ABSTRACT
The local food movement is taking a variety-of forms-including farm-to-school programs, farmers markets, community supported agriculture, and direct marketing. An emerging component of this movement is culinary tourism. Culinary-tourism offers new opportunities for communities to integrate tourism and local food systems in order to promote economic development, respond to the demand for quality food and dining experiences, and build on the cultural heritage of the region. This paper examines culinary tourism through a case study of the Kingdom So Delicious program in Door County, Wisconsin This analysis is based on intensive interviews with owners/managers of four restaurants and surveys of 30 retailers and 40 farmers in the region. Retail establishments relied heavily on local produce, largely due to a commitment to help local producers. Formers frequently combined marketing fresh food to local retail establishments with sales to wholesalers. The most frequently cited concerns with producing for local establishments involved in culinary tourism were low prices and challenging logistics. The lessons of this study are not limited to Door County but can be applied to other, similar communities seeking to strengthen culinary tourism.
