C.M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis and B. Cambourne, Editors, Food Tourism Around the World: Development, Management and Markets, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford (2003) ISBN 0-7506-5503-8 (392pp., £24.99) PDF

Preview

Summary

ARTICLE IN PRESS Hospitality Management 25 (2006) 340–343 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhosman Book review C.M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis, B. Cambourne (Eds.), Food Tourism Around the World: Development, Management and Markets, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, ISBN 0-7506-5503-8, 2003 (3...

Description

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Hospitality Management 25 (2006) 340–343 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhosman

Book review C.M. Hall, L. Sharples, R. Mitchell, N. Macionis, B. Cambourne (Eds.), Food Tourism Around the World: Development, Management and Markets, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, ISBN 0-7506-5503-8, 2003 (392pp., £24.99). At a time when ‘Feed the World’ is again in the music charts, the Bush administration has announced its intention to cut its contributions to global food aid by $100 million (Becker, 2004) and the world continues to be equally divided between those who suffer from being underfed and those that suffer from being overfed I was concerned that ‘Food Tourism Around the World’ was going to be an irrelevance. However in spite of this ‘topsy-turvy’ time we live in, I found much of this book highly thought provoking, timely and rewarding. Certainly food and cooking are now popular topics of debate with over 40,000 words per week being devoted to the subject in the broadsheet newspapers alone and over 40 weekly cookery shows on British terrestrial TV (Anon, 1998). Such is the interest in celebrity chefs that it helped promote the sale of 18 million cookbooks worth an estimated £265 million in 2002, ‘Delia power’ now appears in the Collins English Dictionary (Mintel, 2002) and ‘Jamie Oliver’ has again been a bestseller over this Christmas period. Similarly, food as a lifestyle issue is an increasingly important aspect to the tourism experience; no longer simply occupying a supporting role but often a driving force explaining why people visit a certain holiday destination. However, such linkages between food, locality and the consumption of heritage have until recently received little serious systematic research. The subject of food and tourism has now drawn the attention of development agencies and thankfully with this book and recent others (see Hjalager and Richards, 2002; Boniface, 2003; Long, 2003) has increasingly started to form the basis of some interesting academic debate. It is indeed gratifying to see how such studies which examine the interrelationship between food, tourism and the economic, social, cultural and physical contexts promise to draw the attention not only of the narrowly defined world of tourism and hospitality but to communicate with a broader academic community. Having said that, the book appears to be primarily written for upper-level and graduate students with a particular interest in this specialist area. It will also be useful to researchers and practitioners in the field of tourism, hospitality, food studies and rural regional development.

doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2005.04.009

ARTICLE IN PRESS Book review / Hospitality Management 25 (2006) 340–343

341

The wide collection of internationally renowned editors and writers are probably best known for their earlier book on Wine Tourism around the World (Hall et al., 2000) which gave a welcome global perspective on the economic, social and environmental impact of wine tourism. This new book is clearly a companion to Wine Tourism and indeed draws on this work covering similar ground—albeit with a greater (but not exclusive) focus on food. It is largely a collection of international case studies and given the geographical background of the writers it is perhaps not surprising that there is a particular focus on the New World. The book usefully starts with asking what food tourism is and discusses the development, range and repercussions of the food tourism phenomenon. It clearly outlines that while food has of course always been an essential component of the tourist experience and consumed a significant proportion of total tourism expenditure its importance has grown. This is often amusingly illustrated with some interesting little ‘exhibits’ such as with the ancient festivals of cheese rolling in the UK that demonstrate how food is often an attraction in its own right, thus a form of speciality tourism or what the book calls a ‘gastro-attraction’ and that because food can be expressive of a region and its culture, food can be used as a means of differentiation of locality in a competitive marketplace. The book suggests such culinary attractions show how food can be central to tourists wanting to explore other cultures and consume regional food products within an authentic locality. The discussion of the definition of food tourism could have been further explored and it might have been useful to have seen some analysis of the growth of agritourism along with the significant impact of The Slow Food movement although perhaps this is more relevant to Europe. However the introductory chapters are helpful in drawing attention to the production and consumption of food tourism. It explores the role which food tourism plays in relation to the development of local food and economic systems as well as tourism policy. It also addresses changing patterns of consumer behaviour and the future of rural communities, particularly in the industrial world, and to a lesser extent in emerging economies. Given the title of the book there are some useful introductory chapters demonstrating the development of tourism business operations and the essential role that the establishment of business networks can play. Whilst familiar to those of a marketing background, many case studies explain how to develop, implement and maintain strategic competitive advantage and discuss the need for clear branding and the importance of the formation of cluster relationships. Most chapters were extremely well referenced with a useful list of references and web sites provided at the back of the book, however, where primary research was employed, especially interviews, I would have liked to have seen greater explanation of the research methods. There are chapters that address the significance of food tourism strategies in regional development that are also amply supported via reference to some contemporary governmental and policy initiatives. It was interesting to see for example how South Africa’s White Paper on The Development and Promotion of Tourism also notes the potential to influence tastes and create export markets. A difficulty with such an ambitious and wide-ranging book with multiple editors is the ability to craft a coherent approach to the subject. By drawing on the work of so

ARTICLE IN PRESS 342

Book review / Hospitality Management 25 (2006) 340–343

many writers it appeared that much of the overarching theory outlined in the introductory chapters was not more applied throughout the book. Many of the case studies dealt with such different spatial contexts and appeared to exist in isolation with little apparent attempt to link practice back to the main theory of the book. While these case studies were illustrations of aspects of food tourism some tended to give lengthy descriptions or background information of very specific contexts. Although interesting they appeared of lesser significance to the broader tourism industry, lacked application to a wider scenario and would be less relevant to the scholar and researcher. Indeed, many case studies appeared to have their own individual aims and objectives that reflected the disjointed perception of this book. For example anthropological studies of ritual and ceremonial food preparation, or indeed crocodile farming, in Papua New Guinea although fascinating seemed to launch the book in to a new direction. Meanwhile one was left questioning the significance for example of typologies of tea attractions, The Winnipeg Banana festival sponsored by a lap dancing club and even farmers markets and very exclusive cookery schools. A lively debate did begin to emerge around the conflicting needs of, on the one hand, creating and branding local culinary product where none previously existed and the importance of developing rural tourism to support declining rural communities and on the other hand, the desire of the ‘post tourist’ for authenticity in a world of culinary homogenisation. Indeed, while the penultimate chapter admirably and bravely articulates such paradoxes it would have been interesting to see more attention given to notions of whether the ‘local’ is capable of surviving in such a ‘global village’. Further debate might have been appropriate on the demise of authenticity as an inevitable consequence of the impact of global tourism and yet paradoxically on which the survival of so much local ‘culture’ now ultimately depends. In places, the book appeared to suggest food tourism as no more than a ‘folklorama’ of rural events, freak sideshows and a nostalgia for something that no longer exists. Such a ‘McDonaldised Society’ (see Ritzer, 2000) can have little to do with supporting at-risk communities or the development of sustainable tourism product. One all embracing final chapter might have helped address these and many more intriguing questions that were hinted at and could have also helped draw together the many different strands of the book, integrating them with the theory outlined in the early chapters. This would have helped the book develop a more robust conclusion and also to outline the road the book has so far travelled and indicate opportunities that now invite further research.

References Anon, 1998. The Times. London. 21st November. Becker, E., 2004. US Cutting Food Aid Aimed at Self Sufficiency. The New York Times. Washington. 22nd November Boniface, P., 2003. Tasting Tourism: Travelling for Food and Drink. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot.

ARTICLE IN PRESS Book review / Hospitality Management 25 (2006) 340–343

343

Hall, C., Sharples, L., Cambourne, B., Macionis, N. (Eds.), 2000. Wine Tourism Around the World: Development, Mangement and Markets. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Hjalager, A.M., Richards, G. (Eds.), 2002. Tourism and Gastronomy. Routledge, London. Long, L. (Ed.), 2003. Culinary Tourism (Material Worlds). The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington. USA. Mintel, 2002. The Impact of Celebrity Chefs on Cooking Habits. Mintel Int. Group Ltd, London. Ritzer, G., 2000. The McDonaldization of Society: The Millennium Edition. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA.

Andy Gatley School of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, Thames Valley University, London E-mail address: [email protected]...