Culinary Culture and Tourism

Culinary culture and tourism research examines how food shapes the way people choose destinations, experience places, and form memories of travel — treating meals, markets, and cooking traditions not as background details but as central objects of study. Scholars in this area draw on food science, anthropology, and marketing to understand why tourists seek out local cuisine, how regional dishes carry and transmit cultural identity, and whether gastronomy can anchor sustainable economic development in rural or historically marginalized communities. Active debates turn on questions of authenticity: when a dish is adapted for visitors, does it preserve or erode the tradition it claims to represent, and who gets to decide? Researchers are also working to measure how culinary experiences contribute to overall travel satisfaction and how destination managers can use food heritage as a credible, rather than superficial, marketing asset.

Works

140,987

Total citations

554,291

Keywords

Food TourismGastronomyLocal FoodCulinary TourismTourist ExperienceDestination Marketing