Culinary Tourism Supply Chains: A Preliminary Examination

Abstract

This article begins by defining culinary tourism as any tourism experience in which one learns about, appreciates, or consumes branded local culinary resources. The centrality of local ingredients and culinary resources to the culinary tourism experience means that an understanding of the issues and structures associated with accessing those resources can contribute to a deeper understanding of culinary tourism as a product and its linkages to other sectors of the economy. Supply chain theory is introduced and its relevance to culinary tourism discussed. A preliminary description of the supply chains for three culinary tourism products—farmers' markets, festivals, and restaurants—are identified on the basis of semistructured discussions with representatives from the three product sectors in Ontario, Canada. Key issues faced by producers in each sector are also described. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.

Full text

Culinary Tourism Supply Chains:
A Preliminary Examination
STEPHEN L. J. SMITH AND HONGGEN XIAO
food in a mode that is out of the ordinary, which steps
outside the normal routine to notice difference and
the power of food to represent and negotiate that
difference. (p. 1)
Long sees culinary tourism as an introduction to the
“Other”—an encounter with food, ingredients, recipes,
styles of food preparation, or food service that is part of a
culinary system different than one’s own. The emphasis on
the “otherness” of culinary tourism reflects Long’s back-
ground as a folklorist. However, taken literally, her defini-
tion is exclusive and narrow. In particular, limiting culinary
tourism to food experiences belonging to another culture is
needlessly restrictive.
In contrast to Long’s definition, the International
Culinary Tourism Association (ICTA) (2006) defines culi-
nary tourism as dining while on vacation and as “something
every visitor does.” This definition is so broad that it poten-
tially includes any dining experience during a trip, even at
generic fast food chain restaurants. Thus, a definition
between Long’s and the ICTA’s is preferable—one that rec-
ognizes cuisine as part of a tourism experience and as reflec-
tive of the locale visited, but without a prerequisite of the
exotic or foreign. The following definition is proposed for
this article: Culinary tourism is any tourism experience in
which one learns about, appreciates, or consumes branded
local culinary resources. In other words, culinary tourism is
an intentional and reflective encounter with any culture,
including one’s own through culinary resources. Culinary
tourism encompasses travel specifically motivated by culi-
nary interests as well as travel in which culinary experiences
occur but are not the primary motivation for the trip.
This definition contains a number of phrases that may
benefit from elaboration. The emphasis on local ingredients
ties culinary tourism to local culture. The importance of
local ingredients was emphasized in discussions during the
2005 Ontario (Canada) Symposium on Culinary Tourism
and reflected in Culinary Tourism in Ontario (Ontario
Stephen Smith is a professor in the Department of Recreation
and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada. Honggen Xiao is a doctoral student in the Department of
Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada.
Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 46, February 2008, 289-299
DOI: 10.1177/0047287506303981
© 2008 Sage Publications
This article begins by defining culinary tourism as any
tourism experience in which one learns about, appreciates,
or consumes branded local culinary resources. The central-
ity of local ingredients and culinary resources to the culi-
nary tourism experience means that an understanding of the
issues and structures associated with accessing those
resources can contribute to a deeper understanding of culi-
nary tourism as a product and its linkages to other sectors
of the economy. Supply chain theory is introduced and its
relevance to culinary tourism discussed. A preliminary
description of the supply chains for three culinary tourism
products—farmers’ markets, festivals, and restaurants—are
identified on the basis of semistructured discussions with
representatives from the three product sectors in Ontario,
Canada. Key issues faced by producers in each sector are
also described. The article concludes with recommendations
for further research.
Keywords: culinary tourism; supply chains; festivals;
farmers’ markets; restaurants
Culinary tourism is increasing as an area of research
among tourism scholars (Hjalager and Richards 2002; Hall
et al. 2003; Long 2003). As with other experience-based
tourism products, an initial task is to precisely define what
is included within the product. The approach used here
begins with the nature of tourism itself. Tourism is a
demand-side concept; it is something people do rather than
something businesses produce. More precisely, the United
Nations World Tourism Organization (1994) defines tourism
as the activities of persons temporarily away from their
usual environment for not more than one year for virtually
any activity, except the pursuit of remuneration from within
the place visited. Thus, tourism is not characterized by a dis-
tinctive set of activities, although the activities of visitors
may be used to characterize them. Culinary tourism should
thus be defined in terms of the activities of persons rather
than as a set of products. Culinary tourism is far more than
just dining out. As Long (2005) notes:
Culinary tourism is about food as a subject and a
medium, destination and vehicle, for tourism. It 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 satis-
fying curiosity. Finally, it is about the experiencing of