ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the viability of villages such as Bario in using regional foods and food events as determinants for rural destination development. The terms 'regional food', 'local food' or even 'ethnic food' have been used interchangeably to describe food that is produced locally and does not require imported raw material. Rural destinations tend to sell common tourism attributes which include nature, landscape, cultural heritage, behaviour of the host community and local gastronomy. Food is regarded as one of the tourist destination attractions especially where such destinations are well established and known for different food offerings. Bario is a local village in east Malaysia located in the north-east of Sarawak, very close to the international border with Indonesian Kalimantan. As a remote destination, Bario has been able to attract paddy rice investment, donors, government sponsored projects and support from the Malaysian federal marketing authority to improve its local food production and marketing.
