Culinary Tourism by Lucy M. Long (Editor)

From the Publisher

For many tourists, tasting the authentic cuisine of a particular destination can be the highlight of travel. Exotic foods entice the traveler to experience a variety of culinary traditions and cultural customs, shaping both individual and group perceptions of food. The tourism industry savors foreign fare as consumers do, providing familiar settings such as restaurants and festivals to lure the hungry traveler. Although anthropologists and folklorists have written much about the nature of tourism, none have focused on food's role in tourism. In Culinary Tourism, the contributors argue that the sensory experience of eating provides people with a unique means of communication. Because cuisines are often associated with particular cultures, eating can easily transport the taste buds and the mind to a table overlooking the Mediterranean, the Pacific, or the Caribbean, all without leaving the comforts of home. Long contends that although the interest in experiencing "otherness" is strong within American society, total immersion into the unfamiliar is not always welcome. In the U.S., the spicy flavors of Latin America and the exotic ingredients of Asia have been mainstreamed for everyday consumption. Culinary Tourism explains how and why interest in foreign food is expanding tastes -- and leading to commercial profit -- in America, but the book also looks at how culinary tourism combines one's personal experiences with one's cultural and social attitudes toward food and one's circumstances for adventurous eating.

Sampling foreign food, mainstreamed or not, has also become entertainment. The adventuresome are often willing to expend time, energy, and money to experience new culinary fare, especially when thought to be authentic. At home, people modify exotic recipes and incorporate them into familiar family traditions. Whether we are on vacation, at restaurants, or around the kitchen table, Long maintains, culinary tourism transports us into another realm of experience. The book's contributors, widely recognized food experts, examine the interplay of tourism and food traditions across the globe in public and commercial contexts, private and domestic settings, and around the United States. As these writers explore culinary tourism -- ranging from Tex-Mex in Minnesota to Kosher food in Poland -- Long encourages readers to venture outside the comforts of home and embark on new eating adventures.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0813122929
  
• ISBN-13: 9780813122922
• Format: Textbook Hardcover, 320pp
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Pub. Date: January 2003
• Edition Description: New Edition
• Edition Number: 1
• Sales Rank: 432,200
• Series: Material Worlds

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents