ABSTRACT
This chapter questions the link between gastronomy and local development under the prism of the identity quality of restaurants. We consider that the identity quality of a restaurant encapsulates not only the identity of the chef, but also that of the producer of the food products and that of the diners who consume them, creating an exchange and a fertilization of cultures and imaginaries. This identity quality is viscerally and emotionally connected to a place, and hence strongly rooted geographically. Based on the case study of the Coutanceau restaurant in La Rochelle, our research shows that the quality identity of a restaurant constitutes an affordance to the tourist ecumene.
