ABSTRACT
Food, cuisine and culinary traditions are among the most foundational elements of culture. While there is a long tradition of identifying many places with their traditional foods, cuisine is becoming an ever more important part of the contemporary cultural heritage of regions and countries. Regional cuisines enhance a destination’s image abroad, they are often exported and replicated overseas, and many locations promote their culinary heritage as a means of creating a place-bound image and firming up their own cultural identities. Much research has documented the great pride with which many a region or country has preserved its gastronomical heritage (Gillespie 2001) and used it as a tool for socio-economic development through tourism Boniface 2003; Long 2004).
