographical area. Media create awareness about food experiences which are later searched by tourists. Tourists are largely influenced by media (Månsson, 2011) because media provide information about destinations and their key features. Previous research has developed the connections between media contents and tourism consumption (Buchmann, Moore & Fisher, 2010; Connell, 2012) based on the communication of lifestyles. This chapter argues that thanks to the popularity of star chefs, gastronomy becomes a tourist attraction (see Pujol, 2009) which shapes the geographical locations of food tourism. In particular, this idea is observed in Busby et al. (2013), who reveal that a food tourism motivation grew in Cornwall (England) induced by a celebrity chef involvement. Busby et al. (2013) identified the influence of celebrity chef Rick Stein on tourism demand to the coastal town of Padstow. The involvement of people with celebrities enhances their visitation intentions to destinations (see, for example, Teng & Chen, 2020) and, as observed in the Rick Stein example, shows that celebrity chefs encourage food consumption through tourism. Previous research explains that “the role of chefs in attracting visitors to a particular destination, which is not limited to the dining experience itself – sometimes happening also on the road, namely street food or food trucks – and it also includes a set of foodways these chefs perform, such as events or exhibitions” (Fusté-Forné, 2020b, p.198). However, restaurants play the most relevant role (Henderson, 2011) and “when a celebrity is perceived to be an expert in gastronomy […], consumers may exhibit favourable attitudes and behavioural intentions toward the restaurant. This may partially explain the popularity of celebrity chef restaurants” (Yang, 2018, p.406).

3. METHOD Drawing from a qualitative content analysis, this chapter aims to analyse the chef-based narratives in relation to the awarding ceremonies of the Michelin Guide and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants from a Spanish perspective. This aspect is important because media attention to the relationships between chefs and events is focused on these two awarding ceremonies (Fusté-Forné, 2017; Fusté-Forné & Masip, 2022). Data sources include four newspapers, the two Spanish and the two Catalan newspapers with highest circulation (OJD, 2020) and the highest number of daily readers (EGM, 2020): El Mundo (468,000 daily readers), El País (751,000), El Periódico (209,000) and La Vanguardia (399,000). The timeframe includes the period between 2005 and 2015. The universe is formed by 4,015 units of each of the newspapers (a newspaper for 365 days over 11 years). In this sense, systematic sampling is defined (Krippendorff, 1990; Neuendorf, 2002) as a proper strategy for data obtained from regular publications. However, to eliminate biases derived from the periodicity of the publications, the use of composite week is recommended (Wimmer & Dominik, 1996). Within the study period, odd years were selected (2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015) and a composite week was used as a systematic sampling strategy (Riffe, Aust, & Lacy, 1993) for each of the years. It means that two dates are selected per week and the dates change

From a newspaper page to a must-visit food tourism attraction  185 Table 13.1

Media contents based on “chefs”, “restaurants” and “events” (number of pieces in each category per year considering the four newspapers)

Category/year

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

Total

Chefs

50

79

87

81

120

120

537

Restaurants

189

112

192

140

151

208

992

Events

99

71

100

105

72

83

530

every week (week 1: Monday and Thursday, week 2: Tuesday and Friday, week 3: Wednesday and Saturday, week 4: Thursday and Sunday). A total of 104 issues of each newspaper every year were analysed, which results in 624 issues per newspaper and a total amount of 2,496 issues including the four newspapers. The printed copies of the four newspapers were reviewed manually, and based on the development of a codebook, the articles which developed the topic of food were selected (N=4,344). Following the work of Fusté-Forné and Masip (2018), the articles were analysed based on the development of thematic categories, based on food production, food distribution and the relationships between food and society. A total of 6,088 topics were categorised: 4,344 as main category and 1,744 as secondary, because a journalistic piece can discuss more than one aspect of food. The thematic categories were products, chefs, restaurants, stores, events, gastronomy and arts, and gastronomy as social fact. As a result of the data analysis and the categorisation of topics, the author selected all the publications where “chefs”, “restaurants” and “events” are discussed (see Table 13.1). Results show the presence of chefs and restaurants as a media content is growing and, in particular, the events are focused on the Michelin Guide and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants events (Fusté-Forné, 2017). For this chapter, the contents related to the representations of chefs (N=537) and their restaurants (N=992), and events (N=530), namely, the awarding ceremonies of the Michelin Guide and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, were selected as data. The analysis shows that chefs (production of food experiences), their restaurants and events (distribution of food experiences) are explored by the four newspapers. The relationships between the three categories (N=240) includes the following numbers from each publication: El Mundo (40), El País (21), El Periódico (115) and La Vanguardia (64). In this sense, the contents resulting from the combination of the categories of chefs, restaurants and events are analysed. Based on these publications, a discourse analysis was carried out by the researcher to construct the representations of information contents.

4. RESULTS Results are presented in sub-sections based on the commonly identified themes derived from the discourse in relation to the role of chefs and their restaurants in the framework of two major gastronomic events, the awarding ceremonies of the Michelin Guide and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, in Spanish media.

186  Handbook on food tourism 4.1

Celebrity Chefs, and Their Restaurants, as a Source of Media-induced Food Tourism

Star chefs are largely present in the food storytelling and, as observed in Table 13.1, their relevance increases over time. In particular, Ferran Adrià takes the lead in terms of media presence, and the newspapers highlight Ferran Adrià every year. This is because his restaurant, El Bulli, has become the gastronomic world referent (it must be remembered that Ferran Adrià appeared on the cover of Time in 2003 as the most influential chef in world). The restaurant, located in a hidden spot in the Costa Brava, became a must-visit destination for gourmets from all over the world. Now, it is a research hub (El Bulli Foundation, 2022). The culinary narrative reported is focused on Ferran Adrià, who emerges as the media cook par excellence. This is manifested through the sample with a recurrent presence of news that is built on his food impact, which goes beyond gastronomy and even reaches politics. Ferran Adrià held a meeting with the President of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in La Moncloa yesterday. He gave details on the project to create a training and research center in Barcelona to promote everything related to tourism. It is not the first time that the best chef in the world explains his innovative plans to the authorities. Adrià has already met with King Juan Carlos, the President of the Generalitat, José Montilla, and the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Miguel Sebastián (Pereda, 2009).

In a similar line, news also reported that the “King of Spain received yesterday in the palace of the Zarzuela the cooks Ferran Adrià and Juan Maria Arzak in recognition of their professional merits and work of diffusion of the Spanish gastronomic culture” (El Periódico, 2009a). While Ferran Adrià is pivotal in the construction of the discourse, the newspapers also include many different chefs, especially Catalan and Spanish chefs – with the aim of protecting and promoting dining places and their environments. Within the understanding of cuisine as part of culture and of culture as part of tourism, celebrity chefs and restaurants are crucial ambassadors of destinations. This is the case of the Roca brothers, and the restaurant El Celler de Can Roca, whose role towards the stimulation of gastronomic tourism has been previously analysed (see, for example, De Albuquerque et al., 2019; Serra et al., 2016). Other chefs have also built a strong food–place relationship as a driver of tourism experiences – for example, David Muñoz (in Madrid), Dani García (in Málaga), Paco Roncero (in Ibiza) and Ángel León (in El Puerto de Santa María). In all these cases, the media-induced food tourism is reinforced because of their participation in television culinary shows (see Fusté-Forné, 2017). The significance of restaurants appeared in parallel to the recognition of chefs, and the most famous culinary temples are promoted as fashionable places because they have been awarded by the Michelin Guide or acknowledged by Restaurant Magazine, as observed in the following sections. The news in the category of events is built on the Michelin stars and the publication of the world’s best restaurants by Restaurant Magazine. Both events gathered astonishing media attention and both events are focused on star chefs. 4.2

The Historical, and Contemporary, Tourism Attraction of Michelin-starred Restaurants

While there is a Spanish system to recognise the quality of a restaurant – given by the Repsol Guide (El Periódico, 2009b) – this is eclipsed by the publication of the Michelin Guide. In

From a newspaper page to a must-visit food tourism attraction  187 this sense, the relevance of the Michelin stars for the Catalan and Spanish culinary landscape is highlighted every year in all the newspapers (see, for example, Capdevila, 2005; Rivas, 2009b; Jolonch, 2011, 2015). The storytelling is focused on the new, and old, three-starred restaurants, and it also explains the new stars awarded to the Catalan and Spanish restaurants. If there was any topic in the world of haute cuisine that generated unanimity was the undeserved absence of El Celler de Can Roca in the Michelin Guide three-starred restaurants club. On Wednesday night, at last, an injustice denounced for years was repaired. […] Fina Puigdevall, who earned the second star for Les Cols, Olot, as did Antonio Sáez and Martín Berasategui, for Lasarte in Barcelona (Imedio, 2009).

Added to the food tourism attraction of El Celler de Can Roca, restaurants such as Les Cols (see Fusté-Forné, 2021) and chefs such as Martín Berasategui (Martín Berasategui, 2022) have promoted food experiences where they engage visitors with media-induced celebrity tourism. The Michelin gala is one of the most relevant media events of the year: One hundred editions, one hundred, has fulfilled the Michelin Guide, so the 2009 harvest was presented yesterday between the stucco and the tinsel of the D’Orsay Museum. At the end, the old railway station of Paris was inaugurated the same year, 1900, in which the family of the tires divulged gratuitously the first culinary breviary. Some restaurants that were recommended to the traveler 109 years ago are still opened (Amón, 2009).

The Michelin Guide “is the biggest bestseller of the tourist edition” (Caballero, 2009), as also explained in the theoretical section of the chapter, and it is important to remember the meaning of the stars: a restaurant is a good restaurant in the area (one star), worth a detour (two stars), or worth a trip (three stars). Results of the study show that newspapers particularly focus on local restaurants, regardless of the stars, and restaurants that are worth a trip. In 2011, Parra reported: no Spanish restaurant has climbed to the podium of three-Michelin stars 2012, and both Can Fabes, who loses a star after the death of Santi Santamaría, and El Bulli, which closes and disappears from the list, have ceased to be. In Spain, therefore, there are five triestrellados, three in the Basque Country (Arzak, Berasategui and Subijana) and two in Catalonia (Sant Pau and El Celler de Can Roca) (Parra, 2011).

The relevance of Basque and Catalan restaurants in the Spanish culinary landscape is evident, and both regions have become the most important food destinations in the country (see, Pujol, 2009), where Madrid is also gathering more attention. In this sense, El País acknowledged the Michelin-starred restaurants in Madrid. These were La Terraza del Casino and its chef Paco Roncero, Diverxo led by David Muñoz, Kabuki Wellington run by Ricardo Sanz, La Broche by Ángel Palacios, and special attention was paid to the star awarded to Ramón Freixa, the first Catalan chef with a starred restaurant in Madrid. A news report entitled “Few new stars under the sun” (Rivas, 2011b) shows that the publication of the guide only resulted in a few new stars assigned to Spanish restaurants. On the other side, El Periódico particularly underlines the importance of Catalonia in the national gastronomic scene, where Catalan restaurants represented a third of the Spanish Michelin-starred restaurants (see Imedio, 2011).

188  Handbook on food tourism Today’s headlines are likely to talk a lot about the new triestrellado Diverxo, but the triumphal irruption of Albert Adrià with the stars for Tickets and the 41º again made evident that the gastronomic capital is Barcelona, since it counts since yesterday 30 stars distributed among 22 venues. It is true that none of the bi-starred acceded to Olympus (Àbac, Moments, Enoteca, Lasarte), but it is also true that the city won three new distinctions: the two of the other genius of El Bulli already cited and one of Jordi Cruz for Angle (El Periódico, 2013).

In addition, La Vanguardia compares the Barcelona and Madrid restaurants, which is exemplified in the following publication: “Madrid and Barcelona, who aspired to have their first triestrellado this year, have finally paid off for Madrid, which has won the third star for the restaurant DiverXo” (Jolonch, 2013). Within this duel, La Vanguardia highlights the chefs Jordi Cruz, one of the jury members in the Spanish version of the culinary show Master Chef based in Barcelona, and David Muñoz, who runs the restaurant DiverXo in Madrid, and who also broadcast a television documentary series called “The Chef”. While this may result in a centrality of the capitals as food destinations, Catalan restaurants with new stars located beyond Barcelona are also part of the storytelling. As observed with Les Cols, food-based media contents contribute to the visibility of peripheral regions and shape new geographical locations of food tourism. 4.3

The Oscars of Gastronomy and a Must-visit Food Tourism Attraction for Gourmet Tourists

The list of the World’s Best Restaurants is promoted as “the Oscars of Gastronomy” (Pérez, 2009). It gathers the attention of the newspapers in relation to the Spanish restaurants awarded which emerge as the next Spanish destinations to visit for a gourmet food experience. For example, in 2007, four Spanish restaurants were placed among the 11 in the world: El Bulli (first), Mugaritz (seventh), Arzak (tenth) and El Celler de Can Roca (eleventh). While El Bulli and El Celler de Can Roca are Catalan, Mugaritz and Arzak are Basque, which shows the culinary attraction of both regions. Again, in 2009 (see Jolonch, 2009), four Spanish restaurants were among the top ten in the world, and El Bulli was acknowledged, for the fifth time, as the best restaurant. Its chef, Ferran Adrià, said that “for El Bulli, it’s wonderful, it’s like if a film director gets five Oscars in eight years, but, above all, it’s very important for Spanish cuisine. It is a recognition of the work of all of us. Ten years ago, it was unthinkable that Spain would occupy these posts” (Pérez, 2009). This shows that Spain has positioned itself as a world gastronomic destination and, as Ferran Adrià states, has developed a media-induced food tourism (see the case of British chef Rick Stein published by Busby et al., 2013) in line with other destinations which have created a media-induced film tourism (see, for example, Kim & Kim, 2018). The Spanish restaurants placed in the top 50 are recognised because they emerge year after year as the places to go in order to explore the most novel culinary scene in the world (El Mundo, 2011). While Rivas (2011a) titles “Noma, Can Roca and Mugaritz” to announce the new best restaurants, from a destination perspective we may say “Copenhagen, Girona and Gipuzkoa”. In this sense, the restaurants create a tourism attraction factor which influences the location of food destinations based on the binomial chef-restaurant – for example, El Bulli run by Ferran Adrià (Capel, 2007; Rivas, 2009a) and El Celler de Can Roca, the best restaurant in 2013 (Robert, 2013) and, again in 2015.

From a newspaper page to a must-visit food tourism attraction  189 As a summary, the list of the best restaurants in the world published by Restaurant Magazine has placed Catalonia and the Basque Country as the leading food destinations in Spain (Arce, 2009). This is also relevant in terms of consolidating Spain in the world food map, and recognising the tangible and intangible values of the Spanish culture through the food experiences made by star chefs. One day after El Celler de Can Roca was considered the best restaurant in the world according to Restaurant Magazine in London, the territory tried to assimilate yesterday the tourist and economic repercussions that can have an award of this type for a small city like Girona, of about 98,000 inhabitants, which will compete in the gastronomic Champions with much more populated and cosmopolitan cities like São Paulo, New York, London, San Sebastián and Copenhagen (Oller, 2013).

Restaurants are drivers of food tourism. They create a tourism attraction factor and they become the seed for a food tourism experience which enhances demand flows. In this case, the relevance of El Celler de Can Roca is attached to Girona, where the Roca brothers have developed a destination which attracts people from all over the world to the restaurant, but also to the other Roca venues such as the hotel, the café or the ice cream shop. As reported earlier, El Celler de Can Roca became in 2015 the world’s best restaurant for the second time, progressively accentuating the influences of the Roca brand on the definition of Girona as a food destination.

5. CONCLUSION This chapter has focused on the linkages between celebrity and tourism from the perspective of food tourism attraction. In particular, food journalism is an avenue to describe how a place is and how a place tastes through its food features. This chapter has analysed the relationships between chefs, restaurants and events as food features of media contents. Within the relationships between food journalism and food tourism, the research shows how media contents inform the configuration of geographical locations in food tourism. Results have revealed how the newspapers award tourism value to restaurants, such as El Bulli, and are able to generate a tourism attraction factor based on a chef, for example, Ferran Adrià. The qualitative discourse analysis shows three big themes which were developed in this chapter: (1) the role of celebrity chefs and their restaurants as a source of media-induced food tourism; (2) the old and new tourism attraction of Michelin-starred restaurants; and (3) how the World’s 50 Best Restaurants shape a must-visit list of food tourism attractions for gourmet tourists every year. While this is observed with a focus on the case of Spain, several examples arise from an international context, such as the case of Rick Stein in England (Busby et al., 2013), as well as others like Gastón Acurio (Wilson, 2011) and René Redzepi (Leer & Povlsen, 2016). They have contributed to the development of destination portfolios based on gastronomic experiences and placed Perú and Denmark as countries where culinary tourists, or food explorers (see Laing & Frost, 2015), must go. In this sense, chefs are celebrities who, as human brands, are also part of the destination management and marketing strategies to attract media-induced food tourists. Celebrity attachment increases visitation intention (Su et al., 2011; Yen & Teng, 2015) to places connected to a celebrity. According to previous research, “dining places themselves create a huge appeal, which is even bigger for those eating places situated in medium and small cities or in remote locations, where they act as economic and tourism

190  Handbook on food tourism drivers” (Fusté-Forné, 2020b, p.192), as in the case of Girona with the restaurants El Bulli and El Celler de Can Roca, which have demonstrated the tourism attraction factor of the Catalan culinary scene. Chefs are a relevant part of the food narrative. Chefs are media stars and have a key role in the awarding ceremonies that were analysed in the chapter. The two major events that mark the annual media calendar of gastronomy are the delivery of Michelin stars and the publication of the Restaurant Magazine list of the best restaurants in the world. As people may want to watch a new awarded film, people may also want to visit a new awarded restaurant. This reflects a close connection between food, media and tourism, as observed for example with the Catalan and Basque restaurants. According to Bindi and Grasseni (2014), “mediatized food has become a distinguishing feature of locality” (p.69), which protects and promotes a symbiosis between people and places. Chefs are a key feature of a destination and their restaurants a must-visit spot. While this chapter analyses the media attention to celebrity chefs, future studies must also explore the food motivation of visitors as a key element in destination management and marketing to protect and promote local culinary identities based on a gourmet storytelling. The results of this research also show that the influence of chefs in the media discourse increases over time. This has generated a star system which, in turn, is a driver of the geographical location of a specific type of food tourism – close to the notion of gourmet tourism (Férérol, 2018) and celebrity tourism (Fusté-Forné, 2020b). Chefs, and their restaurants, are the main core of gastronomy contents which transform them in place-based destination landmarks. The finishing touch of the day was put by chefs Ferran Adrià and Joan Roca. For the first time, these two geniuses of Catalan cuisine gave a joint master class in the Auditorium of Girona, which, with 1,200 seats, remained small. Do you imagine Beethoven and Mozart hand to hand? Well, something like that (Cosculluela, 2007).

According to Adrià and Pinto (2015), “when we watch television programs about cooking, read review blogs, participate in culinary sites or use applications on the topic, when we visit an exhibition about a chef… we are consuming gastronomy” (p.21). In this sense, food media consumption driven by celebrity chefs is part of the discourse of legacy media. The Spanish case study, especially via Catalan and Basque culinary chefs, has developed a food tourism attraction factor. Both chefs and restaurants hold a central presence in the Spanish media discourse and have established gastronomy as a global phenomenon with local implications. Gourmets from all over the world follow the awarding ceremonies and book their next journeys to the destination that hosts the new best restaurant.

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14. Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan David J. Telfer and Atsuko Hashimoto

1. INTRODUCTION There has been a growth in food tourism in Japan with specialty restaurants, cafés, food attractions, cooking classes, festivals and tours appearing across the country (Williamson, 2020). The Japanese obsession for food and food culture has created a variety of novel culinary products which have become tourist attractions. The online Michelin Guide lists 943 restaurants in Japan, with 429 in Tokyo alone (Michelin Guide, 2022). During the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, over 700 menu items for athletes were produced, using ingredients from all 47 prefectures, featuring Japanese, Western, and Asian cuisine (Castrodale, 2021). The definitions of food tourism, culinary tourism, and gastronomy tourism emphasise the main purpose of travel as experiencing food and food culture in destinations; a Japanese National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) online survey in 2022 of international markets to Japan identified ‘experiencing gastronomy/gourmet food’ as the top motivation of tourists, with an estimated potential of 150 million inbound tourists (JNTO, 2022a). For the Japanese tourism industry, this would translate into food and beverage consumption by Chinese (Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) tourists of approximately 91 billion Japanese yen, 12.7 billion yen by South Koreans, and 12.4 billion yen by Americans in 2020 (Arba, 2021). Research by the JNTO in 2005 also found that international tourists’ impression of Japanese culinary experiences before and after the visit shifted greatly towards the more positive side (Suzuki, 2007). Suzuki (2007) argues if food is to be moved to the forefront of Japanese tourism, there needs to be a strengthening of marketing strategies. During the pandemic, social media and vloggers played a significant role in promoting Japanese popular culture, including introducing novelty food experiences in Japan to a global audience, a counterpart to the more traditional organised marketing strategies. While many of these food experiences and menus are not new to Japan, for many international visitors they may be unique or even an oddity they want to try and therefore have become sought-out attractions. On the other hand, Japanese tourists may have a different interpretation of food tourism. For both international and domestic tourism, the sampling of local food and drink are one of the most important tourist activities in the destination. As such, for Japanese, the purpose of travelling to a destination may not be for experiencing gastronomy per se, but without experiencing gastronomy, the Japanese travel activities are not complete. With advancements in information technology, and drastic changes in work and lifestyles in Japan, there have been changes in the needs and demands within food culture. Eating out used to be a special occasion (hare); however, it has now become ordinary (ke) and it requires satisfying the characteristics of increased convenience, availability, and individual preferences (Ushida, 2008; Hashimoto & Telfer, 2008). Even with these societal changes, 194

Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan  195 Yasuda’s (2012) research confirmed that food tourism is a well-established tourist activity for Japanese domestic tourism. Subtle shifts in the type of food and beverage tourist attractions being developed also demonstrate social change and challenges. In addition to new innovative multisensorial culinary experiences, food museums, themed cafés, and restaurants have been developed that draw on affective labour. Plourde (2017, 2020) draws on the work of Hardt and Negri (2000) to define affective labour as a type of immaterial labour most visible in the service industry where the products are intangible, and present a feeling of calm, relaxation, and ease. Animal cafés such as cat cafés emerged in the 1990s in Japan in the ‘healing boom’ of the recession and reflect this growth in affective labour. In a similar vein there has been a growth in maid cafés and butler cafés, where patrons seek out interaction with the characters embodied by employees dressed in costumes. There is an element of affective labour here, but also a distancing from human interaction as the characters are preferred. Other eating establishments have utilised restaurant design to cater to those who wish to avoid social interaction and dine alone, either as a result of COVID-19 social distancing or those who have socially withdrawn. This chapter will begin by providing a brief overview of food tourism in Japan. It then examines the role of innovation and multisensorial experiences in Japanese food tourism highlighted in popular culture. The chapter then examines changing social needs and societal challenges and their influences on food tourism attractions. Examples presented in the chapter are purposely selected to illustrate the diversity of food tourism experiences available in Japan.

2.

OVERVIEW OF FOOD TOURISM IN JAPAN

Brown (2020, p.1) argues that like history, art, religion, and literature, ‘having a unique cuisine completes what it means to be Japanese’. The JNTO (2022b) promotes Japanese food as an art form, from favourites such as sushi and rāmen to the many authentic regional cuisines across the country as well as local sake, shōchu and beer. Local markets and food halls in department stores offer visitors an eye to ingredients in Japanese cuisine. The modern Toyosu Fish Market in Tokyo (relocated from the historic Tsukiji Market) offers tourists an observation deck of the famous tuna auctions. With food tourism expanding across Japan, there are a wide range of tours and classes that highlight various foods and experiences (see Table 14.1). From street food stalls to izakaya (small Japanese bars serving food) to countryside ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) serving kaiseki cuisine (high-end traditional multi-dish Japanese cuisine) to Michelin-starred restaurants, to traditional tea houses demonstrating the Japanese tea ceremony, there are many options for culinary tourists (Boutique Japan, 2022). Osaka, with its many restaurants and food districts, is known as the Tenka no Daidokoro, the nation’s kitchen. Lindberg (2016) refers to the ‘counter’ culture or kappō (counter/open-kitchen arrangement) that emerged in Osaka, where chefs and diners come face-to-face across the counter in a multisensorial experience. From restaurants focused on sushi to rāmen to tempura to yakitori, dining is performance art, and a connection is built between the chef and diner (Lindberg, 2016). Even konbini (convenience stores – e.g., Family Mart, Lawsons, etc.,) offer a wide range of inexpensive foods ranging from onigiri to bento to oden and novelty products not typically seen at convenience stores in tourists’ home countries. An example of such a novelty product in Japan is Nestlé’s

196  Handbook on food tourism Table 14.1

Selected unique food tours in Japan

Tour

Description

Bentō Cooking Class

Cook and prepare bento box

Okonomiyaki Cooking Class in

Learn to cook Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki

Hiroshima Osaka Cooking Class

Cook local delicacies, including takoyaki and okonomiyaki

Rāmen Noodle Class

Learn to cook rāmen noodles

Rāmen Tasting Tour in Tokyo

Six mini bowls of rāmen from six different shops spread over three Tokyo neighbourhoods

Soba Noodles

Learn how to make soba noodles in Matsumoto, Nagano

Sumō

Chanko nabe – Japanese hot pot lunch eaten by Sumo wrestlers to gain weight Opportunity to wrestle retired Sumo wrestlers

Sushi Master Class in Tokyo

Sushi class taught by chef Nobo in Tokyo

Wagashi Sweets and Kimono Tea

Making wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) in Gion, Kyoto

Ceremony in Kyoto

Wear kimono Participate in traditional Japanese tea ceremony

Wagyū Beef and Kaiseki Ryōri

Kaiseki ryōri (haute cuisine) cooking class with Wagyū beef in Tokyo

Cooking Class in Tokyo

Source:

Clarke (2021).

Kit Kat chocolate bar, where there have been over 300 limited-edition seasonal and regional flavours developed, including matcha (green tea), soya sauce and sake. As Miura (2018) notes, Japan-only Kit Kat bars have become a draw for international tourists. 2.1

The Globalisation of Japanese Cuisine and the Washoku Movement at Home

Japan’s long culinary tradition has been influenced from abroad (Stalker, 2018) but more recently Japanese cuisine has been exported beyond its borders (Murayama, 2012). Farrer et al. (2019) examined Japanese culinary mobilities around the globe. They highlight the globalisation of Japanese cuisine in four patterns: Japanese colonialism, Japanese settler migration, Japanese corporate expansion, and ethnic succession by other Asian groups. With Japanese cuisine expanding across the globe, and in some cases being combined in fusion cuisine, efforts have been made to identify a Japanese national cuisine. Japanese cuisine can be divided into washoku, traditional Japanese dishes (e.g., sushi, sōmen, and tempura) and yōshoku, or Japanese versions of Western dishes (e.g., pasta, omelette, and beef stew) (JNTO, 2022b). Washoku translates as ‘Japanese food’, with wa meaning Japanese and shoku meaning food. In 2013, washoku, the traditional dietary culture of Japan, was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Washoku ‘is associated with an essential spirit of respect for nature that is closely related to the sustainable use of natural resources’ (UNESCO, 2013). The social and cultural practices of washoku are particularly seen through the celebration of the New Year when specialty dishes are prepared. The UNESCO designation claims washoku enhances health and strengthens identity and familial and community ties and ‘Washoku is constantly recreated in response to changes in human relationships with the natural and social environment’ (MAFF, 2013). Most designations of food on the UNESCO list are for regional food practices, and Japan joins only France and Mexico to have their national food designated (Cang, 2018). There has been debate over the designation, as Cwiertka and Miho (2020) argue that washoku is a modern construct that reveals more about Japan’s twentieth-century transformation than age-old culi-

Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan  197 nary traditions. Farrer et al. (2019) note the efforts to renationalise Japanese cuisine through the UNESCO designation and argue that Japanese restaurant cuisine belongs to the world, and efforts should be made to facilitate its mobility. Forms of Japanese culinary diplomacy are evident in foreign chefs studying in Japan or learning about Japanese culinary techniques (Farrer et al. 2019). Writing in 2002, McGray noted Japan’s growing cultural influence abroad using the term ‘Japan’s Gross National Cool’. ‘From pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, animation to cuisine, Japan looks more like a cultural superpower today than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic one’ (McGray, 2002). The national brand of ‘Cool Japan’ and the explosion of Japanese popular culture abroad, including cuisine, has raised awareness of innovation in food/culinary trends in Japan for potential tourists. The chapter will later return to the marketing of Japanese cuisine through social media and manga. 2.2

Regional and Local Food Tourism

With Japanese food tourism having a strong connection to the region or locality, it presents an opportunity to promote a region’s sense of identity, as well as endorse the concept of sustainable development (Telfer & Hashimoto, 2013). The One-Village-One-Product programme identifies a specific region/town as having a specialisation in producing a specific agricultural and/or seafood product (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2011). Each region prides itself on their regional dishes or regional takes/flavours of national dishes. In Japan, various levels of government have developed initiatives either directly or indirectly to support the development of food tourism. Rath (2016) explored the historical evolution of Japan’s cuisines in terms of food, place, and identity, and argues the central government has played a key role in driving changes in local food, perhaps more so than local communities. Green tourism initiatives, for example, supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) focus on rural rejuvenation projects and have included start-up funding and technical support development and have empowered female farmers who have set up local markets and bed and breakfasts (Telfer & Hashimoto, 2013; Hashimoto & Telfer, 2011). Ohe and Kurihara (2013) examined the importance of locally branded farm products and rural tourism in Japan. Similarly to rice, noodles (e.g., udon, soba, and rāmen) are an important part of Japanese cuisine (Brown, 2020). Kim et al. (2019) argue the ordinary udon noodle can become extraordinary and is the basis of udon tourism in the Mizusawa udon village in Gunma Prefecture. Kim and Ellis (2015) also note the historical, social, and cultural significance of the production and consumption of udon noodles in Kagawa, where udon is the centre of local and regional identities and has fostered udon tourism among Japanese domestic tourists. Reiffenstein (2017) argues that rāmen noodle restaurants are Japan’s most popular category of restaurant, and different regions are known for distinct tastes. Reiffenstein (2018) examined rāmen noodle supply for restaurants in the Kansai region, centred on Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. While rāmen noodle shop supply is primarily local, finer analysis found that cognitive and cultural processes evident at the neighbourhood level come into play when sourcing rāmen noodles. Reiffenstein (2017) also identified three main types of rāmen restaurant clusters as (i) regional rāmen-style agglomerations typical of small cities, (ii) metropolitan neighbourhoods with concentrated diverse clusters of restaurants, and (iii) purposely planned rāmen theme parks. The Shin-Yokohama Rāmen museum created in 1994 is advertised as the world’s first

198  Handbook on food tourism food-themed amusement park. The nine rāmen shops showcase a streetscape from 1958, the year when the world’s first instant rāmen was invented (Shin-Yokohama Museum, 2022). Another form of regional/local food tourism products are ekiben. Ekiben are Japanese lunch boxes sold at railway stations and reflect local seasonal ingredients (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2019). Tourists can ‘taste the view’ as they travel by rail, sampling the elaborate ekiben of different regions throughout Japan. Today, variations of ekiben have spread to soraben (airport kiosks) and hayaben (highway service stations) to capitalise on its popularity. Food and drink festivals in Japan have also become important local and regional events highlighting traditional ingredients (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2008). Through the examination of the Tatebayashi Noodle Grand Prix Festival, Kim (2015) found that unique regional foodways as intangible culture have become important sources of regional festival tourism development.

3.

THE ROLE OF INNOVATION, MULTISENSORIAL EXPERIENCES AND POPULAR CULTURE IN JAPANESE FOOD TOURISM

Culinary experiences are multisensorial, and experiential and innovative. Japanese culinary experiences range from unique menu items to immersion in unique restaurant décor. These food experiences have become part of popular culture highlighted in social media posts as well as in culinary manga and anime. Some encounters reinforced traditions of the past while others offer more modern entertainment experiences. This section of the chapter will examine key elements in memorable culinary experiences and highlight some of these innovative trends in Japan, while the following section will reflect more on the changing culture, society, and social needs in Japan which are also being reflected in culinary offerings. Stone et al. (2018) examined the elements of memorable food, drink, and culinary tourism experiences and found them to be: food or drink consumed, location/setting, companions, the occasion, and touristic elements. Examples of their noted touristic elements making food or drink experiences memorable include novelty, authenticity, nostalgia, variety, surprise, desire to return, emotions/sensuality, satisfaction, and hedonism. Similarly, Bitner (1992) developed a framework for understanding the environment–user relationship in service organisations, which has come to be known as the servicescape. Environmental dimensions of the servicescape include ambient conditions (temperature, air quality, music, odour, etc.), space/functions (layout, equipment, furnishings, etc.) and signs, symbols, and artefacts (signage, personal artefacts, style of décor, etc.). The employees and customers respond to this perceived servicescape. Customers’ responses fall either into the category of ‘approach’ and wanting to return, or ‘avoid’, and not wanting to return. Ferrari (2019) has suggested that additional components of the servicescape should be included, such as social and geographical determinants. In Japan, innovations in the servicescape incorporate a range of multisensorial themed cafés or restaurants where the décor, food, and staff embrace the themes. At the Tokyo restaurant Zauo, for example, patrons dine in a mock boat next to a large fish tank and customers must catch their own dinner. Table 14.2 illustrates a small selection of the experiential themed cafés and restaurants that includes samurai, ninja, ghosts, vampires, and animal cafés. Many of the themed cafés are linked to ‘cosplay’ (costume play), where staff are dressed as characters from manga or anime.

Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan  199 Table 14.2

Selected themed cafés/restaurants

Name

Location

Theme Description

Alice in Wonderland

7 locations in Tokyo

Alice in Wonderland in a labyrinth

Cat Café Mocha

Harajuku, Tokyo

Patrons interact with cats

Hananomai Edo Tokyo Museum

Ryogoku, Sumida, Tokyo

Sumo themed Dohyo (sumo ring) in centre of restaurant

Kawaii Monster café

Harajuku, Tokyo

Kichijoji Yurei

Musashino, Tokyo

Psychedelic wonderland with performances Ghosts from Japanese folklore Food resembles severed limbs

Kyomachi Kishigure

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Maidreamin

7 locations in Akihabara + 8 Waitresses dressed as maids

Kyoto themed

across Japan

Performances

Nanairo Temariuta

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Temari handball (traditional Japanese embroidery handball)

Ninja Akasaka

Akasaka, Tokyo

Ninja

Ranse no Koshitsu Sengoku Buyuden

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Samurais

Robot Restaurant (now closed)

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Rokunen Yonkumi

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Sengoku period of warring states Performances of light shows, robots, dance Destination has a history of attracting foreign tourists Japanese elementary classroom

Shibuya Prison Hospital Alcatraz E.R. Shibuya, Tokyo

Hospital with zombies

Swallowtail Butlers Café

Ikebukuro, Tokyo

Waiters dressed as butlers

The Lockup

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Monster, horror

Vampire Café

Ginza, Tokyo

Zauo

Shinjuku, Shibuya, Meguro, Fishing

Dining tables in cells

Tokyo

Gothic vampire Guests catch their dinner and chefs prepare fish as requested

Sources: Dewildesalhab (2019) and Travelience (2022).

The ‘maid’, for example, has debatably become associated with Japanese culture, appearing in images ranging from souvenir snacks, to Hello Kitty dressed as a maid, to a maid appearing in Japan’s National Tourism Organisation’s Visit Japan Year 2010 Winter Campaign (Galbraith, 2019). These cafés have waitresses costumed as maids (meido) (some linked to anime characters) who serve food and drink but also pose for photographs and play games with customers (Galbraith, 2019). While they attract tourists, the maid cafés also rely on ‘regulars’, with maids paid to interact with the customers so they return (Galbraith, 2019). Controversy surrounds the maid cafés for their portrayal of women and for being part of ‘otaku’ culture (loosely translated as geek or enthusiast), who are often socially awkward (Aida 2006). Patrons do not visit a maid café because they are seeking human interactions with employees in costumes, but rather they are seeking the services provided by the characters the employees are performing as. Maid cafés have also been examined in the context of the affective economy. Greetings to patrons of maid cafés are usually in the form of ‘welcome home master,’ yet this insinuates a breakdown of a normal home environment and initiates the character–customer interaction. In part due to the reaction to maid cafés, butler cafés have been developed with waiters dressed as butlers and a target audience of women. Such themed restaurants may be a novelty to international tourists, but for Japanese tourists, the affective labour the patrons seek is not from the ‘person’, but from the performed ‘character’. These shifts in changing social needs will be revisited in more detail in the following section.

200  Handbook on food tourism Table 14.3

Selected Japanese food theme parks and museums

Name

Location

Cup Noodle Museum

Yokohama, Kanagawa

Ginger Museum

Tochigi

Kanefuku Mentaiko Theme Park

Ibaraki (+6 other locations across Japan)

Kewpie Mayonnaise Museum

Tokyo

Konnyaku (Konjac) Theme Park

Kanra, Gunma

Naniwa Kuishinbo Yokocho (Osaka Food Theme Park)

Osaka

Natto Takanaofoods Museum

Ibaraki

Rāmen Museum

Yokohama, Kanagawa

Shimizu Sushi Museum

Shizuoko

Shiroi Koibito Park (Chocolate)

Sapporo, Hokkaido

Takoyaki Museum

Osaka

Togakushi Soba Museum

Nagano

Tottori Nijisseiki Pear Museum

Kurayoshi, Tottori

Uwa Rice Museum

Uwa, Ehime

Village, Kirin Brewery Factory

Yokohama, Kanagawa

Yebisu Beer Museum

Tokyo

Source:

Taste Japan (2021).

As part of the servicescape, in Osaka’s Dotonbori district, restaurants hang oversized replicas of crabs and octopi outside the premises, highlighting the menu inside. It is not unusual for many restaurants in Japan to have street-facing display cases with precise plastic models of menu items to draw in visitors. It is a form of assurance and for uncertainty avoidance for Japanese to be able to visualise their order and avoid disappointment when the food is served. The Japanese love for graphic communication is clearly an attraction for international food tourists. The increasing need for nostalgia and pride in Japanese culinary traditions can be seen at the previously mentioned Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Museum’s recreated fictional mid-Showa Era neighbourhood from 1958 offering visitors a variety of rāmen restaurants. Also in Yokohama, the Cup Noodle Museum offers a history lesson about creator Momofuku Ando, the inventor of Chicken Rāmen (the first instant rāmen), as well as providing visitors a chance to make their own version of a cup noodle. Table 14.3 contains a list of Japanese food theme parks and museums which typically highlight one food item. As part of popular culture, manga, anime, influencers, films, television programs and celebrity chefs featured in social media are driving potential demand for Japanese dishes and culinary experiences. For example, Chef Motokichi Yukimura, who specialises in nostalgic Japanised Western food, has been going viral on social media (e.g., YouTube) and has been motivating potential tourists to want to visit Japan and experience Yukimura’s dishes. Advertisements for restaurants via websites and social media offer information on unique food experiences and menus for tourists with some touting minimal social interaction. A well-known form of popular culture exported from Japan is manga (graphic novels). Culinary manga is a sub-genre, with stories being adapted to anime, live action dramas, and video games (Robinson, 2021). In exploring ‘How manga took over the menu’, Robinson (2021) suggests that the Japanese Netflix television series Midnight Diner is a lens into Japanese restaurant culture, and is based on the manga series by Yarō Abe. The manga is set in a Tokyo izakaya and centres on a chef who opens his restaurant from midnight until morning.

Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan  201 The dishes created by the chef feature nostalgic home cooking. Oishinbo (a Gourmand), by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki, focuses on a culinary journalist/critic and is one of the longest-running culinary manga in Japan. Brau’s (2004) analysis of Oishinbo reveals it provides not only important information on Japanese cuisine, such as the central role of rice in Japanese food, but it also examines the relationship between food and human relationships which contributes towards the construction of Japanese cultural identity. Ekiben Hitoritabi by Jun Hayase is a manga (also adapted into a short-run television series) whose central character travels Japan by rail while sampling ekiben, railway lunch boxes highlighting local seasonal products. The stories in this manga not only highlight local foods but illustrate different parts of the country, acting as a travel brochure, having been translated into many different languages.

4.

CHANGING SOCIAL NEEDS AND CHALLENGES, AND FOOD TOURISM EXPERIENCES IN JAPAN

Within Japan there are evolving sociological concerns related to deteriorating human interactions, reflected in the rise of ‘non-human’ interactions in some restaurants. Notable issues are hikikomori, NEET (not in employment, education or training), overdependency on social media, and lack of interpersonal communication amongst young Japanese. Worry has been expressed that lockdowns, shift to online work, and the rise in technology platforms for social interaction all spurred by COVID-19 may have increased the numbers of hikikomori (Egan, 2020). First identified in Japan in the 1970s, but especially noted in the late 1990s, hikikomori is a severe form of social withdrawal not only among male youths and adolescents but also amongst women and older adults and has been recognised in countries outside of Japan (Kato et al., 2019). In a collective society like Japan, leaving the group (e.g., school or workplace), being isolated for days, weeks or months, and spending most of their time at home are known as hikikomori (Kato et al., 2019). Research has shown that the period of withdrawal can last years and, for some, their entire adult life (Rooksby et al., 2020). Those who fall into this situation can also be ostracised, making it more difficult to reconnect with society. In 2020, the Japanese Cabinet Office estimated that there were over 1.1 million hikikomori (Rooksby et al., 2020). A parallel phenomenon is the increasing number of the population that fall under the category of NEETs in Japan. These are people between the ages of 15 and 34 who are unmarried and are not in employment, education or training. These people have ‘fallen off the education–employment escalator and are not trying to climb back on’ and continue to live with their parents for financial support; some have symptoms of social withdrawal like hikikomori (Asano & Futagami, 2006). As a result of COVID-19, many youths face dramatically altered life goals and may be more vulnerable to becoming a NEET because of an increasingly precarious employment situation and economy (Rooksby et al., 2020). In addition, the younger generation’s overreliance on social media and avoidance of interpersonal relationships is creating groups of youths that may have limited interaction with others in society. Some scholars believe the creation of these groups to be due to the breakdown of the social fabric, especially the breakdown of the hierarchical social structure the Japanese psyche is dependent on, including a trusting relationship

202  Handbook on food tourism between parents and children (Kimura, 2016; Koshiba, 2002). Those young people cannot directly communicate with other human beings for fear of rejection and getting hurt. This shift towards minimal human contact has started to appear in some cafés and restaurants. Even before COVID-19, Japan was known for ‘hole-in-the-wall’ bars and eateries where customers are literally served through a hole in the wall. Employees at Kuma no Te (Bear Paw) café in Osaka wear a fluffy bear glove to hand out their products through the hole in the wall to avoid skin-to-skin contact (McGee, 2021). The café, run by ‘Mental Support,’ an organisation providing counselling services, was established to offer employment to those who may have mental health challenges or sensitivities with face-to-face contact, and it also allows customers to purchase products with minimal contact (McGee, 2021). During COVID-19 these types of eateries have allowed people to be socially distant. Ichiran Rāmen is known for high-quality rāmen dishes, and the restaurants offer a dining experience without human interaction (Lorita, 2016). From ordering their bowl through a vending machine, to being seated, to finalising their order and receiving their food, the patron does not have to interact with any human beings. A bamboo screen divides the patron from the kitchen and the side walls separate each individual dining stall. At some locations side walls can be pushed back if patrons want to enjoy dinner with a friend/colleague. The experience is marketed as a ‘Rāmen Focus Booth’ (see Figure 14.1), allowing guests to ignore distractions (e.g., ‘conversations with other customers, hurried movements of chefs, and other sights and sounds’) and focus on the flavours of the rāmen (Ichiran, 2022), yet these focus booths may also be appealing to those who want to dine with minimal interaction with others. Gusto, a family-style restaurant in Japan, has also introduced single-person semi-private dining boxes which resemble office cubicles with high wooden barriers so guests do not need to interact with other customers or staff (Azman, n.d.). As noted in Table 14.2, Japan is well known for a wide variety of themed cafés. One sub-theme is animal cafés, where guests can interact with live animals as part of the affective economy. The benefits in improving human well-being through interaction with animals has been well documented in the literature (Fujimura & Nommensen, 2017). The question of human healing at the cost of animal labour is not the focus of discussion for this chapter; however, these types of cafés in Japan – be it a cat café, dog café, or owl café – stress ‘healing’ the human mind (see Figure 14.2). Cat cafés, for example, have become ubiquitous across Japan. These types of cafés were designed to invoke affective engagement with patrons so they could cope with uncertain and stressful conditions in a recessionary economy, and more recently in post-3/11 (2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and Fukushima meltdown) Japan (Plourde, 2014). In the stress of the COVID-19 era, these cafés continue to allow customers to interact with animals in a time of social distancing. Nghiêm-Phú and Phan-Lê (2021) examined the psychological benefits and costs experienced by customers at 20 animal cafés in Japan, including cat, dog, hedgehog, owl, and snake cafés across Japan. The psychological benefits included relaxation, healing, feelings of thrill, connectedness, and togetherness. They did find some elements of stress, including concern over the rights and well-being of the animals, unfriendly animals, and allergic symptoms. Patrons of such cafés do not necessarily interact with other patrons, but often sit quietly alone, not even petting the animals; the atmosphere of such cafés creates a feeling of cosiness and calm, in other words, an alternative home environment. Plourde (2014) argues that such home and family lifestyle is becoming harder to obtain in contemporary Japan, thus such cafés with animals’ affective labour have been attracting more patrons. In Japan, many urbanites may not have the time, money, or space to keep a pet; these

Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan  203

Figure 14.1

Ichiran ramen focus booth

animal cafés allow them to connect with an animal and represent important social interactions. The importance of pets has been demonstrated throughout the pandemic with a sharp increase in the demand for pets in Japan during the pandemic; the problem, however, has been that supply could not keep up with demand (The Japan Times, 2020). The cat cafés are part of the post-industrial economy where customers seek experiences that generate feelings and sensations and exist when social relationships are increasingly commodified, privatised, and marketed to those who can afford to pay (Plourde, 2020). These novelty cafés may be viewed as a heart-warming attraction or, contrarily, a kitsch attraction by international food tourists.

204  Handbook on food tourism

Figure 14.2

Owl Café

Another trend in Japan that is reinforcing limiting social interactions in dining experiences is the rise of robot restaurants. At Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch cultural theme park in Nagasaki, there is a robotic restaurant where robot bartenders and chefs prepare drinks and food items (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2018). The pandemic has also resulted in the increase in the use of robot

Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan  205 waiters in restaurants. Skylark Holdings, Japan’s largest operator of family restaurants, is projected to install robot-style waiters in 2,000 eateries by the end of 2022 (Kawaba, 2021). As a result of the pandemic, labour shortages and an ageing workforce, restaurants are having to pay their part-time workers the highest wages ever (Tan, 2021). While the introduction of robots may help with some of the employee issues, the replacement of human employees further results in less social interaction. Japan’s famous ‘kaitenzushi’ – conveyor-belt sushi restaurants – have been popular with tourists, with diners selecting plates of sushi as they rotate on the conveyor belts going past their table. Due to COVID-19, a number of steps have been taken to further reduce contact, including unmanned registers, takeout orders stored in individual refrigerator lockers, home delivery, separate entrances and exits, barriers between booths, multilanguage order touch panels, and separate sushi train lanes for each table (Live Japan, 2021). Some early steps had been implemented prior to COVID-19 (e.g., touch panel menus) as a cost-saving strategy but also resulted in less social interaction. These novelty restaurants are gaining popularity among Japanese citizens and international tourists while at the same time focus on minimising human interaction.

5. CONCLUSION An OECD (2012) workshop on food and the tourism experience highlighted: authenticity of local food; raising quality and consistency; sustainability; networking; repositioning food as a creative industry; marketing; a holistic approach; and supporting research and development. Japanese food tourism has an important role to play in tourism recovery from COVID-19, and there is some evidence that food tourism in Japan is embracing the OECD recommendations. The online JNTO survey in 2022 of international tourism markets clearly indicates there is demand for food tourism in Japan. From traditional to innovative, Japan has a unique culinary resource to draw upon to attract both international and domestic tourists. Increasingly, novelty food experiences are becoming part of the attraction of Japan and clearly some of the products mentioned throughout this chapter reflect Japan’s efforts of repositioning food as a creative industry. More and more the servicescape has been adapted to provide a multisensorial food experience for tourists. These innovative, unique and, for some, oddities, are being shared widely on social media and through popular culture, including manga and anime, influencing international tourists to want to try these experiences. There is, however, concern, as some of these experiences limit human interaction. Social distancing under the COVID-19 pandemic saw patrons wanting to limit social contact. The timing of these restrictions on social interaction and trends in culinary offerings coincided, with both leaning towards less human interaction. However, the irony is that due to social media, these innovative restaurants and eateries, which were originally meant to include people who have a social phobia or inability to connect with other human beings, are now becoming popular tourist attractions. Social media has done a splendid marketing job, featuring often unknown locations and venues, and has made them accessible to both domestic and international food tourists. Murayama (2012) argues that the linkages between food culture and other areas of culture such as manga needs to be further developed, as do the linkages between sightseeing-based tourism and food tourism. With the Japanese obsession for better-quality food combined with a tradition of hospitality with food

206  Handbook on food tourism and drink, food tourism attractions in Japan not only honour tradition but are continuously evolving, adapting to changing societal trends.

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Novelty experiences as food tourism attractions in Japan  207 Hashimoto, A., & Telfer, D. J. (2018). Evolution of a Dutch Cultural Theme Park to Technology Entertainment in Japan. In M. Tunkkari-Eskelinen & A. Törn-Laapio (Eds.), International Conference on Tourism Research (ICTR) 2018, Jyväskylä, Finland (22–23 March 2018) (pp. 57–67). Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. Hashimoto, A., & Telfer, D. J., (2019). Ekiben, the travelling Japanese lunchbox: Promoting regional development and local identity through food tourism’. In E. Park, S. Kim, & I. Yeoman (Eds.), Food tourism in Asia (pp. 132–147). Springer. Ichiran (2022). About Us. https://​www​.ichiranusa​.com/​about/​. JNTO. (2022a, 28 April). Press Release: 22 Markets Survey Results April 2022 (28 April 2022). https://​ www​.jnto​.go​.jp/​jpn/​news/​press​_releases/​r​_20220502​_1​.pdf JNTO (2022b, 31 May). Food and Drink in Japan. https://​www​.japan​.travel/​en/​things​-to​-do/​eat​-and​ -drink/​. Kato, T., Kanba, S., & Teo, A. (2019). Hikikomori: Multidimensional understanding, assessment and future international perspectives. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 73(8), 427–440. Kawaba, R. (2021, October 18). Japan’s Skylark rolls out robo-waiters for contactless dinning. Nikkei Asia. 18 October. https://​asia​.nikkei​.com/​Business/​Food​-Beverage/​Japan​-s​-Skylark​-rolls​-out​-robo​ -waiters​-for​-contactless​-dining. Kim, S. (2015). Understanding the historical and geographical contexts of food festival tourism development: The case of the Tatebayashi Noodle Grand Prix in Japan. Tourism Planning and Development, 14(4) 433–446. Kim, S., & Ellis, A. (2015). Noodle production and consumption: from agriculture to food tourism in Japan. Tourism Geographies, 17(1), 151–167. Kim, S., Park, E., & Lamb, D. (2019). Extraordinary or ordinary? Food tourism motivations of Japanese domestic noodle tourists. Tourism Management Perspectives, 29, 176–186. Kimura, A. (2016). Gendai no Wakamono-tachi no Ningenkankei. Fuji Women’s University Ningen Seikatsu-gaku Kenkyu, 23(March 2016), 1–12. Koshiba, Y. (2002). An Idea for Human Relationships Concerning Young Social Withdrawal (Hikikomori) – compared with Human Relationship between university students – Kawasaki Medical Welfare Journal, 12(1), 139–145. Lindberg, P. (2016). Tokyo Counter Culture. Conde Nast Traveler, 51(9), 80. Live Japan (2021, October 6). How Japan’s sushi trains are coping with COVID, Sushiro’s latest safety measures and services. Live Japan. 6 October. https://​livejapan​.com/​en/​in​-tokyo/​in​-pref​-tokyo/​in​ -tokyo​_train​_station/​article​-a0005048/​. Lorita (2016, November 18). A dining experience without any human interaction. https://​www​ .tingandthings​.com/​2016/​11/​ichiran​-ramen​-dining​-without​-human​-interaction​.html. MAFF (2013, December 4). Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese. [Video] YouTube. https://​www​.youtube​.com/​watch​?v​=​Xtnwt​-Jq93E​&​t​=​542s. McGee, O. (2021) Japan’s Bear Paw Café: A safe space for staff with mental health challenges. Sora News 24, 3 September. https://​soranews24​.com/​2021/​09/​03/​japans​-bear​-paw​-cafe​-a​-safe​-space​-for​ -staff​-with​-mental​-health​-challenges/​. McGray, D. (2002). Japan’s Gross National Cool. Foreign Policy, 130, 44–54. Michelin Guide (2022). Japan Restaurants. https://​guide​.michelin​.com/​mt/​en/​selection/​japan/​restaurants. Miura, Y. (2018). Japan-only Kit Kat varieties a draw as tourists spend more. The Japan Times. 4 January. Retrieved from https://​www​.japantimes​.co​.jp/​news/​2018/​01/​04/​business/​japan​-kit​-kat​-varieties​-draw​ -tourists​-spend/​. Murayama, M. (2012). Promoting Japanese food culture and products, in OECD, Food and the Tourism Experience: The OECD-Korea Workshop, OECD Publishing, Paris. Nghiêm-Phú, B., & Phan-Lê, D. (2021). The psychological benefits and costs, and the servicescape components of animal cafés: A study in Japan. Service Marketing Quarterly, 10(25) 1–14. OECD (2012). Food and the Tourism Experience: The OECD-Korea Workshop. OECD Studies on Tourism, OECD Publishing. Ohe, Y., & Kurihara, S. (2013). Evaluating the complementary relationship between local brand farm products and rural tourism: Evidence from Japan. Tourism Management, 35(April 2013) 278–283. Plourde, L. (2014). Cat Cafés, affective labor, and the healing boom in Japan. Japanese Studies, 34(2), 115–133.

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15. From watching to eating: food tourism perspectives on Japan’s ama divers and their catches Timo Thelen

1. INTRODUCTION The ama don’t like tourists. Well, actually, they don’t want to be watched by tourists when they are diving, but they want tourists to eat their catches. (Ama diving official of the Ishikawa Prefectural Office about the local ama divers, 2014)

Food tourism focuses on tourists’ encounters with food, which most often centre on consumption, but can also include such aspects as the preparation/cooking of a certain local dish, participation in its production/harvest, or education about food heritage and traditions. The academic investigation and discussion of food tourism has grown in popularity in recent decades, especially in the late 2000s and early 2010s. At that time, a crucial shift in research approach also took place – from tourism management and planning perspectives towards cultural anthropology: [F]ood tourism is about cultural anthropology through understanding the interactions of tourists with place through the medium of food. (…) As food represents traditions, stories and symbols – it is the tourist who interacts and creates an experience through performance, enquiry and engagement. (Ellis et al., 2018, p. 216)

Thus, food tourism can serve as a window into insights about contemporary sociocultural dynamics and negotiations of tradition, culture, and self which extend well beyond the domain of tourism. A regional or even national identity can be expressed through a certain food item or dish, like that of Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture through its sanuki udon noodles (Kim & Ellis, 2015). Given this recent research approach, food tourism studies tend to centre on the experiences, motivations, and perceptions of tourists (e.g., Sims, 2009; Chang & Yuan, 2011; Kim & Eves, 2012; Tsai, 2016; Kim et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2019). But though tourists’ perspectives are of paramount importance, there are multiple other stakeholders involved that also deserve attention (Kang et al., 2019). Comparatively little research has been conducted on local host communities, including the food producers or providers, and their perspectives on and interests in the development of food tourism (e.g., Hillel et al., 2013; Kim & Iwashita, 2016; Park et al., 2023). Tensions can emerge when the interests of food production, heritage preservation, and touristic hospitality coincide in the same place, as, for instance, they did in a small whisky distillery town in Scotland (Everett, 2012). Emerging food tourism can change ‘traditional’ methods of food production and distribution, and so evoke conflicts among local stakeholders (Teixeira & Ribeiro, 2013). Likewise, the naïve expectation that a new focus on food tourism 209

210  Handbook on food tourism can easily guarantee support for rural development or revitalisation has been dismissed in the literature (Baldacchino, 2015). Even if touristic offers regarding food are booming worldwide, leaving the market crowded and contested, food heritage and its touristic promotion can still provide a powerful and appealing narrative to lure visitors to new places, as in the case of Asian street food in Singapore (Everett, 2016). The advertisement of such food or gastronomic heritage can blend the idea of a national cuisine with the marketing of regional food products to generate new economic opportunities (Alonso, 2013). Consequently, food tourism in relation to heritage designations (Bessière, 2013; Park et al., 2023), especially UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (Pfeilstetter, 2014; Romagnoli, 2019), has been increasingly studied, and has yielded analyses of the obstacles and potentials that accompany this quasi-branding or ‘heritagisation’ (Bessière, 2013) of local food culture and production. According to Okumus (2021), however, future research should broaden its scope to include consideration of other relevant aspects, such as sustainable resource management and environmental issues, in the domain of food tourism. Acknowledging these recent trends and paucities in the literature, this chapter looks at a case of food tourism by focusing on the perspective of a local community, whose food production process is designated as cultural heritage and based on environment-friendly working traditions. However, for the local community at issue, which is reluctant to be actively involved in tourism, the strategic shift to food tourism proves to be challenging. The research approach of this chapter is ethnographic and based on cultural anthropology. The ama (female divers) community of Wajima City, Japan – along with their branded catches, such as abalones (awabi), turban snails (sazae), and seaweed – serve as a case study. Tourism related to ama began in the 1950s and was nurtured by media depicting these women from the perspective of the male gaze. In recent decades, however, ama diving has been reassessed as an eco-friendly and sustainable way of fishing to be designated as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in the future. In light of this development, shellfish and seaweed caught by ama have been turned into branded items to raise market prices and attract food tourists. Based on qualitative fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with ama divers and government officials, the author examines how the strategic implementation of food tourism is perceived by the local community. The chapter will begin with a short overview of the cultural history of ama diving and its main catch, abalones, which were once important as ceremonial gifts, rather than as food items. This section will also show how the stereotyped image of ama divers as primordial and sexualised women emerged, and how this was exploited for the purposes of tourism. Then, the research design and fieldwork will be explained. The second half of this chapter will focus on how precisely touristic interests regarding ama-caught food were implemented by the local/ regional government, and how the ama community of Wajima perceived this development. Their interviewed voices hint to present and future obstacles, which also exemplify the difficulties of negotiating stakeholder interests. As the conclusion will explore, however, food tourism could turn into a valuable resource for supporting and preserving the ama divers’ cultural heritage.

From watching to eating  211

2.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: AMA DIVERS AND THEIR EXOTICISATION

The history of ama diving dates back to ancient times; the poem collection Manyoshū (AD 759) already alluded to this profession. It involves free diving in shallow, coastal areas for shellfish, sea cucumber, sea urchin, and various kinds of seaweed. As one might expect, most people belonging to ama diving communities – like those belonging to communities of fishermen – have lived under rather simple conditions. Although there is a widespread view that this profession is only performed by women, up to 20% of ama divers are male, depending on the group in question. The Korean tradition of hanyeo diving, especially on Jeju Island, is similar to ama diving in many ways and seems to share origins. Until the Edo period (1600–1868), some ama diving communities had a semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving to new places along the coastline in search of better diving grounds. At that time, their profession accrued a new political and ritual importance. Dried abalones gained value as a gift in the contexts of Shinto ceremonies and aristocratic relationships. Therefore, the local nobility guaranteed diving and settlement permission to ama. Today, the largest community of ama divers is located in Mie Prefecture (in Shima and Toba City, with approximately 950 members in 2015); they live in proximity to the Ise Shrine, the most notable Shinto monument of Japan, where their dried abalone is used in ritual ceremonies. Still today, Japanese gift cards contain a strip of yellow paper, which symbolises dried abalone. During the Edo period, an eroticised interpretation of female ama divers began to develop. These divers were socioculturally constructed to represent pure and uncivilised femininity, as well as sexual freedom, and became a common motif in erotic wood printings (Martinez, 2004). In the 1950s, ama divers became a popular cultural topic again, especially thanks to Mishima Yukio’s novel The Sound of Waves (1954) and its first film adaptation in the same year (four more movie adaptions have followed). The novel deals with the romantic relationship between a young fisherman and an ama diving girl; themed guide tours to the novel’s and movies’ locations in Mie are still offered today. Also in the 1950s, Western images of mermaids were often set in sexualised contexts (Hayward, 2017); these were mingled with impressions of ama divers by the orientalist perspective of foreigners visiting Japan. The photo book Mermaid of Japan (Haar, 1954) portrayed ama divers hired by the pearl cultivation company Mikimoto in Toba City, Mie, often with exposed breasts and called ‘mermaids’. The most famous book on ama written by a foreigner, however, is Fosco Maraini’s Hekura: The Diving Girls’ Island (1962), which is filled with allusions to Greco-Roman mythology (e.g., ‘children of Neptune’, p. 22), and was a major influence on Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel You Only Live Twice (1964). The film adaptation (1967) spread the image of ama in the Western world, which also fostered resurgent stereotypes within Japan. Between 1945 and 1974 alone, at least 33 Japanese films dealt with ama divers, most of them belonging to the genre of erotica (Kogure, 2018; Thelen, 2021).

3. WATCHING: AMA-RELATED TOURISM AND THE MALE GAZE The popularity of ama in the media from the 1950s to the 1970s resulted in influxes of tourists to ama villages. The first wave largely comprised researchers, such as ethnologists (Martinez,

212  Handbook on food tourism 2004, p. 158), who couldn’t travel to then-popular fieldwork sites like Bali due to the aftermath of the Asian-Pacific War. In response, ama began to open inns (minshuku). On the heels of the economic development and growing domestic tourism of the 1970s and 1980s, ama families in Mie Prefecture increasingly supported tourism, which soon became a much more lucrative business than diving. In the mid-1980s, Martinez (2004) conducted ethnographic fieldwork for 14 months in an ama village in Toba City, Mie, and observed that ‘the touristic image of sexy divers was both laughed at and at the same time manipulated in order to earn income’ (p. 48). As Martinez writes, a ‘poor fisherman’ could turn into a ‘comparatively rich innkeeper’ (p. 131), especially in regards of the declining marine resources consequent to overfishing in earlier decades. Although the prospect of fresh seafood provided another motivation for traveling there, the eroticised images of ama divers were more influential, and in some cases resulted in sex tourism (p. 200). Today, reference to ama diving culture is still an important branding strategy in this region (Figure 15.1). One famous attraction of Mie Prefecture is the ama show at Mikimoto Island (also in Toba). This artificial island, equipped with a pearl museum and many shops, belongs to the company of the same name, which was the first to cultivate pearl oysters by recruiting the help of ama divers. Although these divers are no longer needed, the island hosts an ama diving show for 10 minutes several times a day. The two ama divers that perform in this show are young women wearing the company-invented white linen diving suits, which turn transparent when getting wet; however, they only simulate the diving practice. After the show, the visitors can take photos with them. The Mikimoto Island show fostered the impression that ama divers in Mie would do anything for tourists and money. One of my interviewees from Wajima joked: ‘You could make it easier – throw coins directly into the water and let them dive for it.’ Another promotional move appealing to the eroticised image of ama divers in the neighbouring city of Shima, also in Mie, led to harsh criticism from the local community. A sexy, manga-like ama character – who did not even possess a proper diving suit or equipment in the illustrations – was floated as the city’s new mascot in the mid-2010s. However, backlash from the local ama divers led to the character’s disappearance soon afterward. For a long time, the ama-related tourism industry in Mie used to ‘privilege the male gaze’ (Pritchard & Morgan, 2000), i.e., had centred exclusively on the needs and expectations of male tourists. This has changed somewhat in the last decades, as will be discussed later. Other regions in Japan with ama diving heritage also appeal to the image of attractive young ama divers for the sake of marketing to tourists. In 2009, a municipality in Iwate Prefecture hired a 19-year-old model for promotional purposes; she was nicknamed the ‘too-cute ama’ (kawaisugiru ama) and received significant attention in the national media. However, due to harsh critique from senior ama divers directed at her staged work, she quit diving and disappeared from the media in 2010. As an ama unit leader from Wajima, who had witnessed some of these events, explained: ‘Many ama divers got angry with her, as a person who calls herself an ama but doesn’t really work as one.’ This story is, however, considered a major inspiration for the NHK morning drama series Ama-chan (aired nationwide from March to October 2013). The comedy series centres on a rural girl who first wants to become an ama, then a music idol, but finally ends up as a happy ama again. In addition to the young protagonist, elderly ama characters appear in the series, too, and their work is depicted rather seriously. The series is thought to have led to an ‘ama boom’ in the early and mid-2010s, as it gained a large fan base

From watching to eating  213

Figure 15.1

Promotional poster in Toba Station depicting an ama diver (2016)

in social media and brought increased tourism to the filming locations in Miyagi Prefecture (Martinez, 2019; Scherer & Thelen, 2020). There is little evidence of tourism to the ama divers of Wajima/Hegura in the 1950s, the case study of this chapter, apart from the prominent visits of the above-mentioned Italian photographer Maraini and the Japanese academic collective Research Association of Nine Disciplines (Kyūgakkai rengō), which included the famous female ethnographer Segawa Kiyoko. As indication of previous tourism infrastructure on Hegura Island, interviewees recalled that, in the 1960s, the small island boasted five inns and a crushed ice shop. A retired ama diver in her early 90s remembered that, at that time, many Japanese and foreign tourists would come to take photographs of the then still quasi-naked ama divers, just as Maraini did. However, tourism never developed into a major business for the ama community there, and the two inns remaining today generate only a small supplemental income for their owners. There are also no shops or places to buy or eat food on Hegura anymore – only one beverage vending machine.

4.

RESEARCH DESIGN

The subject of this study is the ama diving community of Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture. This is Japan’s second largest ama community, with approximately 175 registered active

214  Handbook on food tourism divers in 2015. They dive, at minimum, during the summer season for two main catches: abalones and turban snails. The average age of Wajima’s ama divers was 55 in the mid-2010s, which made them the youngest ama divers in Japan. They are also distinctive in two other respects from other ama communities. First, the ama divers traditionally live in Wajima during winter, but spend their summers on the small island of Hegura (ca. 50km offshore) (Figure 15.2), where their major diving grounds are located. Today, however, due to structural changes, such as the closing of the island school, most ama divers commute to Hegura from Wajima every day during the season by boat, in small groups. Because of this, Hegura’s number of seasonal inhabitants has significantly decreased, from around 500 individuals in the early 1970s to around 120 in 2015; during the same period, the number of quasi-permanent residents similarly shrank, from approximately 100 to 30. Second, while anybody can become an ama in other regions, a family history of ama diving or a marriage into such a family is obligatory in Wajima. This is considered a double-edged sword, which on the one hand burdens the children to continue diving, but on the other hand keeps outsiders from working as ama. In general, being a member of an ama diving family, and so part of the community of Hegura Island, is an important source of identity for many of the locals, even if no family members are active ama divers anymore. This self-conception is also a product of frictions with and segregation from Wajima’s other inhabitants in the past.

Figure 15.2

The harbour of Hegura Island (2015)

From watching to eating  215 Table 15.1

List of interviewees

 

Interviewee

Age

Date

1

Ama community leader

Early 50s

Jul 2015, Mar 2017

Place Wajima

2

Ama community vice leader

Mid-50s

Jul 2015, Mar 2017

Wajima

3

Ama unit leader

Mid-60s

May 2015

Hegura

4

Ama unit leader, fisheries cooperative representative

Mid-40s

July 2015

Wajima

5

Ama diver

Late 70s

May 2015

Hegura

6

Ama diver, owner of an inn on Hegura Island

Mid-50s

May 2015

Hegura Hegura

7

Ama diver

Mid-50s

May 2015

8

Ama diver

Late 50s

May 2015

Hegura

9

Ama diver

Mid-60s

May 2015

Hegura

10

Ama diver

Early 40s

July 2015

Wajima

11

Ama diver

Late 30s

July 2015

Wajima Wajima

12

Retired ama diver

Mid-90s

July 2015

13

Government official in the Wajima City Office

Early 40s

Oct 2014

Wajima

14

Government official in the Prefectural Office

Mid-40s

Dec 2014

Kanazawa

15

Government official in the Prefectural Office

Mid-50s

Mar 2017

Kanazawa

The research approach of this study is qualitative. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Wajima City and on Hegura Island between October 2014 and March 2017 with a total of 15 individuals related to either the ama community or the government. These included the community leaders, unit leaders, active and retired divers, as well as officials of the city and the prefectural office in charge of diving-related topics (see Table 15.1). In addition, participant observation was conducted at the ‘abalone festival’ in July 2015. A fieldwork trip to Mie Prefecture in November 2016 further broadened the study’s perspective via visits to the Toba Sea-Folk Museum and the Mikimoto Island ama show. A Japanese human geographer and a Japanese linguist with specialisation in local dialects supported the non-native researcher in the fieldwork (see Acknowledgements).

5. EATING: AMA DIVING CULTURAL HERITAGE AND FOOD TOURISM Since the 2000s, the public image of ama divers has profoundly changed. This development should be regarded as one aspect of a larger, nationwide reassessment of rural lifestyle and sustainable working traditions in Japan in light of environmental issues like the human-made climate change. This reconceptualisation of the countryside, which aims at a revitalisation of the peripheries and an advancement of green soft power, was then often labelled by the buzzwords satoyama and satoumi (home mountains/forests and home ocean) (Thelen, 2022). In this context, ama diving became internationally acknowledged as so-called satoumi, i.e., an environment-friendly profession of fisheries deeply rooted in spirituality and traditional practices of sustainable resource management (e.g., McDonald, 2010). This reassessment goes hand in hand with the goal to designate ama diving as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Korean counterpart to ama diving, hanyeo, received this precious heritage title in 2016. At the time this chapter was written, the designation process for the Japanese ama divers was completed at the national level (2016), but still in preparation for consideration by UNESCO.

216  Handbook on food tourism During the fieldwork in 2015, the leaders of Wajima’s ama diving community were not sure whether the UNESCO designation would be beneficial for them. On the one hand, international recognition could lead to enhanced financial support for the purposes of conservation, as well as motivate their youth to continue in their profession. On the other hand, a heritage designation with clearly specified rules could also limit the flexibility and evolution of their profession, as well as bring them unwanted tourist attention. For the local ama community, tourism is a delicate topic. Most interviewed ama divers on Hegura Island stated that they were not against tourists per se and welcomed anybody who behaved properly, e.g., by saying hello, not wasting in the environment, not disturbing their work, and not entering their private spaces. Many community members recalled past episodes in which tourists flouted these rules, which contributed to a negative image of tourists, especially those who were likely coming to watch and photograph ama women. The question is: what role can the ama community play in cultural heritage tourism, especially if this brings increased attention to themselves? One interviewed ama diver took a firm stance: ‘We won’t do here what they are doing in Mie. Many of us would be against that. We will find our own way.’ Another interviewed ama in Wajima emphasised a similar contrast in terms of ‘tourist ama’, a pejorative term for show divers like those on Mikimoto Island: ‘We have no tourist ama – here, we are all working!’ On the other hand, the local and regional governments regard the ama heritage as a touristic resource that could help revitalise the structurally weak peripheral region, as well as the ama themselves: diving alone is today only for one-fourth of the ama divers a full-time profession, with most of them working other jobs outside of the harvest season in summer. In this respect, a promotional strategy centring on their catches appears to be a valuable way of negotiating the ama divers’ interests with those of the local government (Figure 15.3).

Figure 15.3

The emergence of food tourism in this case study as a compromise between the stakeholders

Food is considered the main objective of tourists visiting Ishikawa Prefecture according to a local survey (see Table 15.2); thus, the focus on ama-caught food items seems to be a promising approach. The ama divers’ catches range from several types of seaweed to wild oyster or sea cucumber, but their most famous and commercially important product is still abalone (Hayase, 2010). As described earlier, abalones were significant in premodern times for their use as ceremonial gifts by the ruling class. The role of abalone as a commercial gourmet food was fostered in the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to the improved equipment of ama divers (such as wetsuits and motorboats) leading to an increased volume of catches, as well as the simultaneous rapid economic development of Japan, which afforded the growing middle class the financial freedom to buy such luxury items. At their present price – ca. 10,000 yen per kg, shelled – abalones are not a standard dish, but a gourmet food that most Japanese rarely

From watching to eating  217 Table 15.2

Objectives for tourism in Ishikawa Prefecture in 2017

Tourism objective

Percentage

Food, tasting

65.8%

Hot spa visit (onsen)

45.1%

Nature, landscape

27.3%

Shopping (markets, etc.)

23.8%

Culture (literature, arts, handcrafts, etc.)

20.5%

Historical and religious sites (shrines, temples)

20.1%

Festivals, events

6.3%

Health, recreation

6.3%

Hobbies (fishing, photography, etc.)

2.9%

Sports

1.5%

Camping, hiking

0.8%

Others

4.7%

Source: Based on a survey with 8,000 participants, multiple answers allowed (Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism Strategy Department, 2018, p. 27).

eat. Gourmet tourists are a niche group, accounting for only 5–10% of all tourists, but usually belong to the socioeconomic elite, and so expend comparatively high expenses on their trips (Maurer, 2019, p. 31). The targeting of this niche group is thus not necessarily a disadvantage. The second important catch of ama divers are turban snails, which are closer to a standard food item, reaching peak market prices of ca. 1,000 yen per kg, shelled. The strategy for establishing food tourism related to ama diving in Wajima centres on these two catches. However, today there are other methods of producing and harvesting both abalones and turban snails, e.g., breeding them in aquaculture, which are much more cost-effective than ama diving, and so bring down the market price. In this competitive context, the branding of the food products yielded by ama diving is crucial.

6. ‘AMA-CAUGHT’ BRANDING There have been previous attempts at branding ama products by Wajima’s fisheries cooperative, through which the ama catches are distributed and sold. However, in 2014, with support from the Ishikawa Prefectural Office, a branding effort was re-established in light of the then-booming satoyama satoumi concept for rural revitalisation. The official phrasing of the branding is ‘Ishikawa’s treasure of satoumi: Wajima’s ama-caught …’, followed by the relevant product: ‘abalone’, ‘turban snail’, ‘steamed abalone’, and two types of ‘hand-plucked natural seaweed’ (iwamozuku and wakame). The branding confirms the origin of these local ama diving products, as authenticity is an important factor in food tourism (Baker & Kim, 2019; Maurer, 2019). One of the aims of this branding effort was to stabilise the price of ama products at a high level, as market prices had fluctuated drastically in the past, with an overall downward tendency. It was also intended to raise knowledge of the existence of ama divers in Wajima among inhabitants of Ishikawa and beyond. The branded products are sold in local stores, but also in antenna shops (retail shops specialised on products from a certain municipality) within the region (Ishikawa Prefecture, 2016, pp. 194–195).

218  Handbook on food tourism The ama divers generally appreciate these branding efforts: ‘The “ama-caught” brand is good, if it helps to increase the prices of abalones’ (ama diver, late 50s). However, there is also criticism of how the branding is handled: You know, I told them from the start, it would be much better if it’s ‘Hegura’s ama-caught’ abalones and turban snails. ‘Wajima’s ama-caught’ suggests that the abalones are coming from the diving grounds near Wajima, around the Nanatsu Islands, but the fact is that the abalones caught here at Hegura Island are much better. (Ama diver, mid-50s).

This quote was followed by a detailed explanation of why the abalones caught around Hegura are of a superior quality, which the ama divers want the customers to understand by means of a more specific branding. It concluded with this snappy remark: ‘Even my son said that the abalones from Wajima don’t taste good.’ The communication of the food’s quality to visitors is considered a key criterion for the successful strategic planning of food tourism (Ottenbacher & Harrington, 2013). Therefore, a more concrete definition and explanation of the abalones’ quality – not just the suggestion that they are good because they are caught by ama divers – might have helped to further increase the brand’s appeal. However, the official phrasing used in the branding, which includes the city’s as well as the prefecture’s name, is meant to promote the region as a whole (also in regards of the Prefectural Office’s financial support of the branding). The branding contributed to the price for abalones increasing from ca. 6,000 yen per kg in the late 2000s to ca. 10,000 yen in the mid-2010s. For turban snails, the branded price has similarly risen from ca. 600 yen to ca. 1,000 yen per kg. However, an official of the Prefectural Office claimed that the marine populations must be monitored carefully, because a higher price for branded abalones and turban snails may lead to overfishing as a side effect. The practice of spreading abalone seeds in the ocean around Hegura and establishing recreation zones with a moratorium on fishing are two measures that have been implemented in the face of declining resources; both date back to the early twentieth century and have become stricter over time, along with other diving and catching rules (McDonald, 2010; Ishikawa Prefecture, 2016). The two types of ama-branded dried seaweed are much cheaper (in 2015, ca. 330 yen for 100g of mozuku, and ca. 380 yen for 200g of wakame) than abalones and turban snails. The resultant profit for ama divers, however, tends to be low in comparison with that generated by shellfish. An interviewed ama diver also complained that the selection process is very strict and that, for instance, seaweed with slight variations in colour could not be sold. Another, cheaper product related to the ama diving community is sea salt from Hegura Island. Originally a by-product of the island’s freshwater treatment plant, the sea salt’s promotion and sale could be furthered by governmental support. As the interviewed community leaders admitted, however, the profit margins here are only slightly higher than cost coverage. Still, because they have a long shelf life, do not require cooling, and are light in weight, both the dried seaweed and sea salt could serve well as souvenirs. Edible souvenirs can play an essential supportive role in food tourism, not only as another way to increase the local income but also as promotional goods that might attract friends and acquaintances of former visitors (Lin & Mao, 2015; Pizzichini et al., 2020; Park et al., 2023).

From watching to eating  219

7.

THE ABALONE FESTIVAL

The ‘abalone festival’ (awabi matsuri) was initiated by the local fisheries cooperative in 2009 to promote ‘ama-caught’ products (Figure 15.4). This food festival takes place in Wajima’s harbour area on a Sunday in July and has become one of the major annual events in the city (see Table 15.3). Visitors can buy various marine products and other regional food items, such as vegetables, beef, or beer. In tented barbecue pits, the visitors can immediately grill and consume the purchased food. The prices – for abalones, for instance – are slightly cheaper than usual, as the goods are sold directly to customers. It is estimated that around 30,000 visitors attend this festival annually, and that ca. 3,000 abalones and 20,000 turban snails are prepared for sale there. Table 15.3

Annual festivals/events in Wajima City and estimated number of visitors in 2017

Name

Date

Visitors

Citizen Festival

3–4 June

87,000

Grand Festival (of the four major Shinto shrines)

22–25 August

55,000

Abalone Festival

16 July

30,000

Crab Festival

19 November

30,000

Aenokaze Festival (local food and handcrafts)

10–18 February

29,880

Nafune Festival (traditional drum performance)

31 July

6,500

Dashi Festival (Shinto wagons parade)

4–6 April

5,000

The ama community is not directly involved in the abalone festival, so the community leaders tend to skip it: ‘That’s the business of the fisheries cooperative, we have nothing to do with it.’ Although tourism studies often emphasise the importance of the involvement of all relevant stakeholders, case studies in the context of Japanese food festivals suggest that limited involvement and shared planning responsibilities can also lead to valuable results, if there is a common goal accepted by all stakeholders (Kang et al., 2019). Ultimately, some ama divers, most of whom are active in the fisheries cooperative, participate in the festival to sell their catches. Their involvement and physical presence – many wear a specially designed promotional t-shirt identifying them as local ama divers – guarantee the food’s authenticity to the visitors, along with the ‘ama-caught’ labels affixed to the abalones’ and turban snails’ shells (Figure 15.4). However, in comparison with other food festivals (Frost et al., 2016, pp. 55–66), there is little space for communication or the building of connections between producers and visitors. The number of food events in the region also diminishes the exclusivity of the abalone festival: Wajima hosts a crab festival in November and a week-long Aenokaze (East wind) food and handcrafts festival in February – which both usually attract an equal number of ca. 30,000 visitors – and two neighbouring cities hold oyster festivals in February (between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors). Nonetheless, most interviewees consider the abalone festival a good opportunity to promote the ‘ama-caught’ brand, especially because the festival attracts media attention and is often visited by the governor of Ishikawa. As abalones are not a standard food item, the festival presents an opportunity for tasting. Finally, the festival is one of many methods of advancing food tourism in the region, as an official of the Prefectural Office in charge of ama diving remarked in late 2014:

220  Handbook on food tourism

Figure 15.4

‘Ama-caught’ branded abalones at the abalone festival (2015)

It’s not just the abalone festival in July, but also the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems site designation [2011], the Prefectural Cultural Heritage designation [2014], other future cultural heritage designations [both national, received in 2016, and the planned UNESCO title], the ‘region of satoumi’, these decorations, these labels – it’s all eventually to increase the price of abalones a bit.

8.

EATING ABALONES… BUT WHAT ELSE?

A major category of food tourism is ‘activity-based’, i.e., involves experiences of gathering or preparing the food or its ingredients (Ellis et al., 2018). Today, in Mie Prefecture, there are travel programmes that offer tourists the opportunity to cook the catches of elderly ama divers and eat together with them for lunch, so presenting a window for encounter between hosts and tourists. In addition, tourists’ participation in cooking or food production enables them to challenge familiar sociocultural images and identities (Kim & Iwashita, 2016), such as clichéd, objectifying images of ama divers. In the case of Wajima, however, there is no organised experience for food tourists to go beyond purchasing goods from ama divers at the abalone festival. For those staying at Hegura Island, there are at least informal opportunities to have experiences similar to those offered in Mie. If one stays at the ama diver-owned inns on the island, dinner and breakfast will usually consist of ingredients caught by the host ama

From watching to eating  221 diver or her fisherman husband. If that fact were clearly promoted, it would surely have the potential to attract tourists. The convincing engagement of the local community in presenting and identifying with their food is regarded as a success factor in food tourism (Hillel et al., 2013). This proves to be challenging in the investigated case study. The ama divers of Wajima generally do not want to engage in touristic activities. As an interviewed ama unit leader remarked: ‘We can’t do something here like in Ama-chan [the popular TV series of 2013] – posing with our catches and screaming “Yeah!”, that would be fake [laugh]. That would feel like tourism for us.’ Indeed, most ama divers in Wajima still have a strong aversion to taking an active role in tourism. This is due, in part, to their experience with tourists decades ago, especially male tourists who primarily came to take photographs of them, and perhaps also to their self-professed image of themselves as strictly professional ama, who only dive to make their living. One ama diver – who is the community’s ‘stranger-handler’ (Agar, 1996), i.e., the first person to deal/negotiate with visiting researchers, media, etc. – commented: ‘When journalists come and ask me to put on my diving suit for photographs, I always find it embarrassing.’ During an interview, the community leaders recalled a discussion they had had with the local government about whether the ama could do something for tourists on Hegura Island. At the time, they had answered ‘no’: ‘Hegura is an island for professional work [ama diving and other fisheries] only.’ Talking about heritage designations, especially the expected future UNESCO title, some ama divers hope that they might receive a proper museum to commemorate their culture, like the Toba Sea-Folk Museum in Mie with its permanent ama exhibition (Figure 15.5). Indeed, a museum might be a good way to attract tourists, to offer them experiences and education related to ama diving culture without including ama divers themselves in the process. Ultimately, heritage designations like a UNESCO title require ‘systematic and continuous efforts in marketing and promotion’ (Park et al., 2023, p. 588), which could involve the installation of a museum, food events like the abalone festivals, or other creative ways of bringing food, local culture, and tourists together. The reluctance of the ama diving community to engage with tourism, however, must be respected and negotiated with on the part of other stakeholders, such as the local government.

9. CONCLUSIONS There is little doubt that the ama diving culture in Japan will be designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO within the next few years, much like it was done for hanyeo in Korea. Although the effects of this are hard to forecast, it is quite possible that it will lead to increased tourist attention being directed at ama divers in places like Wajima, at least for some time. This could become a crucial opportunity to reconfigure tourism programmes and activities, and the ama diving community could, as one interviewee suggested, find their ‘own way’ to participate in that. The ama divers are, of course, not the only ones in this kind of situation; many people working in Japan’s fisheries are now being forced to reconsider their professions in light of economic pressures and declining marine resources, and offering activities for tourists could be one way for them to earn a second income (Ganseforth, 2022). In general, the younger ama divers, in their 30s or 40s, appeared to be a bit less critical of tourism and more positively oriented towards the cultural heritage designations. Thus, an attitudinal shift in the community may be possible in the future.

222  Handbook on food tourism

Figure 15.5

Ama exhibition at the Toba Sea-Folk Museum (2016)

Independently of the question of how ‘touristic’ the ama divers could or would want to become, food tourism in the region faces three more challenges to further development. First, the commercially important products that turn a significant profit – especially abalones – target a niche group of gourmet tourists, who are willing to pay their high prices. The abalone festival is therefore a good opportunity for visitors to try the pricey ama-branded products. Second, abalones and turban snails exist only in limited and potentially decreasing marine populations; their fishing must be well monitored, and high market prices could risk overfishing. In other words, the quantity of ama diving products cannot be increased; only their prices can, by means of marketing, be driven up. Third, the cheaper ama-branded products that could become attractive to a larger group of tourists – dried seaweed and sea salt – make only a small profit. Nonetheless, they serve well as souvenirs and as shelf products in antenna shops, and are thus useful for further promotion of both Wajima’s ama-branded products and the possibility of visiting the harbour city. What makes a certain food ‘iconic’ is its fluid interpretation in contemporary contexts, not its historical authenticity (Everett, 2016). Abalones are no longer important as precious ritual gifts, but they have been reinterpreted as a gourmet food item that reflects the ama divers’ eco-friendly, sustainable, and traditional profession. This change in attitude – which also took place in the context of tourism, where expectations shifted from ‘watching ama’ to ‘eating ama-caught food’ – supports the preservation of ama diving. Therefore, a strategic move

From watching to eating  223 towards food tourism, in combination with a cultural heritage designation, can be an effective way of reconfiguring local touristic opportunities while supporting the local community.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author thanks Nitta Tetsuo and the late Kamiya Hiroo for their advice and support in the course of this research project. The research was financially supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Japan Society for Science Promotion (JSPS). The author also thanks the ama diving community of Wajima/Hegura for their kind cooperation.

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16. Learning to eat and eating to learn: unpacking co-created tourism experiences at a wild food festival Ingrid Kajzer Mitchell and Will Low

1. INTRODUCTION One expression of food tourism that merits particular research attention, in our opinion, is the food festival. Festivals and events have only recently been recognized as a dedicated field of study within tourism research and broader management studies (Getz, 2012; Slater & Wood, 2015), but Duffy and Mair (2021) consider the festival to be “a quintessential tourism event” (p. 9). Food festivals are designed to bring a diverse set of people together through their shared interest in, and consumption of, food (Richards, 2015). Thus, a food festival fits squarely into Ellis et al.’s (2018) assertion that “food tourism is about cultural anthropology through understanding the interactions of tourists with place through the medium of food” (p. 261). In this chapter, we extend the focus of food tourism research to the interactions between attendees of a food festival (in addition to interactions with place and food) through which they co-create their food tourism experiences. This extended focus draws on the co-creation paradigm used in management and marketing research, emphasizing how resources (including knowledge and skills) are exchanged amongst multiple actors, as opposed to an “output orientation”, which focuses on the exchange of “output units” (Chandler & Vargo, 2011, p. 36). Thus, co-created food tourism experiences are not simply embodied in atomized goods (a previously untasted—by the tourist—food) or services (a restaurant meal while on holiday): the exchange of output units. Rather, it is enmeshed in the jointly created experiences encountered between the people and the places, around and through food. The chapter also responds to Rachão et al.’s (2020, p. 910) call for more research on the “co-creative ‘learning’ elements” of food tourism experiences (see also Richards, 2021). Tourism, food, festivals, and learning have been intertwined for centuries in human history. Learning has gone hand-in-hand with travel, stretching back to the Grand Tour, a “formal and ritualized process by which the rich and near rich sons of England embarked on a prescribed trip to finish their education” (Brodsky-Porges, 1981, p. 171). Travel to festivals was an early manifestation of food tourism to celebrate harvest time or the gathering of a specific food item (Cudny, 2014). In the context of modern food festivals, attendees engage in immersive and experiential activities with other participants (Byrd et al., 2016; Rust, 2019), which lead to different types of learning (e.g., knowledge and skills development, shift in frames of reference). Our empirical data is based on participant observations and semi-structured interviews with attendees at the Local Wild Food Challenge (LWFC), a one-day culinary adventure competition where attendee involvement is key in designing and delivering the experience. The festival began as a small community event in Eastbourne, New Zealand, in 2008, celebrating the food, skills, and talents of local people. By 2017, the LWFC had grown into an annual 226

Learning to eat and eating to learn  227 series of events at international locations, with a mission of promoting appreciation of local wild food, attracting attendees from nearby local areas and afar. Wild foods can be defined as non-cultivated (Etkin, 1994), often local, traditional or indigenous food sources (Ahmed et al., 2022), procured through hunting, fishing, and foraging in natural environments such as oceans, forests, fields, and gardens (Downs et al., 2020). Our analysis of the data uses a value creation space view by examining how co-creative learning at food festivals goes beyond actor-to-actor exchanges to operate at three levels: micro, meso, and macro (Chandler & Vargo, 2011; Werner et al., 2017). Use of these levels of analysis reflects research by Park et al. (2022), who consider the individual, social, and institutional motivations of tourists dining in restaurants situated in food museums. Microand meso-level exchanges encompass participants acting as resource integrators, as per the co-creation paradigm, but also as informal educators and learners sharing knowledge (Werner et al., 2017). LWFC attendees gain knowledge and skills about foraging, cooking techniques, and local food traditions. Moreover, as LWFC stakeholders come together to co-create a memorable gastronomic experience, they may also initiate a transformative process where their values and beliefs about food and how they relate to the earth are altered. At a macro level of this exchange process, unofficial festival community norms and values are developed and enacted through social practices such as wild food foraging. Finally, gaining insight into the co-creation of food festival learning experiences can enrich the theory and practice of food tourism. As Werner et al. (2020) argue, “analysing value co-creation processes from a customer perspective” will allow festival organizers to improve how they manage the development of festivals as value co-creators (p. 128).

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Food Tourism Experiences

Dixit and Prayag (2022), referring in particular to work by Richards (1996, 2015), identify three phases in the evolution of our understanding of food tourism experiences: “first generation”, where the goods and services offered by tourism providers determine the experiences tourists enjoy; “second generation”, where consumers play the role of lead users or skilled consumers (Richards, 1996) in the co-creation of their experiences; and “third generation”, where gastronomic experiences are situated in the development of food communities (Richards, 2021). From a first-generation perspective, food festivals are part of an experience economy (Manthiou et al., 2014) created for attendees by producers of tourism goods and services. Tourism in general has been described as “an industry that sells experiences” (Campos et al., 2018, p. 369). Second-generation approaches consider how the role of the festival attendee changes from being a person in the audience to whom something is done, to being an actor (Walter et al., 2010). While not explicitly referencing the co-creation literature, Ellis et al. (2018) argue that “it is the tourist who interacts and creates an experience through performance, enquiry, and engagement” (p. 261). The festival setting in particular allows “tourists to do things rather than just look at [experiences] and engage in activities for self-development, explore multi-sensory environments, and connect to other people” (Campos et al., 2018, p. 369). The opportunities for consumers to take on the role of lead users or skilled consumers who co-create experiences at festivals have been discussed in general (Rihova et al., 2014), in

228  Handbook on food tourism the context of performing arts and music festivals (Van Winkle & Bueddefeld, 2016; Werner et al., 2020), and in cultural festivals (Chen et al., 2020). The third-generation approach analyses how food tourism experiences assemble a broad range of actors and resources in a place-based context (such as a festival) that connects people through their shared knowledge and skills and their shared consumption to co-create communities (Richards, 2021). 2.2

Co-creation and Service-dominant Logic

We use two frameworks to understand food tourism experiences as “the interactions of tourists with place through the medium of food” (Ellis et al., 2018, p. 261). Both frameworks, co-creation (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004) and service-dominant logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2004), introduced new approaches to understanding how value is created in an economy. For Prahalad and Ramaswamy, the main driver of value is no longer a company creating goods and services in isolation from those who consume these products, but rather “consumers want to interact with firms and thereby co-create value” (p. 4). Service-dominant logic (S-D logic) proposes that, although goods and services measure tangible and intangible units of output, the economic exchange of goods/services from producer to consumer is no longer the essential source of value creation (Vargo & Lusch, 2008). Instead of “goods [and services] and physical resources (termed operand resources) as the basis of economic and social exchange, S-D logic emphasises knowledge and skills (termed operant resources)” (Ng et al., 2014, p. 125). One quickly appreciates, then, why Werner et al. (2017) argue that “several concepts from S-D logic (in particular operant resources, value co-creation, and the focus on stakeholder integration and networks) are highly relevant for the events’ context” (p. 334). In both the co-creation and the S-D logic frameworks, value creation is a collaborative process involving multiple parties. In the case of food festivals, attendees become embedded resource-integrating actors, whose interactions within the festival ecosystem are built upon the voluntary exchange of operant resources: knowledge and skills held by actors in the ecosystem (Vargo & Lusch, 2011). Their behaviours and practices within these voluntary exchanges are shaped by formal and informal institutional arrangements that govern the event, including values, norms, and guidelines (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Thus, value is co-created by these actors interacting with the formal structures of the festival organization, with each other, and with the broader community (Rihova et al., 2014). We note, however, that studies that adopt the S-D logic predominantly paint resource integration in a positive light; resource integration might also fail to take place, such as when a festival actor lacks sufficient skills and capabilities to integrate another actor’s resources (Mele et al., 2018). 2.3

Co-creation as a Learning Process

Adult education research suggests that food can be “a vehicle for learning” (Flowers & Swan, 2012, p. 423) through which participants may begin to transform how “they cook, shop, and eat” (Flowers & Swan, 2015, p. 8). Transformation is the cornerstone of adult learning theory, which posits that experiences can lead to deep changes in perspective, disrupting taken-for-granted frames of reference (Mezirow, 1981, 1997), which in turn permanently alters our way of being in the world (O’Sullivan, 2002). Food studies scholars have argued this disruption and “transformative learning experience” (Sumner, 2008, p. 352) can occur if food

Learning to eat and eating to learn  229 acts as “an entrée into larger questions about how we live, how we relate to each other and how we relate to the earth” (Sumner, 2008, p. 356). Learning experiences have been less commonly studied than other social and cultural experiences at tourism events, but research has demonstrated that learning is often a motive for, as well as an outcome of, attendance (Getz, 2012). For example, Van Winkle and Bueddefeld (2021) affirmed that attending agritourism events enhanced learning about food and agriculture. Einarsen and Mykletun (2009) found that shared consumption experiences may offer opportunities for communal learning. Axelsen and Swan (2010) also noted that social interaction with others was an important part of learning at events, and Ikäheimo (2020) concluded that informal discussions can contribute to learning at food events. The possibilities of transformative learning in tourism settings have been examined from the perspective of travel (Morgan, 2011), volunteer tourism, (Coghlan & Gooch, 2011), community-based ecotourism (Sen & Walter, 2020; Walter, 2016), collaborative tourism (Decrop et al., 2018), and at tourism experiences more broadly (Bueddefeld & Duerden, 2022; Van Winkle & Lagay, 2012; Pung et al., 2020). Nonetheless, according to Slater and Wood (2015), “Despite the growing body of literature in the festival and event management field we still have limited understanding of the nature of individual and collective festival and event experiences and the emotional and symbolic meanings and potential transformative experiences attached to them” (p. v). We address this gap, and one previously mentioned regarding “co-creative ‘learning’ elements” of food tourism experiences (Rachão et al., 2020, p. 910), by examining the multiple co-creative learning processes and outcomes taking place at micro, meso, and macro levels in a single case study, the Local Wild Food Challenge (LWFC).

3. METHODS To better understand the impact of food festivals, specifically value co-creation leading to forms of learning, we undertook a single embedded case study design (Yin, 2013) of the Local Wild Food Challenge (LWFC), a one-day culinary adventure competition. This instrumental and descriptive case study provided the opportunity to generate an authentic interpretation of the phenomenon of interest (Berg, 2009; Outhwaite & Turner, 2007) and builds on prior inductive qualitative research designs within the context of events (Van Winkle & Bueddefeld, 2016; Werner et al., 2020). Through interviews and observations, our case study gathered multiple people’s perspectives and interpretations of the situations in which they are operating (Bhattacherjee, 2012). 3.1

Data Collection and Data Analysis

The LWFC has staged yearly events multiple times in different countries, such as the USA, Italy, New Zealand, and Finland. Our study draws mainly on qualitative interviews and observations at the LWFC held at Martha’s Vineyard, USA, in 2017. This particular event was chosen primarily due to convenience; its geographic proximity provided access and facilitated data collection (Yin, 2013). It was also chosen due to it being one of the two original locations for the LWFC, thus making it a more representative case (Edmonds & Kennedy, 2016). Short “in-the-moment” semi-structured interviews (Quinn & Wilks, 2013) of 10–15 minutes were conducted as the LWFC was in progress, with a convenience sample of two

230  Handbook on food tourism groups of participants: attendees visiting the event and those who participated in the culinary competition. Potential interview participants were approached at various times in various venue locations throughout the day (e.g., in the eating and food preparation areas) and invited to take part in the research. In the end, 30 attendees were recruited (24 visitors and 6 competing participants) for on-site interviews. The number of interviews was dependent on the availability and willingness of participants on the day. Due to the noise level at the event, the majority of the interviews were not recorded, and notes were taken. In addition, the LWFC founder participated in three in-depth interviews averaging 60 minutes each during the period of 2017–2020, in-person and over the phone. Two interview guides were developed to ensure consistency between interviews (Bryman, 2001), one for “general” attendees and one for attendees participating in the cooking competition (designated as “competitors” when required for clarity). Aside from a few demographic questions, the questions were structured around five main themes: (1) motivation for attending; (2) prior experience and understanding of wild food; (3) significance of the festival experience; (4) changes in thoughts/feelings about wild foods as a result; and (5) reflections on the broader social impact of wild food foraging. In this chapter we focus mainly on questions about interviewees’ sources of learning about wild foods, what they perceived they learnt from taking part in the event, and the extent to which they perceived it may have confirmed or changed how they thought of wild foods. The interview protocol for the competitors was similar, but we also sought to understand wild food preparation practices in more depth. For example, by asking the following questions: “Tell us about the dish you prepared for today’s competition,” “How did you go about preparing for this meal?”, and “When you use wild food ingredients, how do you access these?” Interviews were supplemented by observations. The first author attended as an “outsider” (observing spectator behaviour), a “situated actor” (Hertz, 1997, p. viii), and an “insider”, immersing themselves and participating in the event (Mackellar, 2013). This insider/outsider experience is a defining element of more participatory observational research (Jaimangal-Jones, 2014), which garnered insight into the relationships and interactions between attendees at the LWFC, as well as the ways attendees engaged with the festival activities (Mackellar, 2013). Specific attention was placed on watching, listening, and documenting impressions to understand how event programming and the physical layout of the event influenced how people engaged with wild foods and what experiences the various attendees were co-creating by interacting with each other. Observations were recorded by using field notes and taking photos. Image making allowed us to preserve the atmosphere and feeling of the place after the event (Silverman, 2013). The researchers initially began data collection guided by an overarching research question investigating the role of learning within a wild food festival context. As data collection evolved, it became clear that not only learning but also co-creation were central themes in participants’ experience. As such, once all data were collected and transcripts were carefully read and re-read, a hybrid process of inductive and deductive thematic analysis (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006) was applied to better understand the dimensions of co-creation and learning experienced at the event. As suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006), initial data-driven codes were used to identify themes within the transcripts. In addition, a priori theory-driven codes built upon the active/passive co-creation dichotomy discussed in the tourism and festival literature (Alexiou, 2020; Rachão et al., 2021) were applied as a means of organizing the data (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006).

Learning to eat and eating to learn  231 Table 16.1

Participants directly quoted in text

No.

Gender

Participant role

Attendance at the Martha’s Vineyard LWFC

P1

Male

Competitor

Returning

P2

Male

Visitor

First time

P3

Male

Visitor

First time

P4

Male

Visitor

First time

P5

Female

Competitor

First time

P6

Male

Competitor

Returning

P7

Female

Visitor

Returning

P8

Female

Visitor

Returning

P9

Male

Competitor

Returning

4. FINDINGS The presentation of our case study findings begins with an overview of the food festival and the study participants, followed by a discussion of key themes that emerged as a result of addressing our research questions: What experiences do participants co-create during the event and what role do participants play? What kind of learning is occurring during these co-created experiences? Throughout the findings, direct quotes from interview participants are included as support (see Table 16.1). 4.1

Overview of the Food Festival

The October 2017 edition of Local Wild Food Challenge was held at the Farm Institute in Edgarton, Martha’s Vineyard, USA, on a large open field. The event followed a typical one-day LFWC format, consisting of food preparation demonstrations by local wild food experts, food and beverage producer stalls, food trucks, and music, culminating in a cooking competition. The competition element was designed around the ethos of being “for the people by the people”, simultaneously celebrating and “showcas[ing] the resourcefulness of local people”, and included amateurs and professionals alike who created an entry “featuring at least one wild ingredient”.1 Competitors were encouraged to “get out into [their] natural environment”, “connect with each other across the community”, and source “as wide a variety of ingredients as possible”.2 The wild food ingredients (e.g., game, fish, wild nuts, edible flowers, mushrooms, and sea salt) were foraged, hunted, fished, gathered, or bartered prior to the festival day, either locally around Martha’s Vineyard or from the neighbouring states. Most of the competition dishes were prepared in advance (e.g., smoked, fermented, marinated), but there was a dedicated space with prep tables and equipment such as ovens and grills to finish off and plate the dishes. The Martha’s Vineyard event attracted around 500 visitors throughout the day, and 35 competitors (e.g., professional and home cooks) of all ages, which created a lively, yet relaxed communal atmosphere described by participants as “fun” and “wonderful”. As expressed by the LWFC founder and organizer, “At the core of what we do is … gathering people together to have a fun competition and exchange ideas … get involved and to have fun with it at the same time.” Study participants ranged in age from 24–72, with an average age of 39. Interviewees were primarily from Martha’s Vineyard and from surrounding areas of Massachusetts, Connecticut,

232  Handbook on food tourism and New York. For some attendees, this was their first LWFC, but many others were participating for a second, third, fourth, and even seventh time, either all at Martha’s Vineyard or in some instances LWFC events in Italy and Finland. While participants gave varied reasons for attending the LWFC, most expressed interest in self-sufficiency, different kinds of food, supporting the local food community, and their desire to socialize (e.g., meeting and supporting friends). Others noted attending because it was a “fun experience”, “a beautiful day”, and “something to do” or “a cool thing to do”. These diverse motives for attending align with intrinsic and extrinsic motivations identified by food tourism scholars, which range widely from environmental and health concerns to escaping from routine and socialization (cf. Park et al., 2022). Field notes and observations recorded how participants co-create their festival experiences in several ways. As competitors prepare and assemble their dishes on the day, they openly share their experience and knowledge in front of others, bring to life new menus, and display their creativity through reimagined or novel recipes and aesthetics (see Figure 16.1). Moreover, the physical layout of the festival was designed to encourage attendees to observe and interact with competitors (see Figure 16.2); the food preparation areas facilitated interaction amongst a multitude of attendees and competitors.

Figure 16.1

Photos of festival competitors assembling their dishes on the day

Learning to eat and eating to learn  233

Figure 16.2 4.2

Photo of food preparation and plating space

Co-created Experiences

Analysis of our observations and field notes captured how attendees either actively or passively contributed to, and engaged with, the food tourism experience, resulting in different degrees of co-creation. We also found that co-creation extended beyond the event itself, especially to pre-event activities such as planning and foraging. 4.2.1 Passive co-creation We observed attendees engaging in passive forms of co-creation (Byrd et al., 2016; Williams et al., 2019) by participating in structured “fun” events, such as making apple cider and watching wild food preparation demos by local wild food experts: a fish being gutted, a chicken being plucked, or a deer being skinned (see Figure 16.3). Moreover, by taking part in wild food and local beverage tastings, directly interacting with vendors and other attendees, attendees contributed to the creation of the ambience of the festival experience. As noted by Williams et al. (2019), these kinds of co-creation elements can contribute to more memorable food tourism experiences.

234  Handbook on food tourism  

Figure 16.3

Photos of wild food preparation demos

4.2.2 Active co-creation Competitors in the LWFC were actively involved in various co-creation activities. This active participation and interaction, which has been identified as central to co-created food tourism experiences (Rachão et al., 2020; Rachão et al., 2021; Richards, 2021), occurred both prior to and during the event. Due to the nature of wild food foraging and cooking, competitors stated they often began foraging and preparing ingredients many months in advance. They also integrated their skills and knowledge by sharing their co-creation process through a written story to accompany their LWFC entry. The stories typically detailed their efforts to gather and prepare the dish, their personal connection to the food they created, their source of inspiration, and how and with whom the food had come to be. For example, we noted the following statements: “The inspiration for our dish comes from a place where life seems simpler,” or “This recipe has been in our family for generations.” We also observed peer-to-peer sharing of active co-creation outputs, as competitors tasted the meals that other competing attendees had made. 4.3 Learning Thematic analysis identified three broad categories of learning: (i) increased knowledge and understanding; (ii) personal meaning-making of the social experience, and reflections on values and decisions; and (iii) changing perspectives on food and the systems that produce food. The first two align with Mezirow’s (1981) discussion of instrumental and communicative learning. In the third, transformative learning, Mezirow argues that cumulative learning (over time and combining instrumental and communicative learning) is necessary for people to gain a broader conception and appreciation of what food is or can be.

Learning to eat and eating to learn  235 4.3.1 Instrumental learning The majority of interviewees shared details of learning outcomes that were instrumental in nature. Most experienced learning that related to increased knowledge, specifically how to forage and prepare and cook wild foods. As noted by one participant: I learnt about new ingredients and preparation techniques. I have learnt more about wild foods here than anywhere. (P1)

Participants new to the LWFC reported that, through the food demonstration and food tasting, they learnt what kinds of local wild foods could be harvested and eaten (e.g., racoon meat and worms), and how easily accessible they were: I tasted new things. I am not sure about the wild goat, but I appreciate the different techniques to prepare food. (P2) I have been trying different food … wild food is more readily available than I thought. I should be more active to gather myself. (P3)

It can be argued that tasting is “the highest end of food experience” and can be considered as an “ultimate learning situation” (Park et al., 2022). Competitors also noted they learnt about different wild food preparation techniques from watching hands-on activities performed by other competitors or wild food experts. The act of seeing someone use new ingredients, or the same ingredients in different ways, facilitated learning “new preparation techniques” they had not been exposed to before. Moreover, competitors in the LWFC developed practical skills and knowledge that evolved over time. In particular, young people who have grown up attending the annual festival demonstrate increased instrumental knowledge over time. The founder explained: We knew these kids when they were seven, eight, and nine, entering the LWFC with their parents hovering over them. They have taken on everything they’ve learned that we have taught them through these years about wild food, and now they’re on their own with … their own foraging knowledge, and they are doing it for themselves and teaching their mates … they really live it now … they understand what it is to forage, hunt, fish, dive, whatever it is … and they come in [to the competition] with these incredible dishes and with great stories about how they harvested and what they understand about where they live and how it should be treated.

This kind of instrumental learning experienced through food creation and consumption is consistent with previous studies in food tourism (cf. Park et al., 2022). For example, Van Winkle and Bueddefeld (2021) demonstrate how the agritourism experience promoted agricultural literacy. 4.3.2 Communicative learning The findings point to LWFC participants engaging in various kinds of discourse with others where they share their wild food knowledge, which helps them reflect on their own food practices. As noted by one competing participant, “[It] has made me realize how many people are passionate about it [wild foods] … forcing me to think more consciously about wild food” (P1). Pre-event activities, such as planning their competition dish, necessitated social interactions and conversations with family members, local chefs, and foraging experts. For some, “talking to other chefs”, “the [LWFC] organizer”, or “friends” resulted not only in novel and

236  Handbook on food tourism unique ways to prepare or present food (e.g., using “an old pot that a friend of mine found”), but provided a window into an alternative way of being: It gives you a little window into the fact that I don’t have to go to the shop and buy everything … . I’m used to just buying stuff, [but] now I can go out foraging with [the LWFC organizer], and we figure out what mushrooms we’re going to use [in the LWFC competition]. (P6)

Another competitor noted how the LWFC and pre-event ingredient preparations (e.g., hunting, tapping maple syrup) had become something “we think about all year around [sic]”, creating conversations between himself and other family members (P1). Another competing participant reflected on how attending the LWFC over the years had given them an appreciation of foraging, to the extent that it had become perhaps even more important than the LWFC event itself: “So since [the first LWFC] we’ve been competing, and I almost enjoy the foraging more, especially with the kids” (P9). The motivation of being with family, and the intimacy of spending time together, not only contributed to the in situ tourism experience (Park et al., 2022) but also to the pre- and post-event experience. 4.3.3 Transformative learning While the researcher did not observe, and participants did not report, dramatic transformative learning occurring, some first-time visitors noted instrumental or communicative learning leading to subtle shifts in their frame of reference, specifically related to sampling new kinds of food and tastes. Trying foods not commonly found in mainstream market spaces, such as pickled worms or racoon meat, or watching wild food preparations that attendees had not experienced before, opened their minds to new experiences, and challenged some of the attendees’ habitual perceptions of food choices (Organ et al. 2015) and the role and value of wild foods. As one attendee noted: I am new to it [wild foods], not familiar and I am just starting to learn. It has opened my eyes to different kinds of food, and how to prepare, like trapping animals. (P4)

Another attendee noted being inspired “to keep being open about trying new things” (P8). A first-time local competitor shared the following: Seeing what you can gather in your own backyard has been the most fun … you can find things that are hidden, that seems like a weed or something you think is disposable, but it is actually something you can consume, which is pretty cool. (P5)

An attendee who had competed in numerous LWFCs at various event locations reflected on their own transformative learning stemming from their many festival experiences: There’s lot of great ways to sustain yourself … and that’s kind of something that’s nice that I am learning how to do … and you can actually go out and find this beautiful dish. It is nice to go out in the woods and really look and find the wild mushrooms or the fish. (P6)

Learning to eat and eating to learn  237

5. DISCUSSION Our findings reveal that co-creation occurs at three levels of aggregation in the festival experience, micro, meso, and macro, where diverse festival actors engage in reciprocal resource-integrating interactions and exchanges (Lusch & Vargo, 2014)—one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many (Werner et al., 2017)—that lead to learning. 5.1

Micro Level

We suggest that the lowest level of aggregation sees co-creation and learning occur when LWFC actors engage in the festival experience at an individual introspective level. Many attendees (especially competitors) arrive with some form of deliberate learning intent, while even those who arrive wanting “a good day out” may learn incidentally through the opportunity to see and do novel and interesting things (Falk & Dierking, 2000; Rounds, 2004, as cited in Falk, 2005). An interesting example of potentially incidental learning came from one woman who had attended multiple LWFC events with her children. Her interview demonstrated limited knowledge and interest in wild food per se, and no personal experience of wild food gathering or preparation: “I have no time. I forage at Whole Foods” (P7). While she appreciated “tasting different food”, it ultimately was primarily “a nice day out”. Nonetheless, even these comments showed that interacting with the festival experience had resulted in reflection on her own attitudes and behaviour toward food and her foodscape. Second, building on S-D logic, we identified dyadic interactions between festival actors who share their own wild food skills and knowledge as key operant resources (Arnould et al., 2006). Attendees can gain novel insights into specific wild foods or cooking and foraging techniques through one-on-one interactions and informal conversations during structured activities such as watching demonstrations and the cooking competition, and informal interactions around tasting wild foods. Meanwhile, competitors are applying their wild food gathering skills and their knowledge of food preparation to actively shape the festival experience, not only influencing how other attendees make sense of the festival experience but also acting as “keystone actors” who, through their leadership (Iansiti & Levien, 2004), are modelling and fostering closer contacts between food providers and consumers. Third, competitors co-create the festival experience by interacting with and integrating non-human actors, e.g., nature, food artefacts (Davila & Dyball, 2015). By foraging and hunting prior to the event, they begin to transform their understanding of what food is and how food is produced (Kajzer Mitchell et al., 2017). 5.2

Meso Level

At the meso level, co-creation and learning also occurs through larger aggregations of actors and their interactions within the festival environment. The open communal festival design and the food preparation space accessible to all attendees draw together large groupings to facilitate authentic exchanges and sustained relationships (Chen et al., 2020). The LWFC provides a sense of belonging to an emerging communitas (Begg, 2011) through inclusion/access regardless of age and background, which affords all attendees the opportunity to develop their co-creation capabilities (Rihova et al., 2014). In particular, we see this occur in the LWFC

238  Handbook on food tourism competition. Spurred on by the competition, participants actively seek resource exchanges with private (e.g., family and friends) and public (e.g., community) actors prior to the festival itself to source their wild food ingredients, or to acquire new skills and knowledge in preparation for the event. On the day, cooks of all ages and levels of experience gather, first with each other and then with the festival attendees who attend the competitive judging of creations that celebrates learning as a community process. The learning process engendered by the festival encourages sharing knowledge between those who know the land and how to make use of it, and those who do not yet. This collective learning community aspect of the LWFC resembles a learning system (Kasl & Marsick, 1997), where there is an interdependence such that progress in learning by the individual is tied to progress by the group (see Kilgore, 1999, p. 197). Festivals scholars refer to a community of practice where attendees begin to share similar passions and interests and come together collectively year after year to update their skills and knowledge (cf. Comunian, 2015). Attendees come to know each other by name, which contributes to interpersonal relationships and information and resource sharing over time. These ongoing relationships can result in new and renewed combinations of operant resources and in new ways of co-creating value. 5.3

Macro Level

At the macro level, the focus is on institutional governance arrangements and norms that facilitate co-creation interactions (Vargo & Akaka, 2012). The LWFC becomes, in the words of Lusch and Nambisan (2015), an “architecture of participation”, coordinating, guiding, and supporting the interactions and resource exchanges amongst actors in the festival ecosystem. Through its vision of “for the people by the people” and “anyone can have a go”, the LWFC fosters resource access by enabling different festival actors to create a sense of personal and collective ownership of the festival experience. The LWFC provides supportive institutional arrangements (e.g., a festival ethos) that lead to collective experiences, and the organizers become facilitators rather than just event planners, effectively transferring the ownership of the co-creation process and outcomes to the festival community. Moreover, LWFC actors coalescing around wild foods, and the event itself, become active in constructing an emergent alternative food network (Kajzer Mitchell et al., 2017) which supports alternative models of food production and participation based on solidarity and coordinated action. This alternative food network counters conventional market systems which are based on a goods-dominant logic that focuses on value creation resulting from interactions between “producers” and “consumers” (Lockie, 2009). At the macro level, co-creative learning can be viewed from a broader societal perspective such as the emergence of a shared solidarity towards making production and consumption of food more sustainable. As one competitor commented, “It connects you with the earth and what is out there and makes you respect what is out there” (P1).

6. CONCLUSION Value co-creation is used in this chapter as a lens to examine how learning may occur through food tourism experiences such as festivals. Thus, this study can be viewed as an extension

Learning to eat and eating to learn  239 of the work on co-creation by Van Winkle and Bueddefeld (2016) and Rachão et al., (2020, 2021), while also contributing to the broader field of festival and event management (e.g., Park et al., 2022; Van Winkle & Bueddefeld, 2016; Werner et al., 2017, 2020). Specifically, by applying the S-D logic to the food tourism festival context, we begin to provide a more holistic multi-layered analysis and description of the value-creation work that may occur (Werner et al., 2017). Prior research has identified festivals as important sites for learning but has not linked value co-creation with learning processes that result from dynamic interactions between various stakeholders in the festival context. This study has value for festival organizers who can use the case study insights to more deliberately embed active co-creation elements to achieve greater transformative experiences. In embracing a next generation of festival experiences, where more attention is placed on relational and co-creational processes (Richards, 2021), organizers will be able to use the findings to include design and delivery elements that more formally consider how to utilize the knowledge of attendees, how attendees learn through various experiential activities, and how a learning process can be initiated. By “purposely delivering activities beyond visitors’ comfort levels” (Pung et al., 2020, p. 4), organizers may create opportunities for more impactful learning. More structured interactions at micro and meso levels, both pre-event and during the event, may also give attendees the opportunity to develop their individual creative potential (Richards & Raymond, 2000), and to glimpse a new way of life (Bell & Valentine, 1997). Practically, festival practitioners should note that at the LWFC, the physical or psychological barriers between attendees and “performers” were much lower than may be experienced and expected in other festival settings, where an audience is physically seated and separated from the action, and social norms prescribe quiet observation and contemplation. In contrast, participation at the LWFC is more active and more visceral by design. This study also provides several avenues for future research. The learning potential of co-created festivals is not straightforward. At the micro level, the learning that occurs at the festival is dependent on the attendee’s own actions (or inaction), as well as their ability and willingness to communicate and collaborate with others in the value-creation process. Business scholars have examined this outside of food tourism, where, for example, the capacity to learn and a desire to participate (Ranjan & Read, 2019) are important in explaining the learning that occurs as a result of value co-creation. Future research would benefit from more in-depth examination of individual food tourism actors’ motivations and capabilities as they relate to co-creation, and how these in turn influence, and are influenced by, the way they attend the food tourism experience, not only in situ but pre- and post-event. Finally, the LWFC may have unintended macro-level consequences for the wild food movement more broadly by not considering (or directly addressing) issues of accessibility to wild foods beyond the day of the event, and how promoting the use of wild foods impacts wild food ecosystems and indigenous food cultures. While gastronomic experiences like LWFC provide a platform for value co-creation (Werner et al., 2017), they may contribute to romanticizing desirable outcomes and the alternative. Notably, this may stem from network actors not subjecting it to the same critical reflection as conventional, more mainstream food experiences, in terms of adverse consequences (Forsell & Lankoski, 2015). Future research would benefit from adopting a more critical inquiry lens (cf. Mair & Sumner, 2017) to evaluate the learning occurring at co-created food tourism experiences such as festivals.

240  Handbook on food tourism

NOTES 1. See http://​www​.lo​calwildfoo​dchallenge​.com. 2. See http://​www​.lo​calwildfoo​dchallenge​.com.

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Learning to eat and eating to learn  243 Vargo, S.L., & Lusch, R.F. (2011). It’s all B2B…and beyond: Toward a systems perspective of the market. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(2), 181–187. Vargo, S.L., & Lusch, R.F. (2008). Why “service”?, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36, 25–38. Vargo, S.L., & Lusch, R.F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17. Walter, P. (2016). Catalyst for transformative learning in community-based ecotourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 19(13), 1356–1371. Walter, U., Edvardsson, B., & Östrom, A. (2010). Drivers of customers’ service experiences: As study in the restaurant industry. Managing Service Quality, 20(3), 236–258. Werner, K., Griese, K.-M., & Faatz, A. (2020). Value co-creation processes at sustainable music festivals: A grounded theory approach. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 11(1), 127–144. Werner, K., Griese, K-M., & Hogg, J. (2017). Service dominant logic as a new fundamental framework for analyzing event sustainability: A case study from the German meeting industry. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 18(4), 318–343. Williams, H.A, Yuan, J.J, & Williams Jr., R.L. (2019). Attributes of a memorable gastro-tourist experience. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 43(3), 1–22. Yin, R.K. (2013). Cases study research design & methods. Sage Publishing.

17. Evaluating the value creation of memorable or extraordinary gastronomic tourism experiences: a case study approach Paul Strickland and Kim M. Williams

1. INTRODUCTION There is a flourishing interest by academic researchers to explore food tourism and the subset gastro-tourism, which solicits billions of dollars globally (Gheorghe et al., 2014). Gastro-tourism is a specific market segment related to travel which is associated with memorable culinary experiences. Williams et al. (2019) suggested that ‘memorability-triggering elements are required if gastro-tourism is to reach its full potential’ (p. 343). However, there are gaps in the literature which considers value co-creation of memorable or extraordinary experiences which can add to the overall food and gastro-tourism encounter. Focusing on the unique aspects of the gastro-experience, this chapter explores the value co-creation of the overall experience rather than the actual consumption of food and beverages, which is not deeply explored. Hence, there is an opportunity for further academic exploration and interrogation. Intimate food-focused experiences are not widely promoted by guidebooks, websites or even tourism literature, according to secondary data sources (Chandralal & Valenzuela, 2013). Dixit (2019) stated ‘the growing trend amongst tourists to seek authenticity and a novel narrative through the local gastronomy and dining pattern has become a significant factor for tourists looking to co-create an extraordinary experience at a destination’ (p. 1). This can be achieved in several ways; however, the staging environment is an ideal method of contextually bounding a memorable gastronomic experience. The staging environment, including the location, setting, atmosphere, the actual uniqueness and authenticity of the experience, will be part of the discourse in this chapter. The discussion will use and reveal case studies, such as a degustation delight at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) (Tasmania), Dinner in the Sky (offered globally), NOX Dine in the Dark (Singapore), Mount Buffalo Cliff Picnics (Australia), and the Disaster Café (Spain) as examples. Using secondary and observational data is common in tourism research (Yin, 2017), thus an analysis of current literature matched with internet searches was conducted to find memorable or extraordinary gastro-tourism experiences (Kazandzhieva & Santana, 2019). Value co-creation includes the context of the destination, novelty factor, type of service provided to the gastro-tourist, exceptional skills of the service staff, overall ambience and any other identified factors that could determine the experience memorable or extraordinary.

244

Evaluating the value creation of memorable gastronomic tourism experiences  245

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Gastro-tourists (a subset of food tourism) are travellers who plan excursions entirely or partially to enjoy local food experiences, food cultures and cuisines. Gastro-tourists participating in a gastronomic experience can be categorised as intentional (actively seeking a gastronomic experience) or unintentional (by-product of a personal holiday, visiting friends and family, business travel or part of the events sector) (Williams et al., 2017). Gastro-tourists exhibit various characteristics, such as a willingness to learn about new cultures through food encounters, tending to travel more and spend more disposable income, and staying longer at a destination (Williams et al., 2019). This group of travellers is not defined by age, ethnicity, or educational background, but by their willingness to seek out gastronomical encounters which are memorable or extraordinary anywhere in the world (Gheorghe et al., 2014). Gastro-tourists are influenced by a range of factors, including the value added to the overall experience – for instance, gastro-tourists seek out authenticity of the cuisine, the style and quality of the customer service provision, and/or a unique location or setting (Everett, 2016). This chapter deliberates on pre, during and post gastronomic encounters and is arranged into five constructs, being moments of truth, memorability, authenticity, planning and staging, and the value co-creation of experiences. These constructs at times are intertwined and provide an ideal way to explore and expound the food and gastronomic tourism experience phenomena. 2.1

Moments of Truth

Moments of truth can be difficult to determine, as they mean diverse tangible or intangible ideals to different people in various circumstances. In the service industry, moments of truth can be any interaction between two parties associated with service quality (Augustyn & Ho, 1998). Evans and Lindsay (2010) remarked: service quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations. To meet or exceed customer expectations, organizations must fully understand all service attributes that contribute to customer value and lead to satisfaction and loyalty (p. 53).

To satisfy the gastro-tourist needs and expectations, certain factors must be fulfilled. For instance, there must be a product and/or service on offer that gastro-tourists are willing to seek and pay for, such as a two-course meal in a reputable dining establishment (Sørensen & Jensen, 2015). In tourism, this is known as a service encounter. Tourists know what to expect in terms of the quality of product and service. Baum (2005) stated that in tourism, positive service encounters are critical for the tourist and their user experience, and therefore must not be forgotten. Tourists often follow the ‘moments of truth’ principles in which each step of the service experience is evaluated (Carlsen, 1989). After a service encounter, tourists often reflect on their experience and gauge it accordingly. First, the moments of truth regarding a gastronomic tourism experience often start with the gastro-tourists’ desire for an authentic, quality food experience as a leading principle to seek out this type of occurrence (Williams et al., 2019). The continuous service interactions are dominant moments of truth in which gastro-tourists evaluate the entire experience. The quality of service is judged at all stages of the gastronomic experience. Stages include the researching, booking, pre-arrival, partaking in the experience and post reflections (Kapiki, 2012). It

246  Handbook on food tourism is therefore important that the quality of service provides a consistently high standard and is carefully taken into consideration by the proprietor throughout the entire experience, at every interaction. Second, delivering a superior food experience is also a paramount moment of truth that gastro-tourists are seeking during their culinary encounter. It is imperative that the gastronomic experience meets, if not exceeds, the expectations of the gastro-tourist in the context of each experience offered (Evans & Lindsay, 2010). This may be during an expensive ten-course degustation menu, or a small plate of authentic street food consumed at the edge of a gutter. If expectations are met, the gastro-tourist should be satisfied regarding the food offering (Gheorghe et al., 2014). Superior moments of truth can generate positive memorability and a desire to tell others. 2.2 Memorability Memorable or extraordinary experiences have been utilised interchangeably in literature. However, various researchers have indicated that there are differences between these two terms. Extraordinary experiences are associated with hedonistic enjoyment and are more intense in emotional engagement than memorable experiences, which can be positive, negative, or even neutral (Goolaup et al., 2018; Kim et al., 2012). It is important to acknowledge this distinction, although the discussion in this chapter pertains to both these types of gastronomic occurrences. Gastronomic tourism encounters can provide a memorable experience which remains with a person for years after the original event. These experiences are often retold to others in the form of novel narratives (Nikolić et al., 2020) which may be embellished over time. These memories can be different from the actual experience, as they may change, alter, and become more ‘rose coloured’ with each retelling (Rickly & McCabe, 2017). Memories transport us back to adventures in the past and link us to possibilities in the future. Additionally, ‘nostalgia is also an important link to memorability in the long-term reflection phase of a tourist experience’ (Rickly & McCabe, 2017, p. 59). Nostalgia is associated with our emotions; it can be described as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past. Researchers in a plethora of social science fields have examined the phenomenon of nostalgia. Belk (1990) defined nostalgia as ‘a wistful mood that may be prompted by an object, a scene, a smell, or a strain of music’ (p. 670), whereas Holbrook and Schindler (1991) related nostalgia to preferences for a range of objects, including musical recordings, fashion, and film stars. This concept can easily be related to gastronomic tourism encounters, in special environments and splendid culinary occurrences incorporating all the senses. Williams et al. (2019) ascertained seven dominant constructs which influence an individual’s memorability: (1) deliberate and incidental gastro-tourists; (2) travel stages; (3) foodie risk-taking; (4) interdependent co-created tourist–host relationships; (5) authenticity; (6) sociability; and (7) emotions. These constructs focus on the motivations of consumers to seek and engage in gastronomic experiences. This current research focus also contributes to subjective experiences (Hjalager & Corigliano, 2000; Horng & Tsai, 2012; Williams et al., 2019). Previous studies have focused on the motivation for seeking out gastronomic experiences which are driven by food as the main reason for becoming a gastro-tourist. Stone et al. (2018) found five more constructs which assist in facilitating a memorable experience: the food or beverages consumed, location, company, the occasion, and any touristic elements (i.e., authen-

Evaluating the value creation of memorable gastronomic tourism experiences  247 ticity). Gastro-tourism providers could use a mix of these, or any single outstanding construct could improve the satisfaction of the gastro-tourist and increase the chance of the encounter being memorable or, even better, extraordinary. 2.3 Authenticity Authenticity within the tourism setting has been examined by researchers with special attention to dining experiences (Le et al., 2019, 2020). Authenticity is linked to memorability, and the authenticity of food and beverage produce is an important aspect for the gastro-tourist, but the authentic staging environment may also be equally important to the overall satisfaction level of the consumer. First, to define the term ‘authenticity’, one may consider the distinctions between original and replica or genuine and fake (Rickly & McCabe, 2017). However, second, Boorstin (1961) contended that tourism consists of pseudo-events, and that most tourism settings have elements of staging, causing them to be inauthentic. Moreover, in the tourism setting, an experience is more pleasurable if perceived to be authentic and real, or this does not matter if the tourist is enjoying the experience and is aware of the replication, thus no deception is involved. Authenticity can be in the eye of the beholder and associated with perceived value for money, and the time and effort required to engage in the activity, plus the exclusiveness of the encounter. When a customer perceives an environment to be original, authentic, and unique, they are more likely to be encouraged to consider a return visit, pay more, and recount the experience to others (Ishak et al., 2020), thus providing word-of-mouth marketing through novel narratives. 2.4

Planning and Staging

Skilfully executed and effective staging of gastronomic tourism via value co-creation can heighten the encounters and perceived authenticity. Rickly and McCabe (2017) discussed that ‘all types of tourism require some sense of authentic engagement’ (p. 57). However, they also question if authenticity has been considered in the overall design thinking, or has it only been an afterthought and not a principle in the planning? When planning and staging the gastronomic environment, proprietors should consider the inclusion of the previously discussed constructs that will generate authenticity within the context and provide favourable memorability. Ishak et al. (2020) investigated the influence of the staged environment, including the location, setting, atmosphere and the actual uniqueness and authenticity of the experience in themed restaurants. Their results indicated that customers perceived a superior dining experience because of the aesthetics of the facilities, ambience, and quality customer service provisions. All these aspects could be considered as important moments of truth. Unique and surprising architectural design provides a good first impression and a lasting memory for the diner. Feeling welcome and at ease is also part of the mix for effective design, thus the overall ambience must be pleasurable. Other components Ishak et al. (2020) recommended were agreeable, knowledgeable, and attentive wait staff, including quality customer service, which is essential to provide an excellent gastronomic encounter.

248  Handbook on food tourism 2.5

Value Co-creation of Experiences

In terms of evaluating value co-creation of gastronomic experiences, the service delivery and product offerings need to be examined. At one time, the market forces of supply and demand were the main driving factors in business (McIntosh et al., 1995). Around the turn of the 21st century, a new paradigm in market demand was explored: the co-creation of products and services by customers and businesses together (O’Hern & Rindfleisch, 2010). This meant, rather than the traditional method of product creation, evaluation and feedback, businesses started ‘to provide customers with information and tools that enable them to take a more proactive role in the NDP [new product development] process’ (O’Hern & Rindfleisch, 2008, pp. 5–6). In terms of the co-creation of memorable gastronomic tourism experiences, it means greater product and service offerings, alternative locations and settings of experiences, flexible and tailored menu designs, and increased options of diverse entertainment, among others. Gastro-tourists can provide input into, and feedback about, the experience either at the planning stages or throughout the gastronomic occurrence. O’Hern and Rindfleisch (2010) identified four levels of co-creation: collaboration, tinkering, co-designing, and submitting. Each level can be applied to co-creation to add value to memorable gastronomic tourism experiences. Collaboration pertains to having equal input into creating value of the experience (Grewal et al., 2006), while tinkering is generally fixed products, with gastro-tourists able to input minimal or limited ideas (Jeppesen & Molin, 2003). Additionally, co-designing by gastro-tourists means having greater input into the experience (Cook, 2008), whilst submitting is when gastro-tourists put forward ideas for consideration, but they may not necessarily be adopted by the experience provider (Sawhney et al., 2005). The type of co-creation level which could be applied depends on the type of gastronomic tourism experience offered. Value co-creation could be achieved in a variety of ways and may be unique to each gastronomic encounter. Smith (1994) suggested ‘the consumer is recognized as often having some connection to the provision of services’ (p. 585). Having a connection to the gastro-tourism experience can assist in improving the quality of the value co-creation of the encounter. Furthermore, Hassan (2000) stated adding value must be ‘consistent with market demand’ (p. 240) and facilitate in creating a competitive advantage. Knobloch et al. (2017, also cited Ooi, 2005) suggested that ‘experiences arise from engagement with activities and the physical environment, and the social meanings embedded in the activities, and are influenced by internal emotional and psychological states of the participants’ (p. 652). Similarly, Sørensen and Jensen (2015) have argued service encounter providers are required to meet or go beyond the tourist expectations, but they must also consider the experience encounter to create and add value. Service encounters have functional and problem-solving attributes, whereas experiential encounters are more emotional (Sørensen & Jensen, 2015). Sørensen and Jensen (2015) further explained ‘changing service encounters into experience encounters…bring new potential for knowledge development, innovation, and value co-creation in tourism’ (p. 343). Similar sentiments are echoed by Volo (2017), who stated: in the era of value co-creation, meaningful tourists’ experiences are the result of individuals participating in the creative process. The emotions that tourists raise during their vacation have a pivotal role in their final cognitive evaluations and behavioural responses: only truly personalized and unique co-creation experiences are going to thrive in the competitive marketplace (p. 31).

Evaluating the value creation of memorable gastronomic tourism experiences  249 Value co-creation through services and experience encounters also applies to creating memorable or extraordinary gastronomic tourism experiences. As mentioned, location, setting, atmosphere and the actual uniqueness and authenticity all affect the overall experience, but can also add value, leading to a more satisfying experience for the gastro-tourist and greater profitability for the experience provider.

3. METHODOLOGY This chapter adopts case studies to demonstrate a range of memorable, if not extraordinary, gastronomic tourism experience examples. Case studies are commonly used in tourism research and are a valuable method of creating conceptual overlap, in which the meaning is communicated in contextual real-life examples, not just theory justifying the findings (Yin, 2017). Stronza (2001) asserted that case studies are ideal when understanding behaviours and perceptions, and therefore are appropriate in demonstrating gastro-tourist experience intentions, including the creation of value-added encounters by all tourism stakeholders. Additionally, Adeyinka-Ojo et al. (2014) have advocated applying case studies, which is often used in top-rated tourism journals as a fitting method for research to explain a specific phenomenon. Secondary and observational data can also assist in developing a deeper and richer understanding of the overall picture of what is being observed or watched, or noting characteristics of interest (Yin, 2017). Thus, internet searches, official gastro-tourism websites and the researchers’ firsthand experiences were used when collating the case study reflections. Furthermore, this chapter was authored during the global COVID-19 pandemic, which decimated the tourism industry across the globe. Travel, hospitality, and entertainment venues had to close their doors due to government restrictions. Travel regulations and border closures produced serious limitations on the movement of visitors and the enjoyment of leisure activities, even in local markets. The selected case studies were investigated via desktop prior to COVID-19 and during a COVID-normal environment (from November 2019 to December 2021), although some of these gastro-experiences may still be struggling to re-open fully. The Internet and official websites used in the case studies were strongly relied upon for the most up-to-date information throughout the data collection period, and ethical considerations such as privacy, consent, validity and confidentiality were contemplated. As this data is provided on official websites and publicly accessible, it was deemed to be authentic with implied consent (James & Busher, 2015).

4.

CASE STUDIES

The following case studies are examples of memorable, if not extraordinary, gastronomic tourism experiences from around the globe. Each case study was chosen for their authenticity, value co-creation and memorability for gastro-tourists, and each ranked highly in Google searches.

250  Handbook on food tourism 4.1

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)

MONA in Hobart, Tasmania is just one of the museums which had to consider how they could pivot their business with major COVID-19 governmental restrictions. MONA closed its doors on 17 March 2020 and did not expect to be able to operate anywhere near pre-COVID capacity until mid-2021. Fortunately, the museum was able to re-open on 26 December 2020 following COVID guidelines, providing a creative space including a gallery of modern installation, winery outlet and brewery. MONA owners introduced an authentic culinary innovation to encourage new and return visitation. This was a mystery six-course dinner including luxury wines from David Walsh’s private collection (AGFG, 2020). To make this more unique, a desirable value-added, personalised, curated guided tour of dormant museum spaces, including Ryoji Ikeda’s spectra, was part of the gastronomic package. As expected, this gastronomic encounter was not inexpensive; however, despite the price, the encounter was sold out within days of the offering. Australians – and in this case local Tasmanians – had been craving the ability to attend art and cultural installations and indulge in splendid culinary encounters. MONA capitalised on this desire and facilitated a staged encounter which alleviated the longing to enjoy and consume hedonistic pleasures. MONA has since become a desired food tourism destination with a variety of gastronomic offerings, even though its original intention was to be a modern museum. 4.2

Dinner in the Sky

Dinner in the Sky commenced in 2006 and was conceived by two companies joining forces (Hakuna Matata and the Fungroup) to offer a unique dining experience. Hakuna Matata is a communications agency that specialises in gourmet experiences, and the Fungroup focuses on amusement park installations. To commence the Dinner in the Sky, up to 30 diners are strapped into seats around a table and raised almost 50 metres (150 feet) by crane to view the city or surrounding landscape. Originally the only experience offered was Dinner in the Sky incorporating three to five food courses and matching beverages. Over time, they have increased their co-creation products to include drinks in a lounge-style setting, weddings, concerts, and personalised, unique corporate events. Experiences can also be seasonal. For instance, Santa in the Sky is offered for the month of December in which the guests are positioned in a sleigh with six lifelike reindeer appearing to fly. Customers delight in an adventure which takes positive thinking from the creators, organisers, and guests alike. Similarly, novel food and beverage encounters in which the value-add might be the attraction, sophisticated patrons also expect wonderful and creative gastronomic pleasures including quality food, beverages, and professional customer service. These novel encounters would not be able to prosper if the moments of truth such as food and beverage were not up to par. Eager patrons and gastro-tourists do not appear to be deterred by the cost; they seem to focus more on the ‘wow’ factor and partaking in an extraordinary gastro-tourism experience. This is further evidenced by an increase in demand for these types of gastronomic adventures. Through innovative partnerships and arrangements, Dining in the Sky (using a crane) is now present in 60 countries. The key to the success of the company is having an openness to explore new, hedonic ideas such as having 20 of the world’s best chefs serving all at once to

Evaluating the value creation of memorable gastronomic tourism experiences  251 celebrate Dinner in the Sky’s tenth anniversary of existence (Huen, 2016). This food tourism activity demonstrates the overall experience is the motivating factor, with gastronomic food offerings being secondary, but also customers’ desire for value for money increasing quality and standards. 4.3

NOX Dine in the Dark

Singapore is home to NOX Dine in the Dark restaurant, which is promoted as ‘The Most Unique Dining Experience in Singapore’ (NOX – Dine in the Dark, 2021). The restaurant employs blind or visually impaired waiters, and the customers dine in pitch darkness with no light except for the dully illuminated ‘exit’ sign. The official NOX – Dine in the Dark website says it best: Take a plunge into Singapore’s most unique dining experience, an intriguing new world of mystery and sensation you have never experienced before. Join us on a culinary journey through taste, smell, touch, and sound, in total darkness… This affinity leads to mutual trust and respect, and a realization of the value of their work and overall ability to carry out tasks. This makes NOX – Dine in the Dark more than just a dining experience, it is a unique mind-altering sensory experience. Definitely, a treat for special occasions! (NOX – Dine in the Dark, 2021).

There are three main steps (which are all important moments of truth) to this unique dining experience. Step one is the pre-dining experience, in which the customer is greeted by the maître d’hotel in a well-lit bar and lounge area. Any food allergies or food dislikes are communicated, and all drinks are pre-ordered (no additional beverages can be ordered during the dining experience). All electronic devices, including phones and cameras, are placed in personalised lockers. No light or photos are permitted in the dining room. Customers are then organised in a single-file line by the staff and their hands are placed on the shoulders of the person in front. Diners are also requested to close their eyes. In step two, the diners are shuffled upstairs to the dining room in total darkness. The waiter seats everyone by first name, memorising where everyone is seated to be able to bring the correct dietary requirements and beverages ordered. The waiter instructs each customer on the location of the cutlery, water glass and beverages ordered. The food is located by using a round clockface analogy. Each course has four dishes located at the position of the clock: three, six, nine and twelve. The food is designed to be separated and consumed by a fork or spoon, eliminating the need for a knife. Three courses containing 12 dishes are presented, and at the completion of the meal the waiter leads the customers back down to the original lounge area. Step three adds further value; upon completion of the gastronomic dining experience and once back comfortably in the illuminated lounge, guests are asked to recall and evaluate all 12 dishes from memory. The maître d’hotel then reveals the main ingredients of each dish. Often the food provided does not match the tastes, aromas and textures expected by the guests, as they usually evaluate food by sight. In this context, not only is a gastronomic degustation menu provided, but the gastro-tourist also co-creates their experience (O’Hern & Rindfleisch, 2010) by evaluating the cuisine through memory recall; often the items they thought they were consuming were incorrect. By having such a unique and authentic product offering, no two experiences are the same, thus creating a superior value-added experience. Moreover, a greater appreciation of the challenges of the visually impaired is experienced by the guest; even if

252  Handbook on food tourism it is only for one hour, the memory and storytelling of the gastronomic experience will last a long time. However, this type of food tourism experience is unlikely to be repeated due to the uniqueness and novelty of the surprises revealed in the first visit. 4.4

Cliff Picnics

Picnics in general have been around since humans started preparing food. Picnics can be experienced by the rich or the poor, the socialite or low-paid worker, contain high-quality or deficient food items depending on the purpose and occasion of the picnic. A commonality of the picnic is that it takes place outdoors and everything required is taken to the location (Burnett, 2003). Picnics on a cliff location is not a new concept either. In fact, people choose a cliff locality for the tranquil views of mountains or water (Jacobs & Scholliers, 2003). However, the idea of a novel and innovative cliff picnic has been developed in Victoria, Australia. Cliff picnics for two people are offered over the cliff face 300 metres from the ground on a private ledge suspended in the air. According to the founder’s website, a cliff picnic is ‘a truly unique experience on Mt Buffalo’ (Brightadventurecompany.com, 2022). Adventurous gastro-tourists can select a sunrise, lunch, or dinner cliff picnic timeslot throughout the year, costing approximately US$340 for two people. For a larger group of four, another ledge for two people can be provided next to each other. The value-add is created from the very beginning, with guests having a 25-metre abseiling lesson before lowering themselves to the ledge to indulge in a gourmet hamper filled with local produce from the region. There are also strict safety protocols to adhere to, which is understandable given the element of danger involved in abseiling. Additionally, a personal butler can be contacted to provide more food and beverages if required, and they too abseil down the cliff-face to deliver the goods. The entire extraordinary experience lasts up to three hours and includes as many pictures as a participant can take. Additionally, the company tends to focus on providing special occasions, such as marriage proposals, knowing that very few people can have this experience due to offering cliff picnics only to two to four people at a time. The downside to this experience is that it is very subject to favourable weather conditions and could be rescheduled with only a day’s notice. As a unique food tourism experience, it is difficult to replicate, therefore limited to a small adventurous market segment which cannot be scalable for increased profitability. 4.5

Disaster Café

In the Spanish town of Lloret de Ma, a memorable gastronomic experience is found. Diners take an elevator almost seven levels below the earth’s crust and enter a ‘cave-like’ restaurant which resembles more of a construction site than a fine-dining restaurant. The diners are greeted by waiters in construction worker uniforms, safety equipment and hard hats. The usual sequence of service at any typical restaurant occurs; however, customers have to be observant at all times because no one knows when the earthquakes will strike (Acha, 2014). When the earthquake does occur, the lights flicker, blackouts occur, smoke appears, the customers, food and beverages, cutlery, glassware, tables, and chairs all rapidly shake, often tipping over and breaking items, creating an atmosphere of chaos. The adrenaline rush is intense according to online reviews.

Evaluating the value creation of memorable gastronomic tourism experiences  253 Children are also catered for on the weekend. As guests enter the building, an alien-themed restaurant decorated as a spaceship is immediately evident. Children remain upstairs supervised by restaurant staff as the parents enjoy the earthquake experience below, as it is assumed the underground restaurant would terrify children too much. Both gastronomic experiences are extremely popular, prompting reservations to be made in advance, although the proprietors are aware that their gastro experience is for a special occasion or one-off dining encounter. All the theme elements can be found in this experience – moments of truth, memorability, authenticity, planning and staging, value co-creation of experiences – further adding to food tourism attractions.

5. DISCUSSION The case studies presented in this chapter are indicative of extraordinary or memorable food tourism encounters depending on what is considered by the tourist as being hedonistic and unique. Culinary elements are essential for positive customer satisfaction. However, the overall dining experience is also part of the appeal. To this extent, more in-depth discussion regarding the co-creation of added value and how gastro-tourists may evaluate each encounter are examined. MONA has a fundamental focus on being a museum and gallery of modern and extraordinary art; however, since its inception there has been a predominant inclusion of culinary and gastro-tourism encounters: the Moorilla winery cellar door and wine bar, the MOO Brew brewery, and the number of eating establishments that go far beyond providing the typical café meals generally available in Australia. ‘Pivoting your business’ is a statement that will be associated with the 2020/21 COVID-19 pandemic, and the changes made at MONA are a distinct example of food tourism attraction adding value co-creation for the gastro-tourist. Businesses that provided innovative, authentic, memorable experiences, particularly concentrating on excellent planning and staging which includes aspects of aesthetics of the facilities, ambience, and quality customer service provisions (Ishak et al., 2020), have the potential to succeed in the future COVID-normal realm. MONA provided a unique and very desirable gastronomic encounter whilst including a personalised cultural event, which appeared in a time of a bleak, COVID-reoccurring lockdown world. Dinner in the Sky started as a unique dining experience in Belgium. It was not originally conceived as a food tourism experience, but more of a unique dining experience. The novelty is partaking in a meal with drinks high in the air, strapped into a chair. Over time, this extraordinary experience has morphed into a gastronomic tourism encounter which attracts gastro-tourists and the public alike. The experience can also be tailored to individual, unique, and one-off events offering value co-creation for individuals and the events industry, and goes beyond the normally expected dining experience (Sørensen & Jensen, 2015). However, certain value co-creation ideas may have to be restricted due to safety compliance issues, only allowing for tinkering (O’Hern & Rindfleisch, 2010). The additional value creation for Dinner in the Sky can be identified in several ways. First, the food and beverages are of high quality and focused on authentic local cuisine (Williams et al., 2019). Second, the occasion strongly influences what is served and the entertainment provided, demonstrating value co-creation of experiences. Third, the services offered are of a high standard, including minimising risks and safety concerns judged by tourists at each moment of

254  Handbook on food tourism truth. Lastly, the memorability and legacy of the experience is intentional, referring to photos and mementos to recall the experience, which supports Dixit’s (2019) findings. NOX – Dine in the Dark has value-add offerings which appeal to gastro-tourists. Diners typically make a reservation to have an extraordinary and memorable food tourism experience, with the food being served a secondary consideration. Countless moments of truth occur throughout the entire experience. This is because the authentic 12 dishes served are a set menu and can only be altered because of dietary requirements. The novelty of the experience is dining in total darkness, whilst an added value co-creation is having visually impaired waiters serving the tables and the diners trying to navigate their way around the dishes. The second value-add comes at the conclusion of the experience with trying to identify what food items were consumed, providing a truly individualised culinary encounter (Volo, 2017). The menu is not advertised on the promotional material and allows for greater reflection by the diners at the end. A third value-add is the social enterprise aspect of supporting visually impaired waiters, who may find it difficult finding employment elsewhere – which becomes evident when the waiters explain their story of how they became visually impaired. This type of value co-creation reinforces findings by Evans and Lindsay (2010). Another example of a dining experience that is contemplated first, before the gastronomic experience, are the cliff picnics in Australia (Burnett, 2003). Cliff picnics have created many value co-creations, including abseiling for the adventure tourist, using spectacular landscape views and the fact that very few people get to undertake this extraordinary experience, as a maximum of six groups of two (total 12 people) can partake in a picnic on any one day. Due to the limited size of the shelf in which picnickers are seated, only a gourmet local food hamper can be offered. However, a further value co-creation is that gastro-tourists can radio the butler to abseil down with more food and beverages. This makes for a memorable and authentic experience and adds to the recall via storytelling (novel narrative) later, which other studies have also suggested is a positive (Everett, 2016). It also has the additional excitement of risk-taking, as the shelf is not a permanent structure and abseiling can be dangerous, adding a different type of food tourism attraction. In Spain, the Disaster Café is located underground, with the novelty of the restaurant encountering a 7.8 Richter scale earthquake during dining. This food tourism experience displays all the concepts, namely, moments of truth, memorability, authenticity, planning and staging, co-creation of experiences, and value co-creation. This encounter is also focused on dining to be the primary experience, due to the novelty of the setting, and the food is secondary. However, the menu is typically Spanish, offering à la carte dishes which usually include local cuisine such as paella. Gastro-tourists who choose this type of experience are seeking authentic Spanish food and an overall memorable experience. The value co-creation is having waiters dressed as tradespeople and staying in character. This is extremely important in keeping the experience authentic, as is the underground location. Creating an earthquake with moving components also ensures no two earthquake experiences are the same, as flatware, crockery and glassware can fall and break anywhere. This experience is completely staged and is an example of a pseudo or fake event (Rickly & McCabe, 2017). However, since all the participants are aware of this and there is no deception, and depending on the individual’s perception, it may provide elements of authenticity. This type of food tourism offering is for both the adventurer and gastro-tourists in search of hedonic and different experiences.

Evaluating the value creation of memorable gastronomic tourism experiences  255

6. CONCLUSION This exploratory research contributes to food tourism knowledge by identifying factors that could determine the experience memorable or extraordinary, whilst highlighting the importance of authenticity, planning, and developing gastronomic experiences, creating novel narratives, staff staying in character, minimising risks, and offering hedonic, new, and fun experiences which are considered by the enterprise and the consumer as adding further intrinsic value. Gastro-tourists (a subset of food tourism) are keen to seek out extraordinary or memorable gastronomic tourism experiences, and stakeholders can benefit by creating additional value as there is a growing demand for experiences which are economically, socially, and environmentally conscious. This chapter focused on exploring a range of concepts – moments of truth, memorability, authenticity, planning and staging, value co-creation of experiences – to explain gastronomic tourism experience phenomena whilst adding to the food tourism literature. Furthermore, an important aspect of evaluating value co-creation is reviewing the authenticity of the extraordinary experience. This may be the overall quality of the cuisine, quality of services, the novelty and/or risk-taking elements of experiences. Gastro-tourists may also be seeking gastronomic experiences which few others have encountered, further adding to the value co-creation and positive evaluation which is shared with others. This chapter explored case studies through secondary and observational data, such as internet postings including official websites and social media. Further research could include primary data collected from food tourism stakeholders’ and especially from the gastro-tourists’ perceptions prior to, during and after the extraordinary experiences identified in this chapter. Other research could extend to obtaining qualitative primary data from focus groups and face-to-face interviews of gastro-tourists and food tourism stakeholders. The gastronomic experiences were selected based on their perceived mainstream popularity; therefore other, lesser-known extraordinary or memorable experiences could be sought, such as ‘eating alone’ restaurants, private dining experiences in extraordinary locations, and other unique and emerging product offerings. Additionally, the secondary research was conducted in English, other languages may be examined to explore if other extraordinary food tourism experiences appear exclusively in other languages.

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PART IV PROSPECTS AND OUTLOOKS FOR NEXT GENERATION OF FOOD TOURISM

18. Food taste experiences and gastrophysics: gender matters? Sangkyun Kim, Min Xu and Eerang Park

1. INTRODUCTION Food tourism phenomenon and food selection and consumption behaviours whilst on holiday have been widely researched (Ellis et al., 2018). Food tourism was a niche but over the last two decades has become a rapidly growing area in special interest tourism. It constitutes “food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production region(s)” (Hall & Sharples, 2003, p. 10) as either primary or secondary travelling motivations, whereas the food consumption behaviour is on dining preferences and food consumption patterns of leisure or pleasure tourists (for example, Kim et al., 2013; Mak et al., 2017). As such, food tourism emphasises every counted opportunity to experience other places and cultures through actively engaging with often new and/or unfamiliar tastes and flavours of local foods and foodways in the quest for authentic “otherness” (Cohen & Avieli, 2004; Everett, 2016; Park et al., 2019). Despite this obvious difference, most published literature has used the terms interchangeably and is less critical of the misleadingly labelled food tourism associated with prior studies (Kim et al., 2019; McKercher et al., 2008). The common denominator, though, is the fact that tourists’ motivations associated with food selection and consumption within and outside food tourism contexts are one of the most examined research areas (Ellis et al., 2018). In contrast, little attention has been paid to the nature and mechanism of food taste perception that leads to forming and appraising one’s food taste-related experiences in situ, especially when it occurs outside one’s everyday life (Kim et al., 2021). That said, what influences and constitutes one’s food taste experiences whilst travelling remains under-researched. Food museums, as an ever-growing food tourism attraction domestically and internationally, are also under-researched. Additionally, the potential role gender plays in these contexts remains little known, though food consumption research involving sociodemographic factors (for example, age, gender, education, and occupation) has documented gender as an important variable in explaining variations in food consumption (Kim et al., 2009; Mak et al., 2012; Wadolowska et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2018). Acknowledging these gaps, this chapter aims to examine the gender differences in food taste experiences in a food museum setting as a food tourism attraction. This study applies the cognitive development processes of food taste perception in the context of food tourism (Kim et al., 2021) as a framework to analyse gender differences. Thus, the chapter will offer an alternative approach to the interdisciplinary nature of food tourism experiences, providing some new insights into practical implications. The research context is the complex of Hangzhou Cuisine Museum and the restaurants therein (hereafter HCM and HCMRs, respectively). Hangzhou, as the capital of Zhejiang Province in East China, is one of China’s new first-tier cities and a hugely popular tourist destination. In 2021, Hangzhou received 57.37 million overnight tourists, which was 80.4% of 259

260  Handbook on food tourism the pre-pandemic level in 2019 (Travel Daily, 2022). It also represents one of the “Eight Major Schools of Cuisine” in China, where local food has been identified as a major attraction and a sustainable tourism marketing tool (Chen & Huang, 2018). The HCM and HCMRs opened to the public in 2012. The HCM traces thousands of years of Hangzhou and Zhejiang cuisine and displays over 110 dietary artefacts and 300 tempting replicas of dishes. Operated by Hangzhou Cuisine Museum Cuisine Culture Co. Ltd., the museum consists of exhibition spaces, a large experiential space and a dining space with 1,500 seats for visitors. The unique setting is highly suitable to the exploratory nature of the study, which has adopted the gastrophysics approach to food tourism experience research. Combining “gastronomy” and “psychophysics”, the term “gastrophysics”, coined by Charles Spence (2017), refers to “the scientific study of those factors that influence our multisensory experience while tasting food and drink” (p. 17). It builds on cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience research, explaining multisensory taste experiences and flavour evaluation of food and drink. As such, the multiplex of museum exhibition and restaurant dining experiences facilitates “in-situ studies of gastrophysics that examine the influence of knowledge, environment, and physical and psychological factors with regard to diners’ perception of food taste” (Kim et al., 2021, p.3).

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Gender Differences in Tourist Food Consumption

It is significant to note the overall number of studies on tourist food consumption and food tourism over the past two decades (Ellis et al., 2018). However, few studies have focused on gender differences in these contexts. The sociodemographic factors include but are not limited to: age; gender; marital status; education; occupation; and household income. Prior studies have documented that gender played an important role in explaining variations in food consumption (Kim et al., 2009; Mak et al., 2012; Wadolowska et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2018). In those studies, two key gender differences have been (re)confirmed in tourist food consumption. First, in studies on local food consumption at a tourism destination, it was documented that female tourists were more interested in and excited about tasting local food (Kim et al., 2009), while male tourists were more likely to be in the high food neophobia category and thus more sceptical of local food that they had never eaten before (Kim et al., 2013). Also, it was found that food tourists were more likely to be female (Ignatov & Smith, 2006). Second, women are more health-conscious in their food consumption behaviours in their everyday life and whilst on holiday. Previous studies, for example Wang et al. (2018), have identified that people’s eating motivations, preferences, and practices in a tourism setting may be different from those in their everyday setting. This is largely because a different set of psychological and physiological factors influence one’s appraisal of food appetite and food taste perception when travelling (Kivela & Crotts, 2006). Despite this, women are inclined to be more consistent in their food choices, compared with men (Wang et al., 2018). This tendency can be explained by women’s focus on healthy meals and body images resulting in greater self-control (Beardsworth et al., 2002; Wadolowska et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2018; Wardle et

Food taste experiences and gastrophysics  261 al., 2004). When on the road, women are thus more likely to eat healthy meals, paying more attention to nutrition and calories (Oakes & Slotterback, 2001; Wang et al., 2018). While the above is important for our understanding of gender differences in tourist food consumption behaviours and patterns, some limitations must be noted. First, the findings in tourist food consumption are not directly transferrable to food selection and food taste experiences in the context of food tourism. For example, given their motivation of seeking out food-related experiences, food tourists put a particular emphasis on experiential authenticity and cultural learning (Ellis et al., 2018). It is therefore necessary to consider whether people may change their usual food choices to pursue culturally authentic taste experiences with local foods and foodways, and if so, whether or not gender plays a significant role in that change. Second, the vast majority of previous studies were based on questionnaire surveys in favour of the positivist paradigm, with more females being willing to respond to surveys on food tourism (Robinson & Getz, 2014). Better gender balance and more qualitative data, with more detailed discussion to increase research rigour, is necessary to compare gender differences in food tourists’ taste experience in a food tourism destination. Finally, many of the existing studies have been conducted in Western contexts. Since cultural dimensions affect tourist behaviours and experiences, there may be important variations in different cultural contexts, for example food tourism in Asia (Park et al., 2019). Therefore, it is essential to study the gastronomic experiences of men and women engaged in food tourism within different socio-cultural contexts. 2.2

Gastrophysics and Food Taste Perception

To further understand food taste perception and taste experiences of men and women engaged in food tourism, it is necessary to analyse the factors influencing their taste experiences. Examining the cognitive development of their taste perception and thus making a comparison between male and female tourists is also pertinent. In this regard, as mentioned earlier, a gastrophysics approach can be particularly helpful in identifying the cognitive factors shaping and influencing food tourists’ taste experiences (Kim et al., 2021). In previous studies, various factors that modulate taste perception have been examined. Much attention has been paid to external visual and auditory stimuli, which play an important role in shaping flavour evaluations of food (Wang & Spence, 2017). From a visual aspect, the sight of visually appealing food can be a powerful cue for the brain (Spence et al., 2016). Food colour, in particular, plays a significant role in setting people’s expectations and, hence, determining their final taste experiences (Spence, 2015a). From the auditory aspect, music and other auditory stimuli have a remarkable effect on our perceptions of food (Spence & Shankar, 2010; Wang et al., 2017), while background noise and loud music have been found to impair our ability to taste (Spence, 2014). Moreover, other studies have discussed the central role of olfactory cues in the experiences of taste (Spence, 2015b) and the effect of name labels on taste perception (e.g., Okamoto et al., 2009; Spence, 2011). While the food-related studies in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience provide important insights into factors modulating taste perception, most of these studies are based on laboratory, experimental research. We also need a conceptual or theoretical framework based on a gastrophysics approach in the context of food tourism – a naturalistic perspective that highlights an interpretive understanding of one’s lived experiences and their meanings (Kim et al., 2021). In their study, Kim et al. (2021) have identified that the multisensorial responses

262  Handbook on food tourism to food taste experiences are the psychological and physiological outcomes of cognitive processes, given that all the cognitive signs of perceived food taste are accumulated prior to and during travelling. In other words, their food taste perception is cognitively formed to a great extent by, and closely connected with, knowledge accumulation and information processing. What remains intriguing, though, is whether there are gender differences in such cognitive development processes of food taste perception. If so, further questions arise as to what sorts of differences exist and to what extent they exert themselves. These questions require further in-depth empirical studies.

3.

RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA COLLECTION

Semi-structured qualitative interviews with Chinese domestic food tourists who visited the complex of HCM and HCMRs in China were undertaken between September and December 2018. Adopting the self-defined approach as the measure of participation eligibility, only those who defined themselves as food tourists or foodies were invited to give their informed consent for taking part in the study. Two additional preconditions included: (1) first-time visitor to the HCM and HCMRs, and (2) at least 60 minutes spent in the museum exhibition prior to dining at the HCMRs. These selection criteria were put in place to ensure that all potential participants were able to sufficiently express their thoughts and perceptions on the subject matter in question. A total of 20 interviewees were recruited from around 100 potential respondents that were approached at the research site. The duration of each interview ranged from 30 to 60 minutes. Saturation of the research data was verified, when it was confirmed that repetition of comment was evident in the last few interviews at least. Respondents were equally represented by gender. The respondents’ ages ranged from 20 to 62 years, with an average age of 32 years. Respondents mostly travelled with friends or family members, such as husband, wife and parents (85%), whereas only 15% were travelling alone. While 60% had travelled from Beijing municipality, Zhejiang, Shanxi, and Shandong, which are neighbouring provinces to Hangzhou, the remaining respondents were from the far north, west and southern China, including Jilin, Sichuan, and Guangxi province. Almost half of the respondents were first-time tourists to Hangzhou; the remaining respondents were repeat visitors, of which half had been to Hangzhou more than four times. All respondents were first-time visitors to the HCM and HCMRs complex.

4.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews led to three major categories of gender differences in food taste experiences in a food tourism attraction, comprising: (1) food selection; (2) expectation and imagined food taste; and (3) food taste appraisal. The food or menu selection by food tourists was influenced by three key factors, namely individual factors such as personal food and taste preferences, food factors such as novelty and authenticity of dishes, and institutional factors such as knowledge acquisition. The expectation and imagined food taste comprised multisensory taste expectations, the dining environment including the food museum as a trustworthy social fabric, and cultural elements. The key factors at the phase of food taste appraisal include the comparison between the previous and present on-site tasting

Food taste experiences and gastrophysics  263 experiences, individual taste preferences, and socially developed personal tastes (associated with their region of origin), and these factors demonstrate some differences and similarities between the gender. 4.1

Gender Differences in Food Selection

Through the touristic experiences at the HCM exhibition hall, respondents became more familiar with Hangzhou and Zhejiang cuisine and its history. Not only were they more cognitively informed and thus educated, but they also formed a strong interest in tasting some signature and/or appealing dishes at the HCMRs. Many respondents vividly remembered the iconic signature dishes of Hangzhou and Zhejiang province introduced in the exhibition, and paid particular attention to the ten most famous Hangzhou signature dishes. Probing into the very reasons why they selected particular menu items at the HCMRs, there was a noticeable gender difference in the food selection for the food taste experiences. Men more than women ordered dishes based on one’s personal preferences of food and flavour. The female respondents, however, placed less priority on their individual preferences for a particular type of food or flavour. This finding highlights the gender differences and the influence of individualised factors in food selection as a part of food taste experiences. In this regard, several male respondents expressed that they ordered certain dishes because they liked the dishes with a particular food ingredient and flavour. These are exemplified: “because I like eating eels” (Mr Lin Dong) or “I like eating the kind of dishes with bamboo shoots” (Mr Lin Yu). Such personal preference, therefore, plays a key role in their food selection (Ji et al., 2016; Mak et al., 2017), whilst viewing the dish in the exhibition can intensify their intrinsic interest in ordering the dish. For example, as Mr Haoyi Cao explained, “I wanted to eat this dish long before. It seemed more delicious than I expected after visiting the museum. Thus, I decided to order and eat it in the HCM restaurants.” In comparison, only a few female respondents noted their preferences of tastes, attributing food selection to their usual preferences for a particular type of food or flavour. For example, as Ms Dandie Xie suggested her general preference, “I think it would be delicious. I am always fond of sweet food.” Instead, there was a greater tendency for female food tourists in this study to mainly order iconic dishes of Hangzhou, judging the novelty and authenticity of the dishes as their priority. This is what we identify as the gender differences of food factors in food selection. More than half of the female respondents indicated this reason for their own food selection, whereas the male respondents pointed out the dominating factor was their usual personal food preferences as previously discussed. In some cases, when the female respondents explained their food selection, they also noted that the particular dish they selected could rarely be found elsewhere or could not be easily cooked at home. For example, as Ms Hua Liu said, “Xu Zhimo Tofu needs to be fried. It is inconvenient to cook the dish at home.” Ms Yao Yang said that “these dishes were famous. I had not eaten or seen them before. I wanted to taste these authentic dishes here.” In other words, the exclusiveness of an iconic dish representing the visited food tourism destination and the novelty and delicacy of the food influenced mainly female tourists to select such dishes over other dishes, suggesting that they are less food neophobic and actually seek variety and novelty. Moreover, more female respondents were enthusiastic about tasting local food that is new to them. The newness of the local food varies for different female respondents, though. Some had previous tasting experiences of certain ingredients of a dish, while others had not tasted or

264  Handbook on food tourism seen the dish before. For example, as Ms Yeqing Wang said, “I saw Xie Niang Cheng (translated as ‘Fried Crab Meat Steamed inside Orange’ in English) in the museum. I like orange, as well as crab. I have not eaten a combination of the two. So, I ordered this dish.” Unlike Ms Yeqing Wang, who was at least familiar with the major ingredients of the dish, Ms Wenjing Jin explained, “I read the description of the ingredients on the menu. It listed water bamboo. I have never eaten it before. So, I would like to taste it. Its name does not sound very common. It sounds like a speciality. Thus, I ordered the dish.” Although Ms Wenjing Jin was not familiar with the key ingredient of the dish, she was intrigued by the name and labelling used to identify the food (Okamoto et al., 2009) and perceived its authenticity. Scholars have found that adding a description of the ingredients used in a dish can lead to more food selection (Jacob et al., 2017), and the provided linguistic and/or pictorial information can create more realistic expectations about its likely qualities (Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence, 2015). In the cases of Ms Yeqing Wang and Ms Wenjing Jin, both were intrigued by the food labelling which showed the main ingredients. Ms Yeqing Wang was likely to imagine the combination of two ingredients she personally liked to be enjoyable. Ms Wenjing Jin assumed the ingredient as a local speciality. This finding suggests the relationship between the perception of food labels and the intention to taste local food. During the process of food selection, the women’s interests in tasting local food in this study were frequently influenced by their perceptions of food labels. Therefore, in this study, the female respondents were more interested in tasting local food, especially iconic dishes that are exclusive in the region and that they had not tasted before. The findings discussed above are consistent with the previous finding of women being interested in and excited about tasting local food on holiday (Kim et al., 2009), while men were found to be highly food neophobic, that is, unwilling to try unfamiliar foods outside their comfort zone (Cohen & Avieli, 2004; Kim et al., 2013). More generally, food-related personality traits (that is, food neophobia and variety-seeking) are useful predictors of food consumption motivations of tourists (Mak et al., 2017). Chinese tourists’ food preferences have been classified into three categories: familiar food, local food, and non-fastidiousness of food selection (Mak, 2018). The findings of this study extend this discussion of Chinese tourists’ food preferences and food choices in the context of food tourism. The gender difference lies in the fact that the male food tourists were more likely to order familiar food, whereas the female counterparts were more likely to order local food that they had not tasted before. In addition to the individual factors and the food factors of gender differences in food selection, prior knowledge which the respondents accumulated at the HCM exhibition hall had an immediate effect on their food selection at the HCMRs, resulting in the institutional factor in food selection (Kim et al., 2021). This is a powerful factor, as many respondents recognised the impact of the HCM exhibition on their food selection. Several male and female respondents ordered the most impressive dishes that appeared in the exhibition. In this regard, more male respondents than females explicitly said that the information acquired in the museum served as a guide for them to order certain dishes. Seeing the food in the exhibition raised the respondents’ awareness of the food, which played an important role in their food selection. For Mr Bo Wang, this guiding effect on his food selection was immediate: There is some influence where I just saw dishes in the museum and immediately went to have a meal. But if I came here for a meal someday, I would order what I feel like eating lately. After visiting the museum, I would be immediately affected, and I would like to eat the dishes I saw in the museum. For

Food taste experiences and gastrophysics  265 example, when I saw (the pictures and replicas of) Cong Bao Hui and Zha Xiang Ling in the museum, I wanted to eat them.

In comparison with Mr Bo Wang, who stressed the immediate effect which influenced him at the time, for Mr Liu Yu raised awareness and the subsequent guiding effect may be prolonged, as he suggested, “Next time when I face Hangzhou dishes that I have not eaten, I would like to try them because I have seen the dish(es) (in the HCM).” That said, in both cases, information acquisition and prior knowledge brought them a sense of familiarity with the food, serving as a significant cognitive trigger in tourists’ intentions to taste local food (Kim et al., 2021). This guiding effect echoes the impact of attained information through guidebooks, media programmes and the social media on the tourists’ decision-making processes of food choices (Kim et al., 2019; Leung et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2020). 4.2

Gender Differences in Expectation and the Imagined Taste

Both male and female respondents expressed their expectations in detail. Regardless of gender, respondents firstly as Chinese domestic food tourists expressed high expectations for the taste of food served in the museum restaurants. Many expected the HCMRs to offer dishes that should be more authentic and original than at restaurants outside the museum, which is influenced by the commonly held belief in museums as reliable and trustworthy social institutions (Fu et al., 2014; Kim et al., 2020). As a result, there was almost unconditional belief in the museum restaurants, such as the HCMRs being more professional and authentic in all respects. Interestingly, while both male and female respondents shared their expectations for authentic food at the HCMRs, females tended to describe their expectations for the food and the taste perception more holistically. For example, as Ms Yeqing Wang said, “I became interested in Hangzhou cuisine after visiting the museum, and wanted to taste the Hangzhou dishes in this restaurant. I would like to know whether it was as delicious, refined and beautiful as what the museum introduced in the museum exhibition.” Similarly, as Ms Yao Yang suggested, “…my expectations for the dishes are mainly visual and gustatory expectations.” Therefore, female respondents like Ms Yeqing Wang and Ms Yao Yang specified their expectations for the food taste experiences at the HCMRs, focusing on flavour, texture and appearance. Their detailed descriptions confirmed the process of “mental imagery” (Gallace et al., 2011; Okamoto et al., 2009; Spence, 2011), as they obtained the information in the exhibition, imagined the dishes, and became curious about their tastes. Such a process of mental imagery can have an effect on the salivary flow (Spence, 2011), encouraging them to taste the dishes at the HCMRs. In addition to the expectations for the food taste perception at the HCMRs, the female respondents also tended to have high expectations for the dining environment and cultural elements therein. Several female respondents explained how they expected an explicit connection between the museum and the museum restaurants. For example, as Ms Ruohong Su suggested: I suppose, to feature the same characteristics of the museum, the menu (and dishes) would be special and refer to the history of each dish presented in the museum. […] Visual elements, such as the entire design of the restaurant, the styles of the tables and chairs, and the waiters’ uniforms, need to be uniquely and consistently related to the ones of the museum in order to influence the total enjoyment of the dining experience.

266  Handbook on food tourism Likewise, Ms Yi Wei suggested showcasing some artistic pictures of Hangzhou dishes at the HCMRs in order to tell the authentic stories of the local food – not only in the museum but also at the museum restaurants. Thus, the female respondents’ expectations for unique dining experiences at the HCMRs appeared to be more holistic, whereas the male respondents focused more on the authentic tastes of the food per se. In a previous study, gender difference has been found to be a moderating variable in tourist expectation formation (Wang et al., 2016). While scholars have discussed the important attributes that affect tourists’ dining experiences (Nield et al., 2000; Chang et al., 2011), little is known about gender differences in food tourist expectations in a food tourism destination and/or attraction such as food museum. The findings of this study point to the importance of food taste and presentation as well as attractiveness of surroundings in food tourism destinations and attractions, especially for female food tourists. It highlights the (authentic) tastes of food as the key attribute for both male and female respondents in the expectation of overall food experiences, while suggesting the attribute that male food tourists tend to pay less attention to is the attractiveness of the dining environment. As well as the general expectations for the food at the HCMRs, the respondents also had expectations for their ordered dishes. In this regard, while both male and female respondents had expectations for the dishes, women more than men described the expectations in more detail. The male respondents described more gustatory expectations, explaining the tastes of the dishes that they expected. For example, as Mr Haoyi Cao described his expectation for the dish Long Jin Xia Ren (Stir-Fried Shrimp with Longjing Tea), “I thought it would have a tea flavour, with fragrance of tea, and it would be a mild and savoury flavour.” By comparison with the male respondents’ accounts, the expectations of the female respondents often involved both visual and gustatory aspects, such as the colour, appearance, texture, and proportion of the dishes, and so on. For example, as Ms Yi Miao said, “when I ordered Cha Xiang Chicken (Red-cooked chicken with tea flavour), I thought its size was just as a half plate, and there would be a few chicken nuggets,” and as Ms Yi Wei said, “I thought it (Beggar’s Chicken) was roasted, and black.” This finding is in line with the female respondents’ visual and gustatory expectations in general as discussed above. 4.3

Gender Differences in Food Taste Appraisal

With the expectations for the ordered dishes as discussed above, both male and female respondents compared the actual tastes of the dishes with the expected, imagined tastes. In line with the visual and gustatory expectations, a few female respondents commented on the appearance of the dishes, for example, as Ms Yao Yang said, “this dish was not good looking. The plastic wrap outside around the chicken seemed to have lowered the level of the dish.” In comparison, the male respondents mostly focused on the tastes of the dishes as they described their food taste perception. Noticeably, the gastronomic experiences and food taste appraisal described by the respondents were influenced by several major factors, such as the comparison between the previous and present on-site tasting experiences, individual preference of tastes, and socially developed personal tastes (associated with their regions of origin). While it was common for both male and female respondents to compare the actual dishes with their expectations, some gender differences and commonalities were found in their detailed remarks. First of all, several

Food taste experiences and gastrophysics  267 respondents, including both male and female respondents, compared the tastes of the dishes with their previous dining experiences, such as the following quotes: I have eaten it (Sister Song’s Fish Broth) before. It seems that the one I had before was sourer than this one (the dish at the HCMR), and it did not have so much pepper. (Mr Haoyi Cao) I ate something similar before. I think this (Sister Song’s Fish Broth at the HCMR) is pretty delicious. There are many different tastes because of the different ingredients inside. And there is also shredded ginger. (Mr Lin Dong) I find that the Dongpo Pork I ate in the north was quite different from the one here (at the museum restaurant). The colour of Dongpo Pork here (at the museum restaurant) was distinct, with several layers, and it is tender. (Ms Yi Wei)

The quotes of Mr Haoyi Cao’s and Mr Lin Dong’s suggest their different food taste perception of the same dish (Sister Song’s Fish Broth) is because of their different previous dining experiences elsewhere. Both male and female respondents’ comparisons of previous and present on-site tasting experiences focused mainly on the taste of the dishes. Such comparisons contributed to all sorts of evaluative comments in the on-site tasting experiences, with either a positive, negative, or neutral feeling. Existing studies have discussed the role of prior experience in flavour processing (Small & Prescott, 2005) and in influencing tourist food consumption (Mak et al., 2012). The findings herein suggest the impact of previous similar experiences on food taste perception in the context of food tourism, irrespective of gender. Second, women more than men evaluated the tastes of the dishes based on individual taste preferences. For example, as Ms Dandie Xie suggested, “it (Xie Niang Cheng) is sweet with a bit of salty taste. The orange gives a sweet taste. The lower part of it tastes better. It is sweeter. I like sweet,” and as Ms Yeqing Wang commented, “…this dish (West Lake vinegar fish) is very delicious. The fish is fresh as if it was just caught. The fish flesh is tender too. I myself prefer eating sour and sweet dishes.” While male respondents were more likely to order a dish reflecting their individual preferences of foods and tastes (as discussed earlier), it is interesting to note that they were, however, less likely to evaluate the taste of dishes based on individual taste preferences compared with females. Indeed, how food tourists perceive or appreciate the taste of a dish can vary, influenced by previous similar experiences and their individual taste preferences (Kim et al., 2021). What has been highlighted herein is the gender differences in which the female food tourists tended to evaluate the taste of the dishes based on individual taste preferences, which echoes the idiosyncratic nature of food taste perception. Finally, several respondents, including both male and female respondents, explicitly mentioned the influence of their region of origin on their tastes. For example, as Mr Wenxiang Jiang commented on West Lake vinegar fish: It is not bad. But it is different from what I thought it should be. The taste of vinegar is not strong enough. I thought the dish should be sourer. […] The dishes in the north are often either quite salty or greasy. This is just my personal taste. I can’t represent all.

Similar to Mr Wenxiang Jiang, who mentioned the influence of northern Chinese dishes in his life, Ms Xiangdong Wen also related the tastes of two Hangzhou dishes to the tastes of similar dishes she was familiar with from her province of origin. As Ms Xiangdong Wen explained, “I like Dongpo Pork and Squirrel fish. The flavours of the dishes are similar to those in

268  Handbook on food tourism Quanzhou (the city in Fujian province). The cooking method and the flavour of Dongpo Pork are similar to Braised Pork in Xiamen (the city in Fujian province).” Therefore, both male and female respondents were likely to assess their taste perceptions of the dishes based on their socially constructed tastes with their homeplaces or the places where they have grown or lived (Kim et al., 2020). They both compared the tastes of the dishes with what they expected, which were influenced by the representative tastes in their region of origin. Influenced by individual and social factors, their personal tastes and preferences played an important role in the respondents’ food taste perceptions.

5. CONCLUSION Previous studies have enhanced our understanding of the strong relationships that exist between food and tourism generally and food tourism as a social and cultural phenomenon in particular. Despite these efforts, little was known about how a food tourist forms and perceives its food taste experiences in a food tourism attraction. Food museums, albeit their emergence and popularity as a food tourism attraction and viable market segment, have been seldom studied as a core research context of food tourism. The role of gender in this context also seems to be the scarcest. Thus, this chapter aims to compare factors determining food taste experiences of food tourists across male and female domestic food tourists in the context of Hangzhou Cuisine Museum in China. To achieve this aim, the gastrophysics approach coined by Spence (2017) was adopted in order to explore and examine the nature and processes that cognitive signs or factors shape and influence one’s food taste experiences. The findings of this study provide evidence of the role of gender in explaining the underlying gender differences in food taste experiences in the context of domestic food tourism. The gender differences appeared at three phases of food taste experiences: (1) food selection; (2) expectation and imagined food taste; and (3) food taste appraisal. At the stage of food selection, male food tourists were more influenced by the individual factor such as personal food and flavour preferences, whereas female food tourists were more inclined to be affected by the food factor, that is, novelty and authenticity of local dishes on offer in the visited food tourism destination. Both male and female food tourists ordered certain dishes influenced by the institutional factor such as knowledge acquisition from the museum exhibition prior to their dining experience at the museum restaurant. At the phase of expectation and imagined taste, a more holistic view and perception of food taste experiences were held by female domestic food tourist groups. Both groups had high expectations for the food taste experience in the museum restaurants (HCMRs) as a reliable and trustworthy social institution. Visual and gustatory expectations (colour, appearance, texture, and portion) through their imagined taste as well as dining environment and cultural elements were significant determinants of food taste experiences for female tourists, whereas for male tourists, only authenticity of the food taste was significant. At the phase of food taste appraisal, few significant differences between genders were apparent. Both groups assessed their food taste experiences by three main factors: direct comparisons between previous and present tasting experiences; individual preference of tastes and flavours; and socially developed personal tastes associated with their regions of origin. It is interesting to note that female food tourists were more inclined to assess their food taste

Food taste experiences and gastrophysics  269 experiences based on their individual preferences of tastes and flavours. It was, however, the personal preference that largely affected male food tourists’ food selection. Adopting the gastrophysics approach as an alternative lens to food tourism, this chapter offers a new avenue and perspective to (re)think and (re)evaluate food tourism with particular attention to the food taste experiences in food tourism destinations and attractions and the gender role in this regard. It is the first of this kind to our knowledge in the context of food tourism. Further research and perhaps a more robust experimental design, but in a naturalistic setting involving broader groups of tourists, will be welcomed, including international tourists (both Western and Asian), senior, and non-binary and genderqueer travellers, considering that the study sample represented a relatively young Chinese domestic food tourist segment. Also, it will be of benefit to consider cross-regional and multi-locational comparison studies for further generalisation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This chapter is the updated version of a paper publication in Appetite (Kim et al., 2021) with particular focus on analysing the gender differences in food taste experiences in a food tourism attraction. Our thanks to this journal for their valuable reviews and their permission for partial reuse of the existing text, for example a shortened research context and methods as well as profiles of respondents.

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Food taste experiences and gastrophysics  271 Travel Daily. (2022). How does Hangzhou stand out in the tourism satisfaction index?. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://​www​.traveldaily​.cn/​article/​160891. Wadolowska, L., Babicz-Zielinska, E., & Czarnocinska, J. (2008). Food choice models and their relation with food preferences and eating frequency in the Polish population: POFPRES study. Food Policy, 33(2), 122–134. Wang, C., Qu, H., & Hsu, M. K. (2016). Toward an integrated model of tourist expectation formation and gender difference. Tourism Management, 54, 58–71. Wang, Q. J., Knoeferle, K., & Spence, C. (2017). Music to make your mouth water? Assessing the potential influence of sour music on salivation. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1–5 Wang, Q. J., & Spence, C. (2017). “A sweet smile”: the modulatory role of emotion in how extrinsic factors influence taste evaluation. Cognition and Emotion, 32(5), 1052–1061. Wang, S., Lehto, X., & Cai, L. (2018). Creature of habit or embracer of change? Contrasting consumer daily food behavior with the tourism scenario. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 43(4), 595–616. Wardle, J., Haase, A. M., Steptoe, A., Nillapun, M., Jonwutiwes, K., & Bellisie, F. (2004). Gender differences in food choice: The contribution of health beliefs and dieting. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 27(2), 107–116. Xu, M., Kim, S., & Reijnders, S. (2020). From food to feet: Analysing A Bite of China as food-based destination image. Tourist Studies, 20(2), 145–165.

19. Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience to the new post-crisis scenario from a resilience approach Rocío González-Sánchez, Sara Alonso-Muñoz, María Torrejón-Ramos, Fernando E. García-Muiña and María-Sonia Medina-Salgado

1. INTRODUCTION The restaurant sector is part of the tourism industry, is a significant contributor to national economies (Hallak et al., 2018), and was one of the most severely impacted by the pandemic (Batat, 2021). The measures adopted by various governments to contain COVID-19 (social distancing, self-isolation, and travel restrictions) and increased requirements associated with the closure and reopening of premises have had a detrimental effect on the industry (Kim et al., 2021; Ntounis et al., 2022). The foodservice sector has seen its future compromised and faces challenges related to survival of businesses, customer safety, changes in the workforce and consumer preferences (Fusté-Forné & Hussain, 2021; Yang et al., 2020). However, the pandemic does not seem to be the only exceptional emergency event for the food and beverage sector. The current scenario of political disequilibrium and war tensions is giving way to an energy crisis that is already having further impacts on the tourism sector. In this scenario, organisations’ ability to overcome and take advantage of negative events, namely resilience, is becoming a basic strategic capacity. Building resilience is essential for economic, social and community recovery during COVID-19 (Ozanne et al., 2022) and to better cope with the challenges imposed by the health crisis (Karniouchina et al., 2022). Thus, it is key to understand the response of organisations to crisis situations, and this has only recently been applied to those in tourism (Zheng et al., 2021). The literature review shows the study of resilience in different areas of gastronomy. For example, in fast food (Mathe et al., 2014), in the Canadian pork industry (McEwan et al., 2021), in bars and restaurants (Neise et al., 2021), or even from the perspective of employee satisfaction (Park et al., 2021). According to Li et al. (2021), restaurants have shown resilience during the pandemic through taking various actions, such as offering digital ordering and obtaining financial support from the government. In the same vein, for Neise et al. (2021), resilience of food establishments has relied not only on delivery and takeaway service, but also on their financial capacity and ownership. Although resilience is considered to have a positive, direct, and significant impact on sustainable tourism development (Sobaih et al., 2021), research in the restaurant sector is still scarce and fragmented. Furthermore, the restaurant industry is far from being a global and homogeneous industry, and the impacts of this pandemic have been heterogeneous across restaurants depending on aspects such as type of food or the geographic location of each establishment (Wang et al., 2022). This needs to be studied further, as is the case of the Michelin-starred restaurants. 272

Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience  273 Considered either luxury restaurants, due to their hedonistic and experiential character, (Batat, 2021) or as haute cuisine, due to their high level of professionalism (Cooper, et al., 2017) in elaborations, recipes, and learning, they are exceptional industry players whose adaptability and resilience deserve to be explored. A luxury restaurant is a full-service restaurant characterised by aspects highly valued by the customer, such as the presentation of the dishes, the space decoration, or the service quality, and makes them willing to pay a higher price (Sirieix et al., 2011) – in short, a superior experience (Peng et al., 2019). Some of these superior experiences’ providers are internationally recognised in The Michelin Guide, which is considered a trusted and expert source of recommendation (Chiang & Guo, 2021) and one of the most desired instruments by top chefs to measure gastronomic quality (Kiatkawsin & Han, 2019). Being awarded Michelin-starred restaurant status means worldwide recognition and prestige for chefs and restaurateurs (Daries et al., 2021). They result in domestic and foreign tourist attractions (Batat, 2020) and drivers of innovation and regulation in the sector, so they are particularly interesting for exploring organisational resilience in the restaurant industry (Cooper et al., 2017). However, not much is known about how they have coped with the recent health crisis. Research to date on this type of restaurant has shown, for example, how resilience, from a psychological and entrepreneurial approach, contributes to the creativity and innovation of these restaurants, improving their performance (Hallak et al., 2018). Other studies have analysed the strategic initiatives carried out by Michelin restaurants during the pandemic, either to assess the degree of alignment with the challenges of the environment (Gottardello & Filiz Karabag, 2022) or to demonstrate a set of eminently social responses focused on people’s well-being (Batat, 2020). Despite these results, there are still questions to be addressed in the context of the resilience of these businesses. One of them, for example, pertains to taking advantage of the opportunities for innovation created by shocks (Prayag, 2020), either by improving post-crisis performance or by improving competitive and developmental capacity, from a more strategic approach. The pandemic forced restaurants to change their operating methods, incorporating routines such as booking through online platforms or reducing the number of services. Yet this event has also shown that other pre-pandemic trends, such as simpler lifestyles and an appreciation of local and food well-being, are shaping post-pandemic food tourism behaviour (Fountain, 2022). The question, then, is to explore whether the resilience shown by Michelin-starred restaurants has been aimed more at resolving a complicated situation with as little damage as possible, or whether, based on their greater resources and capabilities, they have directed their efforts towards new business approaches, taking advantage of some current trends that will continue.

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

The Michelin-starred Restaurants as a Food Tourism Attraction

The relationship between food and tourism is complex and eminently multidisciplinary, as is tourism itself (Liberato et al., 2020). Therefore, before exploring the ability to withstand crisis situations, we briefly discuss three non-consensual concepts commonly used by the academy:

274  Handbook on food tourism food tourism, culinary tourism and gastronomy tourism, whose elements can shed light on the intrinsic characteristics of Michelin-starred restaurants. Food tourism can be defined as tourists’ interactions with a destination through food (Ellis et al., 2018). It constitutes a set of diverse tourist experiences (Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016), and while not all tourists can be considered food tourists (Fountain, 2022), interest in food tourism is growing (Andersson & Mossberg, 2016) in the consumption of local cuisine (Levitt et al., 2019). In this sense, local gastronomy is a principal factor in tourist choice and, consequently, has a significant influence on tourist destination choice (Castillo-Manzano et al., 2021). Travellers’ behaviour is inspired by local food, among other factors, due to them having a special interest in eating habits or finding pleasure in tasting authentic and unique food (Björk & Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016). Culinary and gastronomic tourism can be considered as part of food tourism. The former, rather than focusing on the food, centres on the cultural experience associated with a food-related process in which how, where and with whom the food is eaten play a very important role (Liberato et al., 2020). The second associates typical cuisine with a sensory and experiential heritage (Meneguel et al., 2019), in which the tourist’s main motivation for choosing a destination is based on the food of that location (Liberato, et al., 2020). In short, any of these terms share an experiential and cultural element related to food; however, in gastronomic and food tourism, the weight of the concept lies more in the food–geographical destination relationship than in the case of culinary tourism. The latter has recently been associated with new trends (vegetarianism, healthy food, ethical choices) (Liberato, et al., 2020) that are less present in other forms of food tourism. Authenticity, in the sense of being different from other things and linked to culture and heritage, is key to any of these concepts (Ellis et al., 2018). Michelin-starred restaurant owners are specialists in generating unique experiences for those motivated by unique gastronomic encounters over the authenticity of a cuisine (Batat, 2020). This is one of the most relevant aspects when it comes to generating repeat visits to destinations or even specific escapes to these restaurants (Mohamed et al., 2022). Oftentimes, a restaurant achieving a Michelin star makes that establishment a desirable premise to visit, with the expectation of exceptional quality (Chiang & Guo, 2021) where tourists seek an extraordinary experience around food (Subakti, 2013). In fact, the stars indicate that these restaurants not only have more exceptional cuisine, but can even inspire a trip there. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between the restaurants and the region to which they belong, as they are an important food tourism attraction for these tourist destinations. “The number of internationally recognized Michelin-starred restaurants in a place is a new trend used to measure a tourist destination’s culinary standard” (Castillo-Manzano et al., 2021, p. 1166). Furthermore, they contribute to the attractiveness of the destination, favouring the region as a brand (Meneguel et al., 2019) through activities such as the promotion of local products and rural gastronomic tourism, the gastronomy of rural destinations and the raising of a destination’s popularity (Batat, 2020). Thus, Michelin restaurants contribute to the development of gastronomic destinations and, therefore, to the development of gastronomic tourism. 2.2

Organisational Resilience Approach

The concept of resilience in tourism can be approached from different angles: the magnitude of impacts, the fragility of the affected system, or the changes produced (Prayag, 2020), which has

Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience  275 given rise to different and not generally accepted definitions. Furthermore, this has been fed by three major disciplines: ecology (e.g., Holling, 1973), psychology or organisational-strategic development (Hillmann, 2021). Hillmann’s (2021) organisational approach has given rise to a normative concept of resilience that should be approached not as a natural state or phase of a system (ecology) or as an individual (psychology), but as a quality that can be developed with a capacity to respond to shocks (organisational theory). From this approach resilience can be seen as a complex capacity of organisations to cope with change and adapt. Accordingly, much existing literature does agree that it is intrinsically related to change. This is either by focusing the concept of resilience in the process of change – incremental, extraordinary or cumulative (Prayag, 2018; Hall et al., 2017) – or on the outcome of change – adaptive/reactive and proactive (Jia et al., 2020; Alonso-Almeida et al., 2015) – or even a return to a previous situation (Dahles & Susilowati, 2015). Another aspect related to the concept of organisational resilience is that of innovation. Resilient organisations can absorb and withstand change, but they also have the potential to generate opportunities to innovate and improve in response to a triggering event. And this is directly related to their performance (Orchiston et al., 2016). Strategic perspective has considered resilience a dynamic capability (resource and capability approach) that can explain how organisations survive and thrive despite critical and turbulent events (Hillmann, 2021). Furthermore, strategic planning could create further sustainability and performance opportunities (Sobaih et al., 2021). As Dahles and Susilowati (2015) stated and as current events are proving, tourism must deal with the global threats posed by natural disasters, economic downturns, and political turmoil in developing countries. Restaurants must not only design solutions to such situations, but also build and deploy resources to recover and move into the future. The resource-based vision and dynamic capabilities approach has already provided insights into how firms build resilience and innovation from resource and capability-based management initiatives (Do et al., 2022). For the resource and capability-based theory, organisational resilience is defined as organisational knowledge, skills or routines that serve as resources in the development of the organisation’s activities, acting as a rapid response to environmental disturbances (Bueno-Campos et al., 2019). Within this approach, dynamic capabilities can be understood as skills that can enrich, modify, or create new core capabilities that, coupled with specific corporate strategy, can ensure survival (Winter, 2003). Consequently, organisations must harness their resources and dynamism to cope with the situation when unexpected and even dangerous events occur (Ozanne et al., 2022). On the other hand, proactive versus reactive strategies generate dynamism that improves the competitive response of restaurants in crisis situations (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2015). As a result, further research is needed on what resilience entails, whether simply resisting or proactively taking advantage of the opportunities arising out of crises. 2.3

The Michelin-starred Resilience

Michelin-starred restaurants are businesses that accumulate valuable resources to compete in a highly differentiated sector aimed at satisfying experiences based on the relationship between ambience, cuisine and product – and in which the chef, as the creative and leader of the organisation, plays a fundamental role.

276  Handbook on food tourism The cooking style of these restaurants is one of their distinctions and is based on the complex combination of innovative capacity and products (Fernández-Pérez de la Lastra et al., 2020) and constitutes one of the main contributors to Michelin recognition. The gastronomy of these restaurants, which can be assimilated to a luxury brand and recognised worldwide (Subakti, 2013), is rooted in the creation and leadership skills of their reference chefs (Batat, 2021). Some authors attribute this creativity to the entrepreneurial resilient talent of chefs and their ability to seek innovative business solutions in the face of adversity (Hallak et al., 2018). Leadership has been found to be a key element for organisational resilience in tourism businesses (Prayag, 2020). Another defining element of Michelin gastronomy is the product. These restaurants are often linked to specific areas of the territories or regions from which they source specific and authentic products, thus contributing to their sustainability (Batat, 2021; Meneguel et al., 2019). However, some Michelin restaurants recognise that this unique combination is not always linked to success in terms of profitability. Under normal conditions many of these restaurants face pressure in balancing tensions between their purely creative orientation and the need to meet business objectives (Lane, 2010). Despite being high-price businesses, the narrow financial margins they operate, due to an extreme focus on differentiation versus efficiency, make them particularly vulnerable to tourism constraints (Gottardello & Filiz Karabag, 2022). Protecting some of their core resources and capabilities, including brand recognition, forces them to maintain quality and product standards with rigid internal processes that reduce their ability to share good practices associated with innovation (Gottardello & Filiz Karabag, 2022) and to modify their business models to take advantage of opportunities that turbulent environments or trigger events may provide. On the other hand, as retainers of the cultural and heritage base of the gastronomy they represent, they are driven not to develop major changes that could diminish their authenticity. Consequently, despite their valuable resource base, the resilient behaviour of Michelin-starred restaurants seems to be more oriented towards coping strategies to protect their stars than towards disruptive or transformative strategies to exploit their knowledge base that could jeopardise the business model that gave rise to their Michelin rating. Based on the identification of some of the relevant capabilities of Michelin-starred restaurants and some of the strategies carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, we propose exploring the type of resilience that Spanish luxury restaurants have demonstrated. Adapting Dahles and Susilowati’s (2015) conceptualisation of organisational resilience for the tourism sector, we propose three types or levels of resilience according to the magnitude of change the company has undergone: first, return resilience, which entails a reversion to the previous state of perceived “normality”; second, adaptive resilience, which involves gradual change, as a new adapted business concept may emerge from an incremental learning process; and lastly, transformative resilience, which means reaching a completely different state breaking with the pre-crisis concept of business, i.e., one that was not considered in the company’s strategic plan.

3.

RESEARCH METHODS

The aim of this study is to analyse the strategies followed by Michelin restaurants and their relationship with a resilience response to the new post-COVID environment. Given the dif-

Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience  277 ficulty of determining the existence of resilient behaviours in organisations, a qualitative and subjective approach allows us to explore the complexity of management actions (Turner, et al., 2020). The analysis and interpretation are conducted using the information available on the internet, regarding the actions taken by restaurants throughout the study period. Specifically, we follow a content analysis technique of textual, secondary and public data with the support of ATLAS.ti. This software is a CAQDAS tool that is useful to handle a large volume of data. Apart from ATLAS.ti, this study follows Miles and Huberman’s four-stage data analysis model (1984) for computer software: data collection, data reduction, data organisation and presentation, and, finally, the interpretation and verification of conclusions. Figure 19.1 shows the data collection and analysis process.

Figure 19.1

Data collection and analysis process

According to Batat (2021), in luxury cuisine, the most used communication channels are social networks and the role of the chef. Therefore, at the first phase of data collection, documents were extracted in both textual and multimedia (images and videos) formats from official websites of the restaurants, the news found on the internet related to COVID-19, and Twitter accounts. The publication dates of these documents correspond with the research study period: from March 2020 to November 2021. To achieve a homogeneous sample, only the regions of Spain that contain 1-, 2- and 3-star restaurants, as well as belonging to the Michelin Restaurants 2020 list, are considered. In addition, only those restaurants with an active Twitter account are included. Therefore, the restaurants analysed come from Andalusia, Cantabria,

278  Handbook on food tourism Catalonia, Madrid, Basque Country, and Valencia. In total, 83 restaurants and 377 documents were examined. Data reduction consists of coding and categorisation. The coding and categorisation process has been carried out using deductive logic. Spanish COVID-19 theory and regulations have been followed and a priori assumptions have been checked. To this end, the data have been adapted to its central elements (Bartolomé, 1997). Categories and codes are used to classify the information presented in the documents analysed through coding. There are four categories (cuisine style, leadership style, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and strategy). These are classified into two groups: descriptive (CSR, strategy, and cuisine style) and responsive to change (leadership style). In turn, the categories are made up of codes to detect different behaviours. Cuisine style is studied to identify whether there have been changes in the style of cuisine in the restaurants analysed. “Continuing with” indicates that the type of restaurant cuisine has been found to have remained intact despite the health crisis, and “changes” indicates that innovations have been made in the style of cuisine during the period. Regarding the leadership style category during the pandemic, it is interesting to study which chefs have led the situation, for which two options are detected: “innovative chef” or “conservative chef”. Regardless of the culinary innovations that all chefs in Michelin restaurants already create, it is observed that restaurant leadership during an unprecedented crisis can be done from a conservative and a more innovative perspective. The third would be the CSR, in which three codes (“protocols”, “relationships” and “social actions”) are observed. “Protocols” refers to different actions in terms of safety, legislation or health measures taken. “Relationships” are studied from two perspectives, internal relationships (within the team) and external relationships (with customers, suppliers or institutions). Finally, the category strategy is defined as such by the observation of different strategic actions carried out by the restaurants. In this way, the strategies are related to aspects transformed into five codes: “demand”, “price”, “product”, “opening hours”, and “new business”. Organisation and data presentation assume the conceptualising of data, checking relationships between concepts (Sabariego-Puig et al., 2014), constructing a Sankey diagram that has been carried out, which makes it possible to visualise multidimensional data flows and the association between elements (Lupton & Allwood, 2017). The Sankey diagram is used as a visualisation tool for the interpretation of the co-occurrence analysis, which studies the relationship of the categories and codes with the proposed resilience types (return, adaptive or disruptive). The width of the Sankey arrows is proportional to the number of co-occurring quotations. Quotations are the information reflected in the documents used for the analysis, which is coded using one of the listed categories according to its meaning. Interpretation and verification of the results is done to describe the analysis and to visualise the information. These appear in the conclusions section.

4. FINDINGS The results pertain to the restaurants considered for the analysis, classified by region. It can be observed that the actions carried out by the restaurants (exposed as categories) demonstrate the three types of resilience studied (return, adaptive and disruptive). In this way, the results are presented showing which actions are related to a specific type of resilience and which style

Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience  279 of resilience is most abundant in each region, and in Spain, in general. To comprehend these general results and their distribution by region from north to south, the co-occurrence analysis is shown in Figure 19.2. The codes are not exhibited in the different regional diagrams but are referred to, to better describe the associations obtained.

Figure 19.2

Co-occurrence categories Sankey diagrams by region

Adaptive and return behaviour is observed in the Cantabria region. The CSR category shows quite abundant results, especially in terms of its relationships and protocols. The co-occurrence between return resilience and relationships with customers are interpreted as the desire of restaurants to return to normality, continuing to serve their regular customers: “We are going to combine all these factors to see if everything changes and we can serve our customers again,” by chef Jesús Sánchez, from El Cenador de Amós (De la Fuente, 2020). In the case of

280  Handbook on food tourism adaptive resilience, the category with the highest co-occurrence is CSR. These include both the restaurants’ efforts to adapt their products or service and the chef’s communication efforts in terms of adaptation to the COVID-19 protocols. An example of communication actions to maintain the relationships during the confinement is El Nuevo Molino Restaurant, which took advantage of the confinement to hold a prize draw via Twitter through the @regalarest account in June 2020. The analysis of restaurants in the Basque Country shows that the CSR category stands out above the rest, co-occurring with return and adaptive resilience. However, the leadership style category is the only one related to all three types of resilience. Protocols (included in the CSR category) co-occurs in most cases with adaptive resilience. It refers to safety and health protocols for dealing with COVID-19. Regarding the leadership style category, it is noted that the code of conservative chef co-occurs in 100% of the quotes with return resilience. As for the innovative chef code, most of the quotes relate to adaptive resilience. A clear example of this is the takeaway offer of the Etxanobe Atelier restaurant, which also has the option of a home chef and waiter service: “If for some reason you cannot come … we have the perfect option, La Despensa en Casa. In addition to the dishes available, we also offer the option of having one of our chefs and a waiter at your home…” (Etxanobe Atelier restaurant, 2022). The restaurants analysed in Catalonia reveal that return and adaptive resilience are the most frequent. CSR is the only category that co-occurs with all three resilience types. Looking at the cuisine style (strongly linked with return resilience), it is the “continuing with” code that prevails in the face of change. An example is this tweet from the Xerta Restaurant (2020): “We reopened our doors for the second time in a year with many surprises and the essence of the Ebro Delta.” The CSR category mainly co-occurs with adaptive resilience. Most of the quotes refer to code protocols. In this way, the restaurants can maintain their customers’ service confidence. For example, restaurants such as Moments, located in a hotel of the Mandarin Oriental chain, adhere to the hotel group’s health protocol. This code is related to more disruptive behaviour and only applied in a few cases. For instance, the restaurant Cocina Hermanos Torres drew up a new protection protocol that will probably be maintained in the future. On the other hand, the relationship code also plays an important role. Here, external relationships and adaptive resilience are highlighted. This is the case of the Cocina Hermanos Torres restaurant, which tweeted in 2020: “Don’t miss it! Cooking with the Torres Brothers and Chef François Chartier live. Enjoy and fight against COVID-19. Solidarity is fundamental in situations like the one we live in. Be part of the movement.” In this category, there are also some examples of social actions. This is the case of the restaurant Disfrutar, which promotes donations to an NGO on its Twitter account. All quotes in the leadership style refer to the innovative chef and co-occur mostly with adaptive resilience. Restaurants such as Bo.Tic or Via Veneto adapted their cuisine to delivery services to adapt to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. For example, in 2020, Via Veneto tweeted: “Vía Véneto home delivery ready. Tomorrow, we start with our Takeaway and Delivery service.” In the few cases where there is an association between disruptive resilience and innovative chef, the restaurant Cinc Sentits is an example. This restaurant, during the lockdown, brought a pre-pandemic business idea back to life, turning a threat into an opportunity. It created a second brand called Sentit Comú, to offer dishes modified for home delivery (Cinc Sentits, 2022).

Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience  281 For the Region of Madrid, adaptive resilience is the most frequent. The strategy category co-occurs mainly with adaptive resilience. However, the category with the highest number of citations is CSR. In this respect, the code, protocols, is the most co-occurring with adaptive resilience. For example, as Coque Restaurant assures: “…our facilities are prepared for you to enjoy…with the same safety guarantees…” (Coque, 2020). The co-occurrence between the code relationships and the resilience of return is highlighted. In this case, external relations with the institutions are important. For example, the restaurant El Corral de la Morería, which is also a flamenco tablao, was severely affected by the pandemic. After a prolonged period of closure, they have reopened the restaurant one day a week, despite losses. Within the leadership style category, there is a clear co-occurrence between the innovative chef and adaptive resilience. One example is the delivery service offered by the restaurant “Coquettogo”. Despite the preponderance of this combination, there is also a link with disruptive resilience. Dabiz Muñoz (Diverxo restaurant) decided to start a new business called GoXo during the lockdown period. Regarding the strategy category, this is mainly concurrent with adaptive resilience. Timetable changes are the most frequent code. Greater tolerance of official measures imposed in this region might be a reason for this. For instance, the restaurant La Tasquería announced on Twitter in 2021: “Due to the new restrictions applied from next Monday 18th, we inform you of the following changes. The restaurant will be closed on Monday night, Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.” Regarding the results in Valencia, the CSR category is the most prominent, relating most strongly to adaptive and return resilience. The relationship code and return resilience are quite connected. Again, the “continuing with” of both internal and external relationships prevails during the crisis. In addition, as in other regions, complaints to the government are superfluous. In fact, Ricard Camarena also supports the #unopuntosiete movement, in which institutions were asked for help and clear and effective measures to deal with restrictions. In the strategy category, the code product is the most frequent and co-occurs mainly with adaptive resilience. This is likely due to possible product or service changes restaurants were compelled to make during the pandemic. For example, the chef Raúl Resino tweeted in 2020 that his opening would be carried out with a single tasting menu. However, product code is not exclusive to adaptive behaviour but is also disruptive. In fact, Richard Camarena’s restaurant broke with its previous menu structure because of the changes made during the pandemic: “We started with shorter menus out of necessity and continued with them for convenience because we have realized that the customer receives a much better version of what we do” (EFE, 2020). In addition, this restaurant kept the change of schedule forced by COVID-19 because it realised how excessive it was previously. In the leadership style category, only the innovative chef code has been identified. The most representative example of the co-occurrence between innovative chef and disruptive resilience is Ricard Camarena again, which works through a brand called Cocaloka. Another example, matching adaptive resilience, is the restaurant El Xato, which offers on its website “El Xato to take home”. It is also worth noting that the cooking style category stands out in this region with respect to its changes in cooking style. For this reason, mention should be made of the restaurant Casa Manolo, which states that during the confinement they recovered the family recipe book and returned to their traditional cuisine (Guía Hedonista, 2020). The Andalusia region Sankey diagram provides information on all three types of resilience, although return resilience is more prominent. The leadership style category shows a foreseeable result in terms of its two codes. The conservative chef co-occurs with return resilience,

282  Handbook on food tourism while the innovative chef co-occurs with disruptive and adaptive. A clear example of a return to business as usual and conservative chef is Ángel León, who recognises that “despite the current complications, he is sure to continue with the spirit of his restaurants and to continue practising haute cuisine…” (Monforte, 2020). With regards to disruptive behaviour and innovative chef, Paco Morales, chef at Noor, stated that he was thinking of “being more radical than ever in terms of the proposal, without changing the essence” (El día de Córdoba, 2020). However, in relation to adaptive behaviour, the restaurant José Carlos García remains faithful to the traditional cuisine of Málaga (Andalusia), and its adaptation in the form of a novelty is a nod to the customer himself. As they all wear masks, their way of making the customer “smile” is to make them participate in creating some of the dishes by allowing them to make a final touch, such as adding a sauce (Mojarrieta, 2020). In the cuisine style category, “continuing with” code is the most associated with return resilience. The results show a preference for the analysed restaurants to maintain their traditional cuisine and products in the return to normality. An example of this situation is the chef Ángel León, from the restaurant Aponiente, who assures that “once we have reached this point, we have to fight to maintain our style. Our costs are very high, and we can’t lower the price of food and we can’t transform what we do into takeaway food” (Monforte, 2020).

5. CONCLUSIONS Spanish Michelin-starred restaurants have not been immune to the pandemic. Our findings suggest that they have overcome the consequences of the pandemic health emergency by adapting and/or attempting to return to business as usual as soon as possible. In some cases, but not widely, they have used the emergency as an opportunity or made some other change. These restaurants have a great impact on gastronomic tourism; hence attention should be paid to their performance in turbulent times. They can serve as a model to follow for other tourism organisations. Their most common resilient behaviour was adaptation, mainly by complying with health protocols. Thus, they have not only complied with regulations, but also maintained a reputation as safe spaces for their clients. These actions have also been intended as adapting their ways of communicating with their customers and suppliers. Indeed, before the pandemic, the demand for Michelin restaurants was often international and, due to mobility restrictions, they had to adapt to the demand being only on a national and regional scale. Although it was expected that more cases of restaurants helping people by providing free or cheap food would be observed, they have been rather scarce in all regions. The second most observed type of resilience is return (going back to what was done before the pandemic), based primarily on continuing with of the type of cuisine served by Michelin-starred restaurants. In this case, changes in the culinary style revealed an interest in returning to the traditional cooking associated with the region. Moreover, efforts to maintain relationships with suppliers and customers are apparent, especially with their regular customers. Therefore, the search for new customers is not a generally observed behaviour. Finally, disruptive resilience (make a significant change) was most prevalent in the regions of Valencia, Madrid and Catalonia, with the highest number of Michelin restaurants. On the other hand, Cantabria did not show any disruptive behaviour. This could be due to the number of restaurants analysed, as the sample from Cantabria is the smallest. On the other hand, it has

Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience  283 been found that the type of disruptive behaviour is related to an innovative management style and to strategic decisions, such as new products, new businesses or changes in opening hours. Overall, given that Michelin restaurants are characterised by innovation, brand image and prestige, more disruptive and adaptive behaviours were expected. However, alongside adaptive resilience, resilient return behaviours predominate. It seems that the establishments have refused to abandon their essence and authenticity. They have preferred to retain their style or, in some cases, even return to traditional cuisine and products tied to their region of origin. Apart from this, return and adaptive behaviours have also been observed in the same restaurant. It is likely that the severe and persistent conditions, imposed by the pandemic, have led to additional changes that were not originally intended. This situation may reflect reactions that have had to be taken to adapt to the new situation. Furthermore, important relationships have been observed between the leadership style category and the rest of the categories. This could mean that depending on how managers are willing to face the changes caused by COVID-19, they will carry out one type of action or another. Moreover, in the different actions studied, innovative chefs carry out more actions related to CSR and strategic actions. On the other hand, conservative chefs mostly stayed with the traditional cooking style category. It is worth pointing out that the resilience behaviour of each of the regions may be different, but the geographical context does not seem to explain this discrepancy. Ultimately, taking one action or another or engaging in one resilient behaviour or another does not affect the main objective of restaurants: their survival. This study has both practical and theoretical implications. Gastronomic tourism is seen as a driver of rural development, empowerment of women and youth, and the achievement of the SDGs (United Nations, 2015). Therefore, companies that generate this tourism must face these challenges and develop business models that are more flexible and resilient to disruptive events such as those experienced in the past. Also, this chapter contributes to incorporate the concept of organisational resilience into the gastronomy tourism research area. This area requires new thinking to face the serious issues of sustainability (Bertella, 2020). A resilience approach can contribute to the capacity of the organisations that generate such tourism. Organisations may be able to assist with carrying out actions that meet the new challenges and continuing with the operating conditions (Nistor & Dezsi, 2022). We show that there seems to be greater efforts made to survive than before the pandemic. Therefore, we recommend that businesses should review making changes in business models based on a better knowledge of the new gastronomic tourist, as well as understand how this organisational resistance could help to improve the resistance of tourist destinations. Regarding limitations, it was not possible to code all the documents collected from the restaurants as they lacked sufficient information. Moreover, not all the restaurants are active on Twitter, which limited the depth and scope of the analysis. In this sense, in future research it would be necessary to turn not only to other social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, but also to the personal profiles of the celebrity chefs behind these restaurants. Likewise, some in-depth interviews could help to better determine the associations found in this study. In addition, due to the use of external information, we have not been able to analyse aspects related to the food that they produce. Finally, future work could analyse other important markets at the haute cuisine level, such as the French market, to compare the results.

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Adapting the luxury gastronomic experience  287 Sirieix, L., Remaud, H., Lockshin, L, Thach, L., Lease, T. (2011). Determinants of restaurant’s owners/ managers selection of wines to be offered on the wine list. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 18(6), 500–508. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1016/​j​.jretconser​.2011​.06​.012. Sobaih, A.E.E., Elshaer, I., Hasanein, A.M. & Abdelaziz, A.S. (2021). Responses to COVID-19: The role of performance in the relationship between small hospitality enterprises’ resilience and sustainable tourism development. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94. https://​doi​.org/​10​ .1016/​j​.ijhm​.2020​.102824. Subakti, A.G. (2013). Overview Michelin Star Reputation Restaurant in Hospitality Industry. Binus Business Review, 4(1), 290–299. https://​doi​.org/​10​.21512/​bbr​.v4i1​.1057. Turner, N., Kutsch, E., Maylor, H. & Swart, J. (2020). Hits and (near) misses. Exploring managers’ actions and their effects on localised resilience. Long Range Planning, 53(3), 101944. https://​doi​.org/​ 10​.1016/​j​.lrp​.2019​.101944. United Nations. (2015). Haciendo realidad los ODS. Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible. https://​sdgs​.un​ .org/​es. Vía Véneto [@viavenetobcn]. (2020, May 12). ¡Vía Véneto en casa a punto! Mañana empezamos con nuestro servicio take away and delivery [Tweet]. Twitter. https://​twitter​.com/​viavenetobcn/​status/​ 1260142218368737281. Wang, B., Williams, M., Duarte, F. & Zheng, S. (2022). Demand for social interactions: Evidence from the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Regional Science, 62(3) 830–857. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1111/​jors​.12585. Winter, S.G. (2003). Understanding dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 24(10), 991–995. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1002/​smj​.318. Xerta [@XertaBarcelona]. (2020, November 24). Reabrimos puertas por segunda vez en un año y lo hacemos con muchas sorpresas y esencia del Delta del Ebro [Tweet]. Twitter. https://​twitter​.com/​ XertaBarcelona/​status/​1331137151078109188. Yang, Y., Liu H. & Chen X. (2020). COVID-19 and restaurant demand: early effects of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(12). http://​ dx​.doi​.org/​10​.1108/​IJCHM​-06–2020–0504. Zheng, D., Luo, Q. & Ritchie, B.W. (2021). Afraid to travel after COVID-19? Self-protection, coping and resilience against pandemic “travel fear”. Tourism Management, 83. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1016/​j​ .tourman​.2020​.104261.

20. What we know of food tourism: systematic review of the literature using informetric analysis and directions for future research Eerang Park, Sangkyun Kim and Anton Klarin

1. INTRODUCTION The food tourism phenomenon and its research has grown exponentially in the past few decades since Belisle’s exploration of tourism and food production in 1983. Its significant growth and popularisation in the relevant academic tourism literature has been witnessed in the last five years (2018–2022) (see Figure 20.1), indicating that the scholarship recognises the subject of food tourism and its significance in international tourism from both academia and industry. The growth in research has led to the heterogenisation of streams and themes in food tourism with the consequent breadth of disciplines and terminology within the scholarship. Whilst previous review studies provided thematic analyses, practical and/or theoretical implications, and directions for future research (for example, Ellis et al., 2018; Henderson, 2009; Okumus, 2021), so far there has not been a rigorous study that utilises an algorithmic systems review of the scholarship. The algorithmic systems review provides an unbiased, reliable, and robust overview of the scholarly work which draws out the main themes of research along with bibliometric insights, including the most prominent publications, top trending and cited themes, top authors, country of publication, and sources that publish food tourism research along with other insightful findings (Klarin et al., 2022; Randhawa et al., 2016). Furthermore, the use of scientometric methods to deliver algorithm-based reviews allows an overarching analysis of the scholarship to emerge from multidisciplinary perspectives, using inclusive, systematic analysis of all the literature on food tourism and/or the close relationship between food and tourism. This chapter aims to provide an up-to-date comprehensive overview of the past and present nature of food tourism literature using scientometrics. Following scientometric mapping and discourse, this study aims to provide comprehensive algorithmic comparisons ranging from scholarly work to stakeholder-oriented work. This novel comparison will offer actionable directions for future research to inform and guide practitioners and stakeholders on the research and practitioner path.

288

What we know of food tourism  289  

Note:

This chapter was written in 2022, so 2022 numbers are expected to increase.

Figure 20.1

2.

Growth of food tourism research in the past 20 years

SCIENTOMETRIC MAPPING OF FOOD TOURISM RESEARCH

In conducting this scientometric review of the literature, this study closely followed the steps proposed by Petticrew and Roberts (2006), Siddaway et al. (2019), and Tranfield et al. (2003) in terms of how to conduct systematic literature reviews, as well as maintaining the best practice in carrying out robust scientometric studies (Klarin, Inkizhinov, et al., 2021). The systematic and scientometric review steps include (a) identification of a research field and a research question, (b) identification of a review range, (c) establishing search criteria and data extraction, (d) dataset screening for exclusion and inclusion, (e) results analysis and interpretation, and (f) formulation and discussion of themes. In the first step, the recognition of the importance of food tourism in cultural and economic development of regions as well as the broad fragmentation of the scholarship brings forth the following question: What is the holistic state of the food tourism scholarship? It should be noted that while the food tourism literature is discussed across a variety of disciplines including tourism, hospitality, agriculture, environmental science, economics, and others (for example, sociology and geography), our focus was on the entirety of the available literature to inform scholars and practitioners of the state-of-the-art of food tourism literature. In the second step, we determined which types of studies were required to answer the proposed research question. In this sense, we decided to provide the most comprehensive, ‘broad’ perspective on the topic, using a large-sample thematic study of the entire scholarship to provide a holistic overview of the field (Justeson & Katz, 1995; Klarin et al., 2022; van Eck & Waltman, 2014). We used the Scopus database, as it is considered one of the largest extractable scientific knowledge databases (Martín-Martín et al., 2021; Zhu & Liu, 2020), and is

290  Handbook on food tourism similar in content and scope to Clarivate’s Web of Science database with minimal differences in content, suggesting that they provide comprehensive coverage of large volumes of scholarly publications (Vieira & Gomes, 2009). In the third step, we extracted all publications that contain any of the following search terms found within the titles, abstracts, and keywords fields for original works up to 13 November 2022: food touris*, gastronomy touris*, culinary touris*, taste touris*, gastrotouris*, gastro touris*, gastronomic touris*, food and wine touris*, food and beverage touris*, tasting touris*, taste touris*, gourmet touris*. This returned 1,127 results that met this query. In the fourth step – which involved screening of the results for publications which met the criteria for inclusion or exclusion – it was found that 82 publications had little relation to the study of the food tourism phenomenon. Most of the excluded studies had utilised these terms more broadly to study other phenomena. After the removal of unrelated publications, the final dataset consisted of 1,045 published studies. In steps five and six, VOSviewer software was chosen for an unbiased outlook on the research under investigation. It was utilised as it is capable of mapping large datasets into distance-based clusters using a co-occurrence matrix. Items that have high similarities are algorithmically located close to each other (for more details see van Eck and Waltman, 2014). A set of items that are closely related to each other are mapped to colour-coded clusters; each item can only occur in one cluster. This study combines bibliometric metadata such as author, article title, publication title, source, institution, keyword, and country of publication analysis, together with content-based analysis. This is possible through the extraction and linkages of commonly occurring noun phrases to provide an overarching analysis of food tourism literature (Klarin, Suseno, et al., 2021).

3.

INFORMETRIC FINDINGS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The 1,045 publications included in this scientometric review process are algorithmically assigned into three research streams (‘clusters’) by the VOSviewer software: (i) first cluster, indicating the food tourism varieties, boundaries, and implications, (ii) second cluster, denoting food tourism experience and destination marketing, and (iii) third cluster, denoting gastronomic tourism and regional development (see Figure 20.2). Table 20.1 demonstrates three outcomes: the top trending themes (or terms) in articles that have been recently published (in reverse chronological order from 2022 to 2019), which are prevalent in the documents receiving the highest citation counts for the indicative disciplinary domains. Table 20.2 represents the top 10 authors or groups of authors according to the number of citations for at least five publications. These include but are not limited to Michael Hall, Sally Everett, John Crotts, Mak Athena, Don Getz and Richard Robinson. They are the first generation of food tourism researchers who laid the foundations and further ignited the growth of food tourism research. Their outputs represent the breadth and depth of interdisciplinary inquiries. A group of emerging scholars, such as Tomás López-Guzmán, Eerang Park and Sangkyun Kim, collectively contribute to the growing momentum of food tourism research. Park and Kim in particular, alongside their eminent work ‘What is food tourism?’ (Ellis et al., 2018), co-edited the first book on food tourism in Asia drawing together empirical research

Figure 20.2

Food tourism scholarship

What we know of food tourism  291

292  Handbook on food tourism Table 20.1

Top trending termsa, top impact termsb, and indicative disciplines by cluster

Cluster

Top trending termsa

Top impact termsb

Indicative disciplines

Food tourism varieties, boundaries, and implications

Local community Local(s) Catalonia Consequence Geographical indication Dynamic Cheese Improvement Farm Condition Sustainable development Village Agriculture Health Ecuador

Canada Success Australia Countryside Regional food Guideline(s) France South Africa Hospitality industry Wine tourism Culinary tradition Initiative Provision Wine Entrepreneur

Tourism and hospitality Marketing Agriculture studies Cultural studies Geography Environmental studies

Food tourism experience and destination marketing

Food tourism experience Behavioural intention Street food India Travel experience Atmosphere Food tourism destination Ethnic food Emotion Memory Food tourism research Social media Indonesia Uniqueness Destination image

Hong Kong Motivational factor Local food experience Destination marketing organisation Holiday Behavioural intention Local food consumption Destination marketer Food neophobia Locality Taiwan Food tourism research Marketer Traveler Japan

Tourism and hospitality Consumer psychology Marketing Management

Gastronomic tourism and regional development

COVID/pandemic Presentation Existence Gastronomic experience Synergy Tourist attraction Gastronomic tourist Dish Turkey Diner Competitive advantage Local dish Restaurateur Spain Local gastronomy

Typology Enhancement Segment Restaurateur Motivation Cordoba Contrast Local dish Increase Cluster Profile Gastronomic product Segmentation Gastronomic experience Formation

Tourism and hospitality Cultural studies Development studies Business and management

Notes: a Top trending terms appear in the most recent publications displayed in descending order. b Top impact terms appear in the most highly cited publications displayed in descending order.

What we know of food tourism  293 Table 20.2

Top 10 authors or groups of authors* by a number of citations with at least five publications

Authors

No. of documents Scopus citations

Average publication year

Kivela, Jakša; Crotts, John C.; Chang Richard C.Y.; Mak, Athena H.N.

5

1,150+

2010

Getz, Don & Robinson, Richard N.S.

9

750+

2015

Everett, Sally

8

600+

2012

Horng, Jeou-Shyan & Tsai, Chen-Tsang Simon

7

550+

2012

Hall, C. Michael

11

550+

2008

Kim, Seongseop (Sam)

7

400+

2017

López-Guzmán, Tomás

16

400+

2017

Yeoman, Ian

7

380+

2015

Kim, Young H.

6

380+

2012

Kim, Sangkyun (Sean) & Park, Eerang

9

370+

2019

Note: * If the majority of studies appear to be in collaboration with other authors, the authors will be grouped together.

across a range of contemporary examples of the food tourism phenomenon in Asia and the pan-Asian region. Their book explicitly focuses on a variety of non-Western perspectives and Asian research contexts within food tourism, bringing multidisciplinary approaches to food tourism research and wider evidence of food and tourism in Asia (Park et al., 2019). Furthermore, Table 20.3 lists the top 20 journals with at least five articles on food tourism research. Despite the breadth of the search terms, the top 20 journals that have been cited most Table 20.3

Top 20 journals with at least five articles that published food tourism research*

Journal

Documents

Average citations per document

Tourism Management

15

133.07

International Journal of Hospitality Management

12

95.92

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research

9

88.34

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

10

70.2

Journal of Travel Research

5

69.8

Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing

15

54.93

Current Issues in Tourism

21

45.19

Tourist Studies

7

39.71

Journal of Destination Marketing and Management

7

37.71

Journal of Vacation Marketing

13

33.23

Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism

8

33

International Journal of Tourism Research

22

31.86

British Food Journal

40

26.32

Journal of Culinary Science and Technology

25

25.16

Tourism Management Perspectives

13

24.46

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

20

23.7

Tourism Geographies

13

23.62

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management

8

21.37

Tourism Review

6

20.5

Journal of Heritage Tourism

7

18.57

Note: * Clusters are assigned on the basis of over 50% of the terms in the titles and the abstracts belonging to that cluster, as of 28 November 2022.

294  Handbook on food tourism Table 20.4

Countries that represent authors of food tourism research

Country

Publications

Average citation

Average publication year

United States

130

27.04

2015.85

Spain

122

11.71

2018.6

Australia

97

27

2017.02

United Kingdom

94

33.15

2015.5

Indonesia

61

2.93

2019.5

Italy

57

15.07

2018.49

Turkey

51

4.75

2019.53

China

50

16.16

2019.62

Malaysia

45

11.08

2017.5

Canada

42

39.04

2014.05

New Zealand

40

33.5

2015.07

India

35

6.51

2019.74

Taiwan

32

52.38

2015.66

South Korea

29

24.83

2017.38

Hong Kong

28

75.21

2016.61

Portugal

28

15.46

2019.32

South Africa

24

21.25

2017.96

Macau

23

29.04

2018.91

Sweden

21

28.29

2016.14

Greece

20

4.85

2018.45

Thailand

19

3.37

2020.47

Poland

18

2.72

2017.28

Russian Federation

18

2.83

2020

Germany

15

30.8

2017.07

Ecuador

14

6.93

2018.43

Norway

14

31.07

2015.57

Japan

13

6.08

2016.85

Denmark

12

14.5

2016.92

France

11

11.36

2019.18

Croatia

10

2.9

2019

Finland

10

55

2016.8

Iran

10

17.7

2019.5

Mexico

8

17.7

2019.5

Netherlands

8

12.63

2016

Ukraine

8

1.25

2019.88

Brazil

7

8.14

2019.14

Fiji

7

10.86

2021

Ghana

7

26.29

2016.57

Slovenia

7

14

2019

Vietnam

7

9.43

2020.86

Czech Republic

6

6.67

2017.83

Hungary

6

2.67

2019

Ireland

6

4.83

2018

Pakistan

6

17.17

2021

Romania

6

10.83

2014

Serbia

6

2.67

2017.83

United Arab Emirates

6

9

2019.83

Argentina

5

3.4

2017.2

Singapore

5

69.8

2016.6

What we know of food tourism  295 Country

Publications

Average citation

Average publication year

Chile

4

15

2016.25

Colombia

4

2.5

2021.25

Cyprus

4

2

2021.75

Israel

4

0.75

2015.75

Mauritius

4

10.25

2020

Bolivia

3

1.66

2019.8

Switzerland

3

16.33

2020.67

5.71

2020

18.8

2019

Bosnia and Herzegovina; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Egypt; 2 Ethiopia; Latvia; Oman; Peru; Philippines; Saudi Arabia; Slovakia; Tanzania; Uganda; Uzbekistan Aruba; Azerbaijan; Bangladesh; Botswana; Brunei; Bulgaria; 1 Democratic Republic Congo; Iraq; Jamaica; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Lebanon; Malta; Monaco; Panama; Timor Leste; Uruguay; Zimbabwe

are predominantly tourism and hospitality focused (i.e., Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research), except for British Food Journal and Journal of Culinary Science and Technology. In terms of publication volume, however, the top three journals are British Food Journal, Journal of Culinary Science and Technology, and International Journal of Tourism Research. British Food Journal, as an international multidisciplinary journal, aims to disseminate food-related research and its implications from a wide perspective, whereas Journal of Culinary Science and Technology addresses the critical issues, latest developments, and essential components for the science and technology behind meal planning, preparation, processing, and service for a global audience. The broad and unique interdisciplinary coverage and scope of these two international journals is justification for why they are highly respected worldwide for food tourism research. Lastly, Table 20.4 shows all countries that represent authors who published in the field of food tourism. For example, there are 130 authors from the USA that have published on the topic of food tourism, with an average of 27 citations and 2016 being the mean year of publication. An interesting observation is that authors from countries with very few publications (at the end of the table) have published in the last few years, from 2019 onwards. We now briefly introduce the research themes in each cluster to gain an overarching understanding of the range of studies and themes in the clusters and the scholarship as a whole. 3.1

First Cluster – Food Tourism Varieties, Boundaries, and Implications

The first cluster represents the complexities and dynamics of the food tourism ecosystem ranging from local community and identity (including foodways and food production and consumption) to globalisation and regional development (for example, McDonaldisation and glocalisation) to sustainability. As such, the themes prevalent in this cluster refer to (cultural) heritage tourism and sustainable development of regions through various forms or types of food tourism. For example, Qiu et al. (2022) found that food tourism is a prominent and widely researched subject area within the intangible cultural heritage resource along with other streams including ecotourism (Fennell & Markwell, 2015; Pratt, 2013), festival (Kim, 2015; Kang et al., 2019), and religious tourism (Aulet et al., 2021; Sgroi, 2021), with the future of intangible cultural heritage being dependent on placemaking, technology, and environment.

296  Handbook on food tourism It is well documented that food tourism is one of the powerful drivers for regional development (Hall & Gossling, 2016; Kim & Ellis, 2015), if designed well with a strong collaboration between all actors involved, including the sectors, communities, and effective management by policymakers (Kang et al., 2019; Wondirad et al., 2021). Some exemplars include but are not limited to the case of Phuket as a UNESCO gastronomy city in Thailand (Park et al., 2021) and a regional noodle festival in Tatebayashi, Japan (Kang et al., 2019). The common denominator is collective and cooperative efforts, to a greater or lesser extent, of preserving and promoting local food tradition and culture. This is aligned with the fact that the urgency of food(ways) culture and (intangible) heritage conversation is recognised by UNESCO (Romagnoli, 2019). This cluster demonstrates the breadth of research on tourism activities that relate to food tourism. Fusté-Forné (2022), for example, explains how wild mushroom hunting enhances food tourism practices in peripheral regions. Recurrent themes discuss food-and-wine tourism (Rachão et al., 2021): brewery and winery tourism (Bachman et al., 2021); culinary tourism which involves engaging with the culture of a location through cooking (Prayag et al., 2020); peer-to-peer dining experiences (Pearl et al., 2022); cheese tourism (Ermolaev et al., 2019); halal tourism (Henderson, 2016); street food or precincts (Jeaheng & Han, 2020); gastro and/ or local food festivals (Kim, 2015; Mandal et al., 2022); farm food (production and consumption); oil; luxury and many other facets and dimensions of food tourism. This cluster also includes papers which discuss food tourism from the stakeholder perspective where various agents play important roles in the development of tourism regions. For example, Rinaldi et al. (2022) illustrated how a university in Italy was able to engage in co-creation with the local government and the community in creating a sustainable food tourism and gastronomy destination. Sgroi (2022) examined Borgo Parini rural area in Sicily and concluded that sustainable development of rural areas often depends on an integration of sustainable agricultural practices, eco and food tourism, as well as a participatory governance system with strong collaboration between agriculture and tourism sectors. Similarly, in Japan, Kang et al. (2019) highlighted the importance and significance of collaboration and cooperation amongst relevant stakeholders including the local community, such as student volunteers for a food festival’s success and continuity. 3.2

Second Cluster – Food Tourism Experience and Destination Marketing

This entire cluster depicts antecedents and consequences of experiences of food tourists and implications for destination marketers, promoters, and managers of these destinations. This finding reflects and (re)confirms the fact that the past literature has predominantly examined food experiences from a tourist perspective, as addressed by Ellis et al. (2018). Whilst in the first cluster the scholarship depicts the varieties of food tourism, the second cluster also delves in the types of tourism but discusses these through the tourists’ experience lens. For example, Chen et al. (2021) demonstrate that coffee tourists’ experience has a positive impact on satisfaction, word of mouth, and revisit intentions. Chang et al. (2021) found that the cooking class experience is the most important feature of a cooking holiday when compared with local food, food trails, environment and atmosphere. While Moscardo et al. (2015) suggested that food tourism research on high-end fine dining is sparse, other studies look at tourists’ perceptions of luxury restaurant experiences. For instance, Chen and Peng (2018) demonstrate how perceptions of functional, symbolic/expressive, and hedonic values of luxury dining experiences may affect purchase intentions of food tourists. The luxury dining experi-

What we know of food tourism  297 ences herein are contextualised in a restaurant that serves high-quality food and beverages at a premium price, offers a luxurious dining environment (for example 3-star Michelin restaurants such as T’ang Court in Hong Kong), and/or is affiliated with a celebrity chef. Other interesting themes present in this cluster include recommendations to practitioners on how to build a destination brand based on the experience economy model capitalising in food tourism (Yang et al., 2020), interesting insights into neophobia prone tourists and experiences related to these (Lai et al., 2020; Okumus et al., 2021; Pourfakhimi et al., 2021), and how various social media platforms influence motivations, intentions to visit and are generally related to food tourists’ experiences (Atsız et al., 2022; Lai et al., 2021). 3.3

Third Cluster – Gastronomic Tourism and Regional Competitiveness

Ellis et al. (2018), in their influential review of food tourism research, attempt to delineate gastronomic tourism from food tourism and culinary tourism, taking gastronomy as placement of food within the culture of the host location. This cluster emerges primarily from the literature on gastronomic tourism and thus links the discourse to competitiveness of regions based on their affiliation with gastronomic heritage. For example, Hernandez-Rojas et al. (2021) looks at Cordoba in Spain as UNESCO’s recognised World Heritage Site for offering traditional cuisine, thereby resulting in positive recommendations and tourist loyalty. Richards (2021) outlines an evolution of gastronomic research from producer-orientated (experience 1.0) to co-creation (experience 2.0) to foodscapes (experience 3.0), thus creating implications for practitioners in designing hybrid gastronomic experiences for ultimate co-creation and consumption. In line with this hybrid model, studies show mixed motivations for gastronomic tourism, from nostalgic inspirations and social interactions (Holak, 2014) to experiencing ethnic produce and ways of life (Ermolaev et al., 2021). Finally, gastronomic tourism has a positive relationship with regional competitiveness, which is exhibited in gastronomic events including festivals, fairs, and general recognition. For example, Dracheva et al. (2021) illustrate positive spill-over effects of gastronomic tourism on supporting industries including agriculture and processing as well as shaping an image of the locale. Studies also emphasise the need for government support in establishing competitive food tourism destinations (Kosulnikova et al., 2020; Sokolova et al., 2021). 3.4

Bridging the Gap Between Academia and Stakeholders

As previously expressed, the food tourism phenomenon is showing a continuous growth and interest during the last decade (see Figure 20.1) as people embrace variety and idiosyncrasies. It is often found that social movements develop faster than the pace of academic research and thus media is considered an important source of knowledge for future research (Galvin et al., 2021; Nazarov & Klarin, 2020). Indeed, media plays a key role in dispersing social movements globally, especially with the rapid progress of information communication technology (Xiao & Klarin, 2021). In this study, we therefore propose a comparison of the content of stakeholder and scholarly literature to identify potential scholarly gaps that mainstream media may fill due to the nascent nature of this subject matter. As such, we closely followed best practice scientometric comparison methods available in the literature (Klarin et al., 2022; Markoulli et al., 2017).

298  Handbook on food tourism Comparisons of mainstream media and scholarships are common in informetric studies (Cheng & Edwards, 2019; Klarin, 2020), especially on emerging phenomena. The perceived knowledge of emergent themes is predominantly distributed through wider stakeholder media sources (Schmidt et al., 2013). (Mass) media serves as the interpretive system of our modern society by raising awareness and disseminating information (Schmidt et al., 2013). Media picks up and conveys ‘what is happening’ and the topics that are important to society (Bednarek, 2006), while media conveys a strong message to the public about current topics in a field and is capable of producing ‘an agenda setting’ effect (McCombs, 2013). Media sources signal the relevance of an issue to the practitioners and might potentially influence the priority given to it by institutional-building authorities (Schmidt et al., 2013). Thus, a thematic analysis of the content of the food tourism narrative can offer a rich foundation for comparing what is known with emerging ideas. In particular, scholars have been raising concerns about discrepancies between the topics considered in the food tourism academic literature and themes discussed by stakeholders in food tourism (see, for example, Fusté-Forné, 2020; Ignatov & Smith, 2006; Bendegul Okumus, 2021). To date, there are no studies that compare wider stakeholder data to academic literature on the topic of food tourism. A comparative analysis will provide future research directions, helping to bridge the research–practice divide through discrepancy analysis of scholarly– stakeholder interests. Specifically, this chapter aims to perform topic-level discrepancy analysis to identify where the scholarship and the wider stakeholder outputs diverge. The results of topic-level discrepancies between academic and practitioner-oriented literature will indicate which wider stakeholder themes are potentially under-researched. This will direct further research into this important, rapidly developing domain and technology. This study followed the same review procedures (as described in the above methodology) when selecting and analysing the media and industry insights for the comparison dataset. For this step it was necessary to utilise ProQuest Central database, as it is the largest multidisciplinary full-text database, consisting of 20 databases, including those pertaining to stakeholder-oriented sources (ProQuest, 2021). There is simply no other database for academics to gain stakeholder-oriented insights in one extracted dataset for a particular topic, and thus is a viable option to identify a variety of stakeholder-oriented publications in one database. ProQuest database was utilised to extract 1,096 publications from various sources including magazines, trade journals, online newspaper feeds, and commercial reports. After manually reading through the publications, 35 publications that had no relevance to the food tourism phenomenon were removed, including duplicates. As such, the software extracted 6,721 nouns or noun phrases from 1,061 general stakeholder publications, compared with 17,572 nouns or noun phrases in 1,045 academic publications. To compare the results, a five-step process was adopted (Klarin et al., 2022). First, the total list of the top 50 occurring terms were selected from the practitioner-oriented insights. Terms that had little meaning (for example, ‘part’ or ‘issue’) were excluded. Second, it matched the top 50 terms in the general stakeholder-oriented literature with those in the academic literature, for example, one of the highest occurring terms in the stakeholder-oriented literature is ‘farm’, with 46 publications mentioning the term, but this term only appeared in 10 academic articles. Third, the proportions of occurrence for each term for general stakeholder-oriented literature and academic articles were calculated. Fourth, the prominence proportion was calculated, which demonstrates the proportion of industry results divided by the proportion of scholarly results to demonstrate the over- or underemphasis of general stakeholder literature occurrences

What we know of food tourism  299 over the scholarly mentions. Finally, the proportion of all occurrences of a term in scholarly articles was subtracted from the proportion of all industry output occurrences of the term to see the discrepancy between the two sources, that is, the emphasis discrepancy (Klarin, Inkizhinov, et al., 2021). The topic discrepancies between general stakeholder-oriented outputs and academic scholarship are presented in Table 20.5. When comparing the terms, it is important to note that terms from both scholarships are not aggregated into the simplest forms, meaning that terms like cuisine and service appear far more frequently than indicated; however, they appear together with other terms that are then formed into further terms in both stakeholder and scholarly datasets. For example, in the academic scholarship, cuisine appears 58 times on its own, but it also appears as local cuisine 45 times, regional cuisine 7 times, indigenous cuisine 4 times, popular cuisine 2 times, and many other occurrences. The algorithms match terms with each other to describe the location and clustering of the term within the map more accurately. Having compared stakeholder-oriented and academic publications, we inevitably see some areas that received more attention in the stakeholder-oriented literature. Focusing on popular themes in stakeholder-oriented publications, we compare these with the proportion of the same terms cited in academic literature by two metrics: emphasis discrepancy and emphasis ratio. This aims to demonstrate how certain terms are used more in stakeholder literature when compared with usage in the academic literature, based on the ratio of the depicted terms from the entire dataset of all noun phrases in the respective datasets. There are, thus, five main discrete areas that appear more in stakeholder-oriented publications, each highlighted by a change in font or underlines. The discrepancies can inform scholars on the potential areas for future research. First, we see the terms highlighted in bold font including report, culinary tourism market, business, growth, funding, development, support, and other. These represent industry-specific publications in the form of reports and trade journals to inform the tourism and hospitality industry of the latest trends in food and beverage-related tourism. These terms essentially demonstrate that the culinary tourism market is a legitimate and established tourism niche that practitioners are exploiting, which is evident in the multitude of industry reports and publications. Thus, this provides the impetus for the future development of the industry. Second, we see a higher emphasis on the farming and agriculture connection to food tourism in the stakeholder literature represented by underlined terms including farm, farmer, producer, agriculture, and others. Although these themes are inevitably discussed in academic literature (Fusté-Forné, 2022; Hall & Gossling, 2016; Kim & Ellis, 2015), the proportion used in stakeholder discourse is much higher. This point is further examined in the third discrete group highlighted by asterisks: terms such as tour, festival, cheese, hospitality, event, bed & breakfast that essentially show varieties of food tourism that often involve multiple stakeholder perspectives. These discrepancies effectively demonstrate wider, essential stakeholder recognition, which can be further developed in the academic literature. This demonstrates a neglected area of food tourism literature – the significance of other stakeholders’ perspectives on the subject matter, for example, the local community (Ellis et al., 2018). From the previous points, the fourth discrete group identified by terms in italics refers to a strong emphasis on beverage tourism with highlighted terms like wine, winery, and drink. Finally, the plus signs discrete terms such as person, dish, owner, culture, recipe, home, community, and others emphasise idiosyncratic facets of food tourism that create further micro niches which ultimately bring variety and flavour into food tourism. These five discrete areas

16

54

25

18

President

Report

*Tour* Culinary t. m’ket

Table

Farm

Meal

Chef+

Winery

Canada

Food t. destination

*Cheese*

Owner+

Gastro tourism

Culinary

Menu

Culinary tourist Market

Farmer

*Festival*

Home+

Hotel

Recipe+

Province

Dish+

Australia Business

Thailand

Person+

Student

2

3

4

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

29

30

31

28

19

5

18

Director

1

20

75

26

38

20

32

17

19

22

22

43

24

63

46

28

16

20

23

35

27

56

19

46

27

16

52

Stakeholders

Terms

18

67

23

33

17

27

14

14

15

15

29

16

38

27

16

9

11

9

12

11

15

11

21

7

10

4

2

5

4

1

0

Academia

2.90

2.93

2.96

3.01

3.08

3.10

3.17

3.55

3.83

3.83

3.88

3.92

4.33

4.45

4.58

4.65

4.75

5.23

5.45

5.47

6.10

6.42

6.97

7.10

12.03

17.65

20.92

27.19

35.30

41.83

0.20%

0.73%

0.26%

0.38%

0.20%

0.32%

0.17%

0.20%

0.24%

0.24%

0.47%

0.27%

0.72%

0.53%

0.33%

0.19%

0.23%

0.22%

0.30%

0.28%

0.44%

0.34%

0.71%

0.24%

0.63%

0.38%

0.23%

0.75%

0.78%

0.23%

0.27%

variancec

proportionb N/A

Prominence

Prominence

Farmer

Quality

*Festival*

Culture+

Close-Up‎‎‎

Food and Beverage

News Agency ‎

Malaysian Nat’l‎

BERNAMA: ‎‎

The Ottawa Citizen‎ Drink

Close-Up‎‎ Opportunity

Manufacturing

Daily Post

Close-Up‎‎ India Hospitality sector

Night

Food t. destination

Professional Services

Travel & Leisure Close-Up‎‎

Development Culinary

Service

Director

US Fed News

Distribution Ch’l‎

News Release

NASDAQ OMX's ‎

Close-Up

Entertainment ‎

Gastrotourism Support

*Bed & breakfast* Funding

*Hospitality*

Entry

Food tourism

The Beacon Herald‎

TCA Regional News‎

Thailand

Bizcommunity.com

Growth

Carmarthen Journal‎

Canada NewsWire‎

PR Newswire‎

Asia News Monitor‎

Financieras‎

CE Noticias

Targeted News S’ce‎

MENA Report‎

Stakeholder outlets by no. of pubs

Spain Promotion

Japan

Ireland

Gastronomy

Gastr’my tourism Report

Russia

Culinary t. market

terms

Stakeholder top trending

Top 50 termsa in stakeholder-oriented outputs compared with academic outputs

No

Table 20.5

300  Handbook on food tourism

21

91

16

42

Taste

Wine

Trip Producer

Restaurant

Support

Industry

*Event*

Cuisine

Travel

Gastronomy t. Opportunity

Food tourist Economy

Agriculture

Drink

Community+

34

35

36

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

46

48

49

50

23

14

18

17

32

44

45

35

45

46

44

23

26

24

45

60

59

43

54

55

49

18

100

22

24

63

40

26

203

Academia

1.37

1.59

1.81

1.85

1.86

1.92

1.99

2.13

2.18

2.19

2.24

2.32

2.38

2.50

2.51

2.74

2.81

2.82

0.09%

0.08%

0.12%

0.12%

0.22%

0.31%

0.33%

0.28%

0.36%

0.37%

0.35%

0.14%

0.78%

0.19%

0.21%

0.62%

0.41%

0.27%

2.12%

variancec

proportionb 2.83

Prominence

Prominence

Tehran Times‎

Edmonton Journal‎ Financial Times‎

Owner+

AllAfrica.com‎

UzDaily‎

Transcript‎

The Times -

The Canadian Press‎

Culinary tourism

Chef+

Agriculture

Country

City

*Tour*

Tourism industry

PNA Philippines News Agency

Producer

Business News

McClatchy - Tribune

Business Wire‎

Agency - CEIS

Xinhua News

News Agency

The Philippines

M2 Presswire‎

Irish Times‎

Stakeholder outlets by no. of pubs

Italy Business

Gastro tourism

Local food+

Trend

Everyone+

Community+ Project

Australia

*Event*

terms

Stakeholder top trending

Notes: a Stakeholder-oriented output measurement: n=6,721 terms; academic publication sample: n=17,572 terms. b The ‘prominence proportion’ is the division of the proportion of stakeholder-oriented publications referencing each term by the proportion of scholarly publications referencing that term. c The ‘prominence variance’ is calculated by subtracting the proportion of all scholarly publications referencing a term from the proportion of all stakeholder-oriented publications referencing the term.

47

45

37

23

66

43

28

220

Culinary tourism Growth

33

32

Stakeholders

Terms

No

What we know of food tourism  301

302  Handbook on food tourism of research need to be further discussed in the academic literature to remain current and thus inform practitioners and stakeholders rather than follow practitioners’ lead.

4. CONCLUSION This chapter finds a steady growth of food tourism research scholarship with a considerable increase since 2019. The scientometric mapping of the scholarship reveals three interrelated multidisciplinary clusters of research – (i) food tourism varieties, boundaries, and implications, (ii) food tourism experience and destination marketing, and (iii) gastronomic tourism and regional development. The richest insights in the scholarly work representing the second cluster are noticed in the food tourist’s specific discourses of motivations, experiences, and intentions, which are then used to inform further research and practice. Interesting insights into indigenous foods, wild produce, food and beverage-related tourism, and religious food tourism, are discussed in the first cluster along with stakeholder involvement and further implications. Finally, the third cluster delves into gastronomic tourism and its inherent connection with locales and their development at local, regional, and national levels. This study is first to use informetrics to compare discourses of academic literature with the wider stakeholder-oriented literature. When comparing the two, it suggests five areas where academic research can be further developed to inform and guide practice in the future. The directions for future research include investigating (i) business models and development of the opportunities within the industry, (ii) food tourism and its connections to agriculture and food production and consumption, followed by (iii) further research into wider stakeholders involved, including hospitality and events in creating best values in food tourism. Furthermore, (iv) stakeholders value beverage-related tourism (that is, wine and brewery tourism) proportionally more than is currently recognised in the scholarly work. Finally, (v) micro niches that create idiosyncratic and utterly authentic travel and tourism experiences associated with food (and beverage) can be an interesting path for further research.

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What we know of food tourism  305 Pourfakhimi, S., Nadim, Z., Prayag, G., & Mulcahy, R. (2021). The influence of neophobia and enduring food involvement on travelers’ perceptions of wellbeing—evidence from international visitors to Iran. International Journal of Tourism Research, 23(2), 178–191. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1002/​jtr​.2391. Pratt, S. (2013). Minimising food miles: issues and outcomes in an ecotourism venture in Fiji. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(8), 1148–1165. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1080/​09669582​.2013​.776060. Prayag, G., Gannon, M. J., & Muskat, B. (2020). A serious leisure perspective of culinary tourism co-creation: the influence of prior knowledge, physical environment and service quality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(7), 2453–2472. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1108/​ IJCHM​-10​-2019​-0897. ProQuest. (2021). ProQuest Central – Content. ProQuest LibGuides. https://​proquest​.libguides​.com/​ pqc/​content. Qiu, Q., Zuo, Y., & Zhang, M. (2022). Intangible cultural heritage in tourism: research review and investigation of future agenda. Land, 11(1). https://​doi​.org/​10​.3390/​land11010139. Rachão, S. A. S., de Jesus Breda, Z., Fernandes, C. de O., & Joukes, V. N. P. M. (2021). Drivers of experience co-creation in food-and-wine tourism: an exploratory. Tourism Management Perspectives, 37, 100783. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1016/​j​.tmp​.2020​.100783. Randhawa, K., Wilden, R., & Hohberger, J. (2016). A bibliometric review of open innovation: Setting a research agenda. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 33(6), 750–772. https://​doi​.org/​10​ .1111/​jpim​.12312. Richards, G. (2021). Evolving research perspectives on food and gastronomic experiences in tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 33(3), 1037–1058. https://​doi​.org/​ 10​.1108/​IJCHM​-10​-2020​-1217. Rinaldi, C., Cavicchi, A., & Robinson, R. N. S. (2022). University contributions to co-creating sustainable tourism destinations. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 30(9), 2144–2166. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1080/​ 09669582​.2020​.1797056. Romagnoli, M. (2019). Gastronomic heritage elements at UNESCO: Problems, reflections on and interpretations of a new heritage category. Journal of Intangible Heritage, 14, 158–171. Schmidt, A., Ivanova, A., & Schäfer, M. S. (2013). Media attention for climate change around the world: A comparative analysis of newspaper coverage in 27 countries. Global Environmental Change, 23(5), 1233–1248. Sgroi, F. (2021). Food products, gastronomy and religious tourism: The resilience of food landscapes. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 26, 100435. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1016/​j​.ijgfs​ .2021​.100435. Sgroi, F. (2022). Evaluating of the sustainability of complex rural ecosystems during the transition from agricultural villages to tourist destinations and modern agri-food systems. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 9(June), 100330. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1016/​j​.jafr​.2022​.100330. Siddaway, A. P., Wood, A. M., & Hedges, L. V. (2019). How to do a systematic review: A best practice guide for conducting and reporting narrative reviews, meta-analyses, and meta-syntheses. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, 747–770. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1146/​annurev​-psych​-010418​-102803. Sokolova, A. P., Seryshev, R. V., Livson, M., Baranova, E. A., & Zunde, V. V. (2021). Prospects for the development of domestic gastronomic tourism in conditions of restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 12(8), 2121–2128. https://​doi​.org/​10​ .14505/​jemt​.12​.8(56)​.11. Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a methodology for developing evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review. British Journal of Management, 14(3), 207–222. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1111/​1467​-8551​.00375. van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2014). Visualizing bibliometric networks. In Y. Ding, R. Rousseu, & D. Wolfram (Eds.), Measuring scholarly impact (pp. 285–320). Springer, Cham. Vieira, E. S., & Gomes, J. A. N. F. (2009). A comparison of Scopus and Web of Science for a typical university. Scientometrics, 81(2), 587–600. https://​doi​.org/​10​.1007/​s11192​-009​-2178​-0. Wondirad, A., Kebete, Y., & Li, Y. (2021). Culinary tourism as a driver of regional economic development and socio-cultural revitalization: Evidence from Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 19(February 2020), 100482. https://​doi​.org/​10​ .1016/​j​.jdmm​.2020​.100482.

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Index

abalones 11, 144, 210, 214, 216–20, 222 eating 220–21 festival 215, 219–22 actors 65, 73, 113, 121, 177–8, 227–8, 237–8, 296 Adams, W. 123 adaptive resilience 13, 276, 280–81, 283 Adeyinka-Ojo, S. F. 249 Adrià, F. 190 agritourism 229, 235 Alexiadou, V. 63 Almanach des Gourmands 183 Almansouri, M. 136 Alonso, A. D. 36 ama divers 11, 209–23 branding, products 217–18 cultural heritage and food tourism 215–17 exoticisation, historical background 211 research design 213–15 ama diving 11, 209–12, 214–15, 217, 219, 221–2 communities 211, 213, 218, 221 ama-related tourism 211 and male gaze 211–13 animals 77, 79, 202–3 anime 11, 87, 95–7, 177–8, 198–200, 205 Appadurai, A. 64, 89–90 art tourism 173 Asia 10, 87, 89–91, 93–5, 97, 290, 293, 300 Asian food 87, 90, 93, 95, 98 Atlantikos 65 ATLAS.ti. 277 Australia 75, 77–9, 124, 252–4, 292, 294, 301 authentic/authenticity 1–2, 5, 19, 24, 27, 49, 53, 69, 103, 119, 122, 127, 129, 139, 158, 244–7, 249, 253–5, 265–6, 268, 274 authentic food 49, 53, 265 Avieli, N. 62–3, 68, 158 Axelsen, M. 229 B-kyu gurume 169–70, 172 Babolian, H. R. 69 Bǽrenholdt, J. 35 Baldacchino, G. 43, 106 Batat, W. 277 Baum, T. 245 Baumann, S. 49 Beeton, S. 154 Belisle’s exploration of tourism and food 1, 288

Belk, R. W. 246 Bell, D. 88 Berno, T. 49 Bertulli, C. G. 77 Bindi, L. 190 Bitner, M. 198 Björk, P. 49–50, 57 Boorstin, D. J. 247 Born, B. 75 Bourdieu, Pierre 118, 120–22, 129 and local capital 120–21 theory of practice 118, 120 tourism and 121–2 branding 8–9, 62, 81, 87, 113–14, 167–8, 210, 212, 217–18 Brau, L. 201 Braun, V. 230 Brillat-Savarin 183 Broughton, J. 143 Brulotte, R. L. 136 Bueddefeld, J. 239 Busby, G. 184 business models 13, 276, 283, 302 businesses 109, 111–12, 117–18, 122–4, 140–41, 248, 272–3, 275, 282 Campbell, J. 88 Canolli, A. 63 Capuzzo, P. 64 CAQDAS tool 277 Catalan restaurants 187–8 celebrity attachment 189 celebrity chefs 183 restaurants, media-induced food tourism 186 Chang, J. 296 Chang, R. C. Y. 62 chefs 9, 11, 128, 133, 138, 140–41, 143–4, 182–6, 188–90, 195, 278 food, media and tourism, intersections 183–4 Chen, A. 296 childhood 41, 89–90, 96 China 10, 91, 93–4, 150, 154, 156, 159, 259–60, 262, 268 Chinese tourists 62, 264 Chuang, H. 63 Clarke, V. 230 Clifford, J. 86

307

308  Handbook on food tourism Cliff picnics 252, 254 The Closing Circle 80 co-created experiences 233 co-creation 12, 227–8, 230, 233–4, 237–9, 244, 248–9, 253–5, 297 active 234 as learning process 228–9 macro level aggregation 238 meso level aggregation 237–8 micro level aggregation 237 passive forms of 233 Cohen, E. 62–3, 68, 158 commercial food tourism activities 153 Commoner, B. 80 communicative learning 234–6 competitive advantage 133–5, 138, 140, 145, 248, 292 competitors 140, 159, 230–32, 234–8 content analysis 184, 277 co-occurrence analysis 279 corporate social responsibility (CSR) category 279–80 cosmopolitan rural imagination 125 Croatian peka 2 Crouch, D. 34 cuisine style 278, 280 culinary diversity 63–5 culinary expectations 62, 69 culinary experiences 7, 11–12, 61–2, 66, 194–5, 198, 200, 244 culinary heritage 103, 109, 113, 155–6, 158 culinary innovation 133–4, 137–8, 140–41, 143–6, 250 evaluation and control 140 formulation 138–43 implementation 140, 143–4 introduction 140 model 133–4, 138, 141, 143–5 culinary landscape connection of food 51–2 food narrative 52–3 settings and atmosphere 53 culinary tourism 5, 18–25, 27–8, 134, 274, 296, 299 attractions 18–28 destinations 18–28 scholarship 24 culinary tourists 189, 195 cultural anthropology concept 42 cultural capital 9, 61, 67, 70, 86, 120–22, 128 cultural food heritage 9, 133–8, 141, 143, 146 cultural heritage 5, 11–12, 151, 156–7, 210, 215–16, 220–21, 223, 295 cultural innovation chefs and food tourism development 133–46

South Africa case 133–46 cultural performances 24, 57 cultural significance 152, 154–5, 159, 197 cultural sustainability 20–21, 27, 150, 153, 158, 162 Cup Noodle Museum 87, 94, 96, 200 cup noodles 90, 95–8, 200 Cwiertka, K. 196 Dahles, H. 275–6 data collection 123 data, revisiting 36 connecting with times past 40–41 de Certeau, M. 34, 39, 42–3 De Coteau, D. A. 81 destination image of Kagawa 170–71, 179 destination management 11, 51–2, 189–90 and marketing 11, 51–2, 189–90 destination sustainability 150–62 and food tourism 151 Di Giovine, M. A. 136 digital liminality 41–2 Dinner in the Sky 250–51 Disaster Café 252–4 disruptive resilience 13, 280–82 Dixit, S.B. 227 Dixit, S. K. 244, 254 domestic 168–9, 172, 174, 176, 194–5, 197, 205, 262, 265, 268–9 Duffy, M. 226 Duignan, M. 36, 40 Duruz, J. 98 Eat the Problem event 77–80 eating local 75 eco-culinary activism 77–8 economic benefits 79, 152, 159–61 economic development 23 Eike Restaurant Menu 4 July 2020 145 Einarsen, K. 229 Ellen MacArthur Foundation 118 Ellis, A. 5–6, 42–3, 86, 151, 169, 197, 226–7, 296–7 embodiment 35, 49, 86, 88–9 Escoffier, August 183 ethnographic participant observation 65 Evans, R. J. 245, 254 Everett, S. 36, 39, 41, 160 everyday decisions 73 consequences of 73–82 Evgenia 65 experiencescapes 38–9, 50 extraordinary gastronomic tourism 244–55

Index  309 fantasy-oriented space 96 Farrer, J. 196–7 Ferrari, F. 198 festival tourism scholarship definitions 21–2 economic development and social change 23 intangibles 23–4 issues in 21–4 sustainability 23 festivals 7, 18–28, 177, 219–20, 226–8, 230–32, 237–9, 300 as layers of rituals 24–5 new type of 25–7 studies (ritual, public display, holidays) 19 typologies of 22–3 Filimonau, V. 81 fisheries 11, 76–7, 108, 117, 197, 215, 217, 219, 221 Fiso, M. 78 folklife 18, 25, 27 food 5–10, 12, 48–50, 56, 74, 81, 151–2, 259, 261, 263–4, 268 and agriculture, linkages 56–7 businesses 23, 56, 118–19, 128, 159 consuming 88–90 consumption 74, 79, 86, 95, 97, 162, 167, 259–61, 264, 267 culture 5, 24, 49–50, 86–7, 94, 128, 134, 136, 194 destinations 9–10, 48–58, 112–13, 134, 188–9 experience 6, 34, 49–50, 57–8, 90, 113–14, 174, 182 heritage 9–10, 133–9, 141, 143, 145–6, 209–10 items 140–41, 144, 204, 210, 216, 254 museum 12, 259, 262, 266 narrative 52–3 producers 39, 74, 77, 111, 117, 150, 152–3, 158, 162, 209 production 1, 7, 13, 74, 81, 162, 167, 176, 179, 185, 209, 288, 295 products 22, 50, 56, 104–6, 112, 140, 151, 154, 217 quality 51, 54–7 selection 259, 261–4, 268–9 studies 20 for thought 73–82 tour 49, 51–2 and tourism 73–4 systems approach 74–5 in tourism 4–6, 8, 62–3, 73–4 tourists 5–6, 12–13, 133–5, 138–41, 146, 261–2, 296 waste 8, 74, 80–82, 124, 126

and wine tourism 19 food festivals 18–19, 21–4, 27–8, 38–9, 219, 226–8, 231 overview of 231–2 food journalism 11, 182–3, 189 defined 183 food taste 259–61, 263, 265–9 appraisal 262, 266, 268 perception 259–62, 265–8 food taste experiences 259–69 research methods and data collection 262 food tourism 6–7, 10, 12–13, 36, 42, 48, 50, 86, 113, 134, 150–53, 161–2, 290, 296 activities 36, 51, 105–6, 118, 251 in Asia 293 and destination sustainability 151 destinations 6, 13, 48–9, 56, 112–13, 261, 263, 266, 268–9 development 8, 10, 12, 133, 135, 137, 139, 141, 143, 145, 152–3 development and stakeholders 8–10 experiences 50 in Japan 195–6 innovation 198–201 Japanese cuisine, globalisation 196–7 multisensorial experiences 198–201 popular culture 198–201 regional and local food tourism 197–8 social needs and challenges 201–5 washoku movement 196–7 next generation of 12–13 phenomenon 4, 6–7, 13, 154, 161, 288, 290, 293, 297–8 significance demand-side 151–2 supply side 152–3 in South Africa 134 South African cuisine and 134–5 varieties 13, 290, 292, 295, 302 see also individual entries food tourism attractions 10, 75, 189, 194–5, 197, 199, 201, 203, 205–6 in Japan 194–206 food tourism experiences 5, 9, 12–13, 48, 50, 108–9, 112, 227–8, 252–4, 290, 292 co-creation and service-dominant logic 228 and destination marketing 296–7 food tourism research 4–8, 150–51, 288–90, 292–6 (re)thinking and (re)evaluating 7–8 food-related activities 2, 9, 58, 109, 110, 114, 151 foodies 1 foodscape perspective 5, 7, 38–9, 48–58, 73 destination 49–50 food quality 54–5

310  Handbook on food tourism social interactions 54 foodservice industry 146 foodways 5–6, 8, 10, 20, 22–3, 25–6, 28, 52, 57–8, 153, 168 Fountain, J. 35, 86 French haute cuisine 63 From, U. 183 Fukutomi, S. 97 Fusté-Forné, F. 49, 185, 296 Gallant, T. W. 63 gastro-tourism 12, 244 gastro-tourists 244–51, 253–5 gastronomic experiences 12, 38, 67, 73, 239, 245–6, 248, 252–5, 261, 266 gastronomic tourism 12–13, 244–9, 253, 255, 274, 282–3, 297, 302 encounters 246, 253 and regional competitiveness 297 gastronomy 62 tourism 5, 62, 167, 194, 274, 283 gastrophysics 12, 259–69 and food taste perception 261–2 gender differences 260–61 in expectation and imagined taste 265–6 in food selection 263–5 in food taste appraisal 266–8 tourist food consumption 260–61 Germany 52, 87, 90–91, 294 getok harga 56 Giddens, A. 89 go local perspective 75–7 gorse 82 Gössling, S. 49, 79, 153 gotochi gurume 169–70 gourmet tourists 188–9 Grasseni, C. 190 Greece/Greek 7, 61–70 cuisine 61–2, 67, 69–70 food 65, 67, 69–70 lasagna 66 tourist-oriented restaurants in 61–70 tourists dislike, food 67–8 Greekness 61–70 Grek-Martin, J. 182 gustatory expectations 265–6, 268 Halkier, H. 160 Hall, C. M. 22, 36, 49–50, 82, 105, 153, 167 hangi 1 Hangzhou 259–60, 262–3 dishes 265–7 Hangzhou Cuisine Museum and the restaurants (HCMRs) 265–6, 268 Hardt, M. 195

Harrington, R. J. 133, 138 Harvey, D. 90 Hassan S. S. 248 Hayward, P. 77–8 Henriksen, P. F. 160 hermeneutic travel cycle 89 Hiamey, S. E. 62 Higgins-Desbiolles, F. 119 Hillmann, J. 275 Hjalager, A.-M. 117 Hokkaido local 4 Holbrook, M. B. 246 Howes, D. 89 Huberman, A. 277 identity 5, 20, 23–4, 27, 34–5, 38, 86, 88–90, 121–2, 152, 167, 197 Ikäheimo, J. 229 imu 1 indigenous foods 134, 139, 141, 302 indigenous ingredients 9, 133, 135–6, 139, 141–3, 146 informetric analysis 288–302 academia and stakeholders 297–302 food tourism experience and destination marketing 296–7 food tourism varieties, boundaries, and implications 295–6 gastronomic tourism and regional competitiveness 297 innovations 10–12, 133–5, 137–41, 143–6, 197, 273, 275 instant noodles 86–98 around the world 90–94 mediated and mastered 95–6 instrumental learning 235 intangibles 23–4 intellectual property 10, 159–61 international tourists 7, 11, 51, 55–6, 174, 194, 196, 199, 205, 269 Ishak, F. A. C. 247 Ishikawa prefecture 217 Iso-Ahola, S. 37 Iwashita, C. 95 Japan 2, 11, 92, 94–5, 168–70, 194–203, 205, 211 Japanese cuisine 144, 169, 195–7, 201 Japanese Food 174, 195–6, 201 Japanese food tourism 195, 197–8, 205 Japanese National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) online survey 194 Japanese tourists 172, 194, 199 Jensen, J. F. 248 Jimura, T. 170 Johnston, J. 49

Index  311 Kaechele, K. 77 Kagawa 10, 169–74, 176–9 Kagawa prefecture 169–74, 176–9 top–down placemaking 172–4 udon and bottom–up food tourism placemaking 174–6 Kalamata 70 Kang, B. 296 Karagiannis, D. 62 Kauppinen-Räisänen, H. 49–50, 57 Kazantzakis 68 Khoo, G.C. 98 Kim, S. 35, 95, 151, 159, 169, 184, 197–8, 261 Kishimoto, M. 96 Knobloch, U. 248 Koutoulas, D. 68 Kristensen, N. N. 183 Kurihara, S. 197 Kyriakaki, A. 62 learning 12, 13, 226–31, 233–9 communicative 235–6 instrumental 235 transformative 236 Lefebvre, H. 34, 38 Lew, A. 168 Li, Y. 272 liminality 22–3, 26, 34, 40–41 Lindberg, P. 195 Lindsay, M. W. 245, 254 local businesses 10, 23, 178–9 local capital 9, 120–21, 129 local community 11–12, 112–13, 117–19, 121, 124, 210, 212, 221, 223, 295–6 local embeddedness 129 local food 5, 7–9, 48, 57, 75, 103–14, 118–19, 129, 152, 169, 260, 264, 296 culture 104, 118, 120, 129, 210 differentiation and standardisation 113–14 experiences, analysis 107–8 business and passion, balancing 111–13 foregrounding material and immaterial attributes 109 memorable experiences 109–11 rural small-scale businesses 108–9 methods and material 106–7 in rural tourism development 104–5 attributes of 105–6 systems 20, 75, 86, 119 local ingredients 9, 49, 52, 119–20, 124, 129 local turn, food tourism 117–19, 127 Local Wild Food Challenge (LWFC) 12, 226–7, 229–32, 234–9 data collection and data analysis 229–30 Long, L. M. 50

lovo 1 Lowenthal, D. 40, 89 Lusch R.F. 238 luxury gastronomic 272–3, 275, 277, 279, 281, 283 experience 272–83 MacCannell, D. 69 macro level aggregation 227, 238 Mair, J. 226 Maitland, R. 119 Mak, A. H. N. 97 male food tourists 264, 266, 268–9 male gaze 210–13 manga 11, 87, 90, 95–7, 177–8, 197–8, 200–201, 205 Mannell, R. 37 Marcus, G. E. 86 Martens, L. 63 Martinez, D. P. 212 Masip, P. 185 mass tourism 42, 74, 175 Matthaiou, A. 63–4, 67 McCabe, S. 247 media-induced food tourism 186, 188–9 media representation 7 memorability 246–7 memorable experiences 105, 109, 111, 113–14, 246, 253, 255 memories, resurrecting 33–43 Mennell, S. 61, 63 meso level aggregation 237–8 Metaxas, T. 62 Mezirow, J. 234 Michelin Guide 184–5 Michelin restaurants 273–4, 276–8, 282–3 Michelin-starred resilience 275–6 Michelin-starred restaurants 13, 186–7, 189, 195, 272–6, 282 as food tourism attraction 273–4 historical, and contemporary, tourism attraction 186–8 micro level aggregation 160, 237, 239 Miho, Y. 196 Mikkelsen, B. E. 49 Miles, M. 277 Miller, G. 119 Minnaert, L. 119 Miura, Y. 196 moments of truth 245–6 Morisada, S. 169 Moscardo, G. 296 multiculturalism 97 multidisciplinary 6, 80, 273, 288, 293, 295, 302 Murayama, M. 205

312  Handbook on food tourism Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) 250, 253 museum restaurants 265–8 must-visit food tourism attraction 188–9 Mykletun, R. J. 229 Nafplio 61, 65–7 Nambisan, S. 238 Negri, A. 195 Neise, T. 272 Nelson, J. 87 new food tourism attractions 10–12 Nghiêm-Phú, B. 202 non-utilitarian commodity 141 noodle tourism 150, 153–5, 157–8, 160–62, 169, 177 noodles 94, 97–8, 155–9, 169–70, 174, 179 nostalgia 33, 40, 86, 89–90, 96–8, 198, 200, 246 nostalgic space 96 novelty experiences 194–206 NOX Dine in the Dark restaurant 251–2, 254 O’Hern, M. 248 observational research 51 Ohe, Y. 197 Okumus, B. 37, 86, 210 Öqvist, E. 77 organisational resilience approach 274–5 Oscars of Gastronomy 188–9 Ottenbacher, M. C. 133, 138 Park, E. 38, 227 Peeters, P. 79 Peng, N. 296 Petticrew, M. 289 Phan-Lê, D. 202 Pinto, J. M. 190 placemaking 167–9, 171–4, 176–9 processes 167–79 places consumption, food 88–90 experiencescapes 38–9 spatial escape 36–8 Plaka, Athens 67 planning 247 Plourde, L. 195, 202 Poco’s Udon World 178 political organization 63–5 Polyxeni, M. 62 possums 82 post-crisis scenario 272–83 Prayag, G. 227 price factor 56 productive consumption 39, 42 Propp, V. I. 88 Proust, M. 90

Purcell, M. 75 qualitative content analysis 184 rabbits 82 Rachão, S. 226, 239 ramen 2, 90, 94–7, 169, 203 Ramli, A. 136 Rath, E. 197 regenerative practices 117–29 contextualizing 118–20 data collection 123 local turn, food tourism 118–20 Tasmania and Timbre case 124–5 local turn and cosmopolitan rural imagination 125–7 selective authenticity 127–8 selective local collaboration, competition and networks 128–9 regenerative tourism 75, 117–23, 129 movement 119 practices 117–19, 122, 129 Reiffenstein, T. 197 Relph, E. 89 resilience approach 13, 272–83 return resilience 276, 279–82 Richards, G. 38, 73, 227, 297 Rickly, J. M. 247 Riffel, J. 95 Rindfleisch, A. 248 rituals 7, 18–20, 24–8, 135 typology of 24–5 Rivas, R. 188 Roberts, H. 289 Robinson, J. 200 Rodaway, P. 41 Rogers, A. 74, 79 Ron, A. 153 Roussouw, J. 144 Roy, H. 161 Royal Souvlaki Ermou 65 rural food 9, 104 rural food tourism 37, 42, 103, 105–7, 109, 111, 113 local in 103–14 rural regional context 117–29 rural tourism development 5, 103–7 Russell, M. 75–6 Sabaté, J. 79 Sankey diagram 281 Sanuki udon 167–79 noodles 209 Sanuki udon food tourism media-focused programmes 177–8

Index  313 Sapporo, Japan 2 Scheyvens, R. 75–6 Schindler, R. M. 246 scholarship 18–21, 24, 28, 119, 288–9, 291, 295–6, 298–9, 302 festival studies (ritual, public display, holidays) 19 food studies 20 tourism studies 20–21 scientometric mapping 289 food tourism research 289–90 scientometrics 288 sea urchin roe 78 seafood 61, 65–6, 75–6, 79 self-narratives 90 self-serve-style udon breakfasts 171 sense of place 5–6, 33–43, 87, 92, 182 service-dominant logic 228 Sgroi, F. 296 Sharples, E. 105, 167 Sharples, L. 22, 50 Shereshewsky, Beryl 92 Shields, R. 34 Siddaway, A. P. 289 Silver, A. 182 Silverman, D. 106 Sims, R. 182 Singleton, B. E. 77 Slater, A. 229 Slocum, S. L. 160 Smith, S. L. 182, 248 Smithsonian folklife festival model 25–7 social change 23 social constructivism paradigm 51 social interactions 54 social media 8–9, 11, 39, 42, 86–7, 92, 95, 119, 197–8, 200–201, 205 socially mediated space 96 sociodemographic 259–60 Sørensen, F. 248 South Africa 9, 133–6, 141–3, 145–6, 294 South African cultural food heritage 146 South African food history 135 cultural food heritage 136 food culture 135–6 indigenous ingredients and 136–8 South African food media stakeholders 141 space theories 34 transcending 34–5 spaces 39 events and festivals as 39–40 Spanish COVID-19 theory 278 Spanish restaurants 187–8 Spence, C. 12, 260, 268 staging 247

stakeholders 302 Stone, M. 198, 246 storytelling 105–6, 109, 111, 183, 186–8, 190, 252, 254 Stronza, A. 249 supply-side stakeholders 8, 150, 152–6, 158, 160–62 Susilowati, T.P. 275–6 sustainability 23 sustainable tourism 23, 77, 167, 293 Suzhou 10, 150–62 noodles 154–60 Suzhou Dongwu Noodle Restaurant 162 Suzhou noodle tourism 10, 154–5, 158, 160 cultural significance of 155–8 economic significance of 158–61 Suzhou-style noodles 155 Suzuki, M. 194 Swan, T. 229 Sweden 103–14 symbols 18, 25, 27–8, 43, 198, 209 Takeuchi, M. 171 Tasmania 9, 12, 78, 117, 124, 128, 244, 250 tasteful stories 1–14 Thessaloniki 70 time, transcending 35 Timothy, D. J. 153 Toba Sea-Folk Museum 222 tourism 5–7, 10, 13, 20, 73–4, 113, 118–19, 151–3, 158, 161–2, 167, 293, 296 attraction factor 182, 188–90 encounter 244, 253 promotion 62, 167–8, 178 resource 10, 167, 169, 172–3, 178 studies 6, 19–20, 162, 219 tourist-oriented restaurants 61, 66–7, 70 tourists 2, 24, 27–8, 39, 49–50, 52, 54–5, 62–3, 65, 68–9, 77, 81, 176, 209, 221 attractions 11, 62, 178, 184, 194 experience 73, 75, 103, 109–11, 154, 159, 176, 246 food consumption 150, 260–61, 267 stakeholders 152, 160–61 Tranfield, D. 289 transformative learning 236 travel 1–2, 8, 86–7, 92, 98, 114, 124, 134, 158, 160, 169, 177, 182, 194, 226, 245, 249, 293 Trubek, A. B. 88 Tuan, Y.-F. 24 Turner, V. 34 Tzanelli, R. 68 udon noodles 2, 10, 169–74, 176–9, 197

314  Handbook on food tourism in Japan and Sanuki udon 169–72 in Kagawa prefecture 169–72 udon school 172, 174–6 Valentine, G. 88 value co-creation 12, 228–9, 238–9, 244–5, 247–9, 253–5 of experiences 248–9 value creation 227–8, 238, 244–55 space 227 Van Winkle, C. 239 virtual spaces 41–2 Volo, S. 248 Wajima 210, 212, 214–22 Warde, A. 63 washoku 169

Werner, K. 227–8 wild foods 227, 230, 233, 235–9 festival 226–40 Willett, W. 75 Williams, H. A. 233, 244, 246 Wood, E.H. 229 World Food Travel Association 2, 6, 134, 182 Yasuda, N. 195 Yin, R.K. 154 Yogyakarta 48, 53, 56 Yoo, C. K. 35 Zorba’s kitchen 61–70 fresh, healthy and simple 68–9 Zorba the Greek 65, 67–8