ABSTRACT
Tourism researchers now acknowledge that there is more to tourism than the visual aspects of the visitor experience epitomised by Urry’s “tourist gaze” (1990). A growing body of work is beginning to pay testament to the role that sensations of taste, touch, sound and smell can play within the holiday (Boniface, 2003; Davidson, Bondi, & Smith, 2005; Eastham, 2003; Mitchell & Hall, 2003; Urry, 1995), with holiday food becoming of particular importance to researchers (Cohen & Avieli, 2004; Germann Molz, 2004; Long, 2004b; Torres, 2002). More specifically, it is recognised that the kind of foods and drinks on offer for tourists can have major implications for the economic, cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism destinations, with researchers arguing that a focus on locally sourced products can result in benefits for both hosts and guests (Boniface, 2003; Clark & Chabrel, 2007; Enteleca Research and Consultancy, 2001; Ilbery, Kneafsey, Bowler, & Clark, 2003; Torres, 2002; Woodland & Acott, 2007). Similar debates are also taking place in agriculture, where a focus upon “local” food and drink products sold through “alternative” outlets such as farmers’ markets and organic box schemes are being championed as a way to boost the sustainability of “traditional” farming, and the landscapes and communities sustained by that farming (Boniface, 2003; Ilbery & Kneafsey, 2000; Marsden, 2004; National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association, 2007; Parrot, Wilson, & Murdoch, 2002; Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food, 2002; Tregear, Arfini, Belletti, & Marescotti, 2007).
