Gastronomy- Nutrition Tourism

Empowerment Strategy

Dr. Manju P. George, PhD, RD, CDE, NET

Chief Dietitian
VPS Lakeshore Hospital, Kochi, Kerala, India
28.1.2023
 Why is it called gastronomy?
• The word is a compound of Greek γαστρ(ο)-
'stomach' ἀστρονομία and νόμος lit. 'custom',
modeled on 'astronomy'. It was revived in
1801 as the title of a poem by Joseph
Berchoux.
• It was Brillat-Savarin, in his Physiologie du
goût (1825) who systematized the study of
food and cooking under this name.

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 Culinary/ Food/ Gastronomy tourism
• Exploration of food for the purpose of tourism
• Vital component of the tourism experience
• Dining out- is common among tourists
• “Food is believed to rank alongside climate,
accommodation, and scenery”
• Food Tourism is related to all activities that use food as a
means of connection between people, places and time
• Tourism- not always associated with sustainable
development. Many destinations are experiencing
difficulties with regional and seasonal asymmetries.

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 We EAT What We ARE
• Historically trades between countries got established
mainly for raw food materials, eg: Spice route
• Food is expressive of identity and
culture: is an important component of cultural and
heritage tourism
• Eating at source is now an important part of
relishing cultural experience.

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 Why is gastronomy important
for tourism?
• It is a way of promoting understanding
among different cultures, and of bringing
people and traditions closer together.
• Gastronomy tourism: emerging as an
important protector of cultural heritage, and
the sector helps create opportunities,
including jobs, most notably in rural
destinations

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 How do gastronomy and
tourism relate with each other?
• Gastronomy and tourism have a very close relation
which can be divided into four groups (Chen and
Huang, 2016) food as part of;
 Local culture
 Tourist attraction
 Tourist product and
 Tourist experience.
Gastronomic tourism is a key factor for many
destinations.
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 Principles of gastronomy
• The underlying principle: Food is a science as
well as an art form.
• It examines the sociological implications of food
and integrates other social science disciplines
such as anthropology, psychology and
philosophy.
• It involves the practice or art of choosing,
cooking, and eating good food scientifically and
aesthetically.

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 Forms of Culinary Tourism

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 Influence Food make on Destination
decisions

Forms of tourism depending of the extent of interest in food

degustation and in culinary products (Ref: Hall, 2003)

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 Consider the Role that Food Plays
Food
• Is functional (sustains life)
• Plays a key role in our celebrations
• Is a conduit for socializing
• Is entertaining
• Is sensual
• Allows for experience of new cultures
• Allows for experience of new countries
• Is symbolic
• Is ritualistic
• Can take on new significance and meaning

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 Why is Food Tourism important?
• It leads to a fast build of sales models in food
• It allows the rural economic base to diversify
via new agricultural and tourism products
• It is an important instrument of regional
development due to the importance of consuming at
source practices taken up.
• In its specialist form can lead to levels of
cooperation which have the potential to overcome the
disadvantages that small enterprises face
compared to large enterprises
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 Gastronomic tourism- in empowering a country's economy

• Should contribute to accomplishing of SDGs. It

may be a driver force for advancing the
economy, creating new jobs, increasing the
income of population who works in that
sphere
• Wine Tourism in France, Pasta in Italy and
Cheese industries in Switzerland are examples
of countries who have successfully adapted
this model.
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How gastronomy tourism became significant
to the tourism industry?
• It has become a place where people get
together, both locals and travelers, having
food and drinks together and experiencing
the social areas as a place to meet .
• The tourism industry and food & hospitality
businesses are blending and optimizing their
services by combining their strengths to
promote food destinations.”

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 Food Tourism Products
• The Food Tourism product is the experience of food as a
leisure pursuit.
• Eg: Dining in a restaurant, visiting primary and secondary
producers, participating in food festivals, taking a cookery
class, food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of
specialist food production regions etc are primary motivating
factors for travel.
• Food Tourism becomes more specialized as tourists become
motivated by the desire to experience a particular type of food
or the produce of a specific region or even to taste the signature
dishes of a particular chef.

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Examples of Food Tourism Products
• Restaurants Local Farmers Markets
• Pubs (particularly new generation gastro style pubs) Pick Your
Own Farms
• Specialist Food Shops (eg: Butchers, Bakers and Delicatessens
Organic Show Farms)
• Accommodation - Farm Stays, Guesthouses, BBs, Hotels
Heritage destinations
• Artisan Producers Cheesemaking Classes/ Cookery Schools
Foraging Excursions
• Gathering/Fishing Charcuterie Classes
• Food Trails Organic Farming Schools/ Food Festivals Whiskey
Trails

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 Food Tourism Product Quality
• Highest of levels of food product offering
• The gastronomic/culinary tourist who is attracted
to a destination specifically for the food
interest must be provided with the highest level
of specialist food experience.
• The idea of food experience has to be the best
possible food experience and so Food Tourism must
focus on the ideal of a good food experience in terms of
ingredients, recipes, culinary skill,
taste and memory.
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 Food Tourism Product Differentiation -
Skill
• Culinary or Cooking Skills are Important to Food
Tourism
• In an Irish Context this essentially this means
the ability to prepare, cook and serve simple
regional dishes of great taste.
• Enotourism or Wine tourism involves visiting
wine yards, tasting, consumption and purchase
of particular regions encompassing the cultural
heritage attached with that place.
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Food Tourism – how can it be encouraged?
• Ingredients need to reflect the authenticity of the
region
• Traditional ingredients should be given centre stage
and promoted and marketed with pride.
• So the inventory of ingredients used and the dishes
presented need to be authentic.
• Porridge with local seasonal honey
• Seasonal flavours, vegetables and fruits
• Authentic, traditional cuisines with global hygiene
• Empowering regional hosts to upgrade themselves
• Local made glocal!
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 Top 3 countries of
gastronomic tourism
• The number one country: France.
• Many dishes from French cuisine: Croissants, Crepes, Baguettes,
Ratatouille, and more.
• The way of serving, the behavior of the waiters, and the
presentation of the dishes.
• In Japan and specifically in Tokyo: the freshest sushi in the
world, cool izakayas, ramen and other authentic Japanese
recipes became famous to everyone with the rise of
gastronomic tourism.

• Turkey also has many local and popular dishes such as Doner,
Kebab, Imam Baildi, and Baklava
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 Interest for Policymakers
Tourism offers great opportunities for emerging
economies and developing countries. It creates jobs,
strengthens the local economy, contributes to local
infrastructure development and can help to conserve the
natural environment and cultural assets and traditions,
and to reduce poverty and inequality.
It helps to maximize;
• return from tourism development
• return from indigenous food business
• regional development
• rural development

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 Advantages to small producers

• Increased consumer exposure to product and to

sample product
• Building brand awareness and loyalty through
establishing links
• Creating relationships with customers
• Increased margins
• Additional sales outlet
• Marketing intelligence on products
• Marketing intelligence on customers
• Educational opportunity
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 Wider benefits

• Association with a quality product

• Beyond the standardized product to authentic
experience leading to a stronger relationship
with a destination
• Motivator for visiting, staying, eating
• Acts to extend length of stay

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 The World of Cookery Schools

• The Cookery school product provides 4 elements -

rural, cultural, educational and special interest- focusing
on both experience and knowledge.
• They link food with the countryside (food gathering),
which in turn provides recreation and relaxation.
• Anxious Consumers searching for real food with
peaceful setting whilst gaining knowledge about their
passion.
• Cookery schools: essential in developing a
gastronomic cultural identity.
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 The Lure of Tea-A Case Study
• Tourism: potential to enhance the brand image and marketing of
tea producing destinations.
• Tea as a beverage with its varying types, grades, blends as well
as national, regional and local traditions in serving has a natural
role to play in culinary tourism.
• Tea can be compared to wine!
Examples for Tea Destinations: Japan, China, India, England.
• A thematic approach: for regional tourism development-can
exhibit a number of the following general characteristics related
to tea history, tea
ceremonies, tea cultivation/ production and tea
manufacturing.
• For Ireland, The Lure of Whiskey ?!
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 Food Trails in Austria
• Include wine roads, cider trails, cheese trails and oil trails which highlight
co-operation between agriculture and tourism at the local and regional
level.
• To promote a wine road farmers established Heurigen, a typically Austrian
form of direct marketing - a type of restaurant where farmers can serve
drinks and foods that they produce.
• All these trails started as producer and marketing associations that tried to
find links with tourism and then developed a tourist product around an
existing agricultural product of the region.
• Trails can help to position and brand a region and to create a feeling of
community among its inhabitants. Strategic partnerships are formed
farmers can sell more products and gastronomy, accommodation benefits
by increasing numbers of tourists.
• The establishment of trails leads to very specialised forms of co-operation.
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Ref: Pere Aslimoski, Sase Gerasimoski, Food and nutrition as tourist phenomenon, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume
44, 2012, Pages 357-362, ISSN 1877-0428, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.05.039.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812011603)
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 Culinary tourism
in India
When did gastronomy tourism start?
• This is indeed real, but there is evidence that it was
only from the beginning of the nineteenth century
until the middle of the 20th century that food and
drink became tourist products, with the appearance
of restaurants and the establishment of different
criteria for classification of various culinaries.
India Culinary Tourism Market Outlook (2022-2032)

• Sales in the market are expected to grow at a robust

20.4% CAGR from 2022 to 2032. The India culinary
tourism market represents nearly 6%-9% of sales in
the global culinary tourism industry.

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 INDIAN FOOD AND CUISINES
Indian food consists of a wide variety of food
because every region in india has it own style
of cooking, use different spices and herbs
while preparing food. Also,the culture,climate
and different soil gives the diversity to the
Indian food.

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 Ayurveda and Tourism
• One of the ancient sciences- Ayurveda
• A 5000 year old traditional Hindu system of medicine
based on the teaching of Atharva Vedas.
• Ayurveda means knowledge (veda) of life (Ayu) which
focuses on ‘holistic healing’ and as well as promotion of
the body’s own capacity for maintenance and balance.
• It is believed that Tibetan medicine, Traditional Chinese
medicine and early Greek medicine have their roots in
Ayurveda and have embraced the concepts of this
science.

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 Kerala- God’s own country!
• In India, Kerala has established a strong brand
equity in terms of offering professional Ayurvedic
services to both domestic and international
travellers.
• Recently Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is trying to
establish as the next best destination with coming
up of Vaidyagrama - a healing village.
• Another popular destination which is emerging is
Kalpavruksha Ayurvedic Village at Thekkupalayam.

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 Culinary Classes in Tourists Itinerary  

• Flavours of India
•  Culinary heritage, a mirror to real India
• Flavour plus medicinal

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 Food Festivals to Promote Tourism  

• Delhi Tourism‟s Dilli ke Pakwaan Festival

• International Mango Festival Organised in
Delhi
• Kashmir Food Festival
• Gujarati Food Festival
• Bangalore Restaurant Week Festival
• Sea Food Festival of West Bengal 

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 Sustainable gastronomy
Sustainable gastronomy means choosing
and cooking food in a way that considers
all it takes for food to get from fields to
our plates, including how the food is
grown and transported to what
ingredients we choose and where we buy
them from.

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 Molecular Gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy, or progressive cuisine, is a
scientific approach of nutrition and is a movement
that incorporates science and new techniques in the
preparation, transformation and artistic presentation
of food. It is the study of molecules as they relate to
the chemical and physical processes of cooking.
Examples: a miniature apple that is made to taste like meat,
spaghetti made from vegetables, instant ice cream, Panko
created by passing an electric current through dough as it bakes
 and many others.

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 Thank you!!

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