Experience economy is here, most likely to stay after decades of material consumerism.
Having a hangover from excessive consumption, being left with a feeling of stuffocation we are lusting for experiences over materia.
Cultural experience, rituals – pure experience economy we are so much lusting for.
What could be a better way to learn about cultures than eating local food?
We swallow the history and traditions piece by piece by experimenting local food in a place it was agricultured hundreds of years, by side of local people, smells, weather, scenery, food and wine grown on the same soil. Everything perfectly matching.
And it is repeatable all around the world, with always new experiences to taste.
Food Tourism – A Quilt Driven Passion?
Traveling itself has been questioned: Is it really any more eco-friendly and sustainable hobby or a lifestyle than buying more stuff?
Food tourism is an answer for our prayers.
Consuming local food – locally produced from local ingredients, might leave us feeling at least a bit less bad for our CO2 emissions we are emitting by traveling.
Sustainability of eating local food everywhere we travel lightens the burden of quilt risen from the fact traveling itself is considered to be an opposite of sustainable lifestyle.
As being a passionate culinary traveler myself, I don’t believe the answer would be that simple.
I’ve loved traveling and food since I was a toddler, – together and separately.
When I started a traveling career (yes, it has also been literally a career for me), no one was talking about flight emissions.
Food traveling is simply combining two of my passions. Learning about cultures and history via food is very enjoyable way to study the world.
What is Food Tourism?
Terminology varies: food tourism, culinary tourism, gastronomy tourism… Neither is it only about food. Food tourism includes also beverages: local wines, beer, strong spirits as well as non-alcoholic drinks such as local mineral water.
Culinary tourism is the most common description for traveling for food, but it mainly carries a meaning of studying the local culture through the food whereas food tourism describes the consuming food itself aka is motivated by eating.
Yet not only consuming food, food tourism can include different activities such as cooking classes, tastings, visits to vineyards and other producers.
World Food Travel Association defines food travelers as educated, adventurous and curious travelers. On their website association describes ”Food travelers want to learn about local culinary cultures and customs. They love storytelling and history. They travel near and far to find authentic food and beverage products and experiences.”
3 Different Fields of Research
In the academic world tourism literature has been seen as having ”a split personality”. It fits under marketing and management as well as social and cultural studies, somewhat also under geographical studies.
Management & Marketing
In business studies there have been surprisingly small amount of new innovations in the last decades. Food tourism has been handled mostly under general tourism category, research based on the same methods of consumer behaviour, satisfaction and motivation.
The slight change has been seen on developing the destination image towards food tourism in their marketing.
– Yet, food tourism is seen as part of the destination marketing rather than it’s own category.
There are great possibilities in destination marketing based on food tourism. Destinations turning towards global chain restaurants are lacking authenticity and therefore losing interest of culinary traveleres, – those who are searching for unique places to travel to.
While in the business field research is destination-oriented whereas in social sciences it is more tourist-oriented, based on activity and motivation of traveler him/herself.
Maybe marketing researchers have forgotten the passion for food that culinary travelers carry on their backs?
Food tourism is a niché genre. Only 1 % of travelers are considered as food travelers.
Targeting is a must in marketing for this group as it should be in all marketing these days.
Another notice in studies is that promotional photography in food tourism marketing doesn’t show strong areal differences, but mostly fresh ingredients lacking visual promotion of the actual local food. Meaning that Confit de Canard is not visualized on the plate, but duck strolling on the grass. How should traveler know what is that actual meal mentioned?
Social & Cultural Studies
Social sciences view food tourism from the wider aspect: Food tourism is not only seen as a food consumption, but indeed as an act of cultural consumption where food plays a role in history and tells a story of the cultural heritage of the destination.
– Food tourism is indeed a sub-category of cultural tourism.
Terroir, milieu and landscape define the identity of food from the certain area, but not only the nature of the ground with it’s botany and biology determine the food produced in the area.
It is deeply rooted in the culture and society of the area, the human environment based on the history, law, sociology and religion and that is what makes it most interesting area to study.
In every bite you taste local food, you will also taste a piece of the local culture.
Geography
On the geographical approach and areal development research food tourism has been seen as one possibility to sustain local heritage, especially in the rural areas.
Tourists interested in local food heritage help local people to maintain their traditional way of living and to sustain authencity of the area and it’s local culture.
There have been good examples how even one single product can help the small village to sustain their traditions.
Especially in agricultural driven economies and areas food tourism is a great possibility to bring wealth to the society without huge development plans.
Opposite of that, in the areas where most of the food is imported, food tourism could give more possibilities to make profits by starting a local food production.
Again that would be one step towards suistainable food production.
At the same time tourism industry could dynamize other sectors of the economy, especially in the developing countries.
The big question is, are tourists sold all-inclusive packages or are they offered more exclusive food experiences on their travels?
How does their spending on food vary depending on the area and on the traveler’s personal habits? Are they willing to pay extra for those unique dining experiences and are they getting value for their money?
Are marketing professionals targeting niché enough?
While the most of the tourists are not so much into the food tourism there is a growing demand on unique experiences for those who have already sipped champagne in Champagne, searching for the new destinations for their travels.
Sources:
What is food tourism, World Food Travel Association
What is food tourism?, Ellis A., Park, E., Kim, S. & Yeoman, I. 2018
The consumption of experiences or the experiences of consumption. An introduction to the tourism of taste, Hall, C.M. And Sharples, L. 2003
Food tourism around the world. Development, management and markets, Hall, C.M., Sharples, L., Mitchell, R., Macionis, N. & Cambourne, B. 2003.
Read more about culinary traveling in my wining & dining posts.