B. Gastronomy according to terroir, place, space and culture

• Track B.1: The importance of food experiences for sustainable place making and destination branding

  Josefine Östrup Backe, Lund University, josefine.ostrup_backe@ses.lu.se
  Jens Heed, Visit Stockholm, jens.heed@stockholm.se 

  Description: With an increasing competition between places, efforts are needed in order to develop attractive places for both residents, tourists and investors. Previous research has highlighted the importance of food and gastronomy in the making and branding of places, including cities, communities, regions, and nations. To many tourists, gastronomy can be a motivational factor for visiting particular destinations, as restaurants, festivals, markets and other food-related experiences enable interactions with destination culture and people. Further, food and gastronomy is used as a means to highlight unique attributes and values that can enhance the destination attractiveness, in terms of, e.g., local specialties, traditions, and preparation methods, for both inhabitants and visitors. In this sense, food and gastronomy can be a mediator of place identity, which can be communicated in various tourism and place branding efforts, and add to strengthen place competitiveness.

  This track aims to bring forward perspectives on the relation between food experiences and place making and branding, and welcomes both research and policy contributions regarding, but not limited to:

  • Socio-cultural aspects of food and food experiences
  • Economic effects of place branding through food
  • Gastronomy as a tool for sustainable place making
  • The role of local food in tourism and place branding
  • Food festivals and events in tourism and place branding
  • The relation between food and sustainability in place branding
  •  Food as nation branding strategy
  • Rural and urban food tourism destinations
  • The role of entrepreneurship and food networks in place branding
  • Food innovation as experience
  • Visitors’ perception of local gastronomy
  • The impact of local food and restaurants on inhabitants life quality
  • Restaurants as places for social meetings
• Track B.2: Gastronomic Heritage – dietary and cultural perspectives

  Gregorio Varela Moreiras, Professor in Nutrition & Food Science, CEU San Pablo University (Madrid, SPAIN), Director, CEU Institute for Food and Society (Spain), Member of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy (Spain), gvarela@ceu.es 
  

  Description: In 2010 UNESCO included the Mediterranean Diet (MD) in the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.  The MD is a philosophy of life based on a way of feeding ourselves, of cooking food, of sharing it, of enjoying our environment and landscape, of living and relating to the environment, of generating art and culture, history and tradition. The traditional MD was defined originally as a diet with high consumption of whole cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts and olive oil, a low to mild consumption of dairy products, and a low consumption of meat and poultry.

  The New Nordic Diet (NND) is a relatively new constructed diet built with strong anchorage onto the Nordic food traditions to positively contributing to both health and the environment. It was launched in 2004 by chefs from the Nordic region to rediscover local produce. It comprises foods traditionally sourced in the Nordic countries and focuses on those from the wild countryside and from the sea and lakes. The valorization of the national food traditions in each of the Nordic countries helped in the cultural appropriation and in increasing the number of adapts to a label without a previous history in the culinary domain, as it´s the case of the MD.

  The diet of each society, until relatively few years ago, was based on inherited dietary guidelines that were transmitted from generation to generation, what we know as dietary and culinary traditions, food habits: products of the environment and of the season, using a wise combination of foods, which could not be dispensed without having a direct impact on health, and therefore these concepts were educated, transmitted and acquired in the family. With the important changes that in a few years have taken place in our society, and although in general they must be considered as very positive, with the globalization, industrialization, the systems of transport and food preservation, with the new rhythm and way of life, there has been a certain rupture of the teaching and the nutritional traditions, in short, of our Mediterranean legacy, in its widest expression, and its variants and nuances according to our unique and never sufficiently extolled gastronomic diversity. This has led to a state of nutritional and gastronomic transition, often associated with disorientation, a lack of guidelines on which to base the organization of the daily meal,  sometimes by the almost endless supply of food and beverages, and that is making scientific knowledge of what we eat and drink is increasingly complex; but also due to the current non-prioritization of what in fact occupies more time in our lives-food-, or due to the excessive errors and myths surrounding food and nutrition as well as in gastronomy. Consequently, it seems necessary to reflect on whether it is necessary to redesign the traditional Mediterranean diet towards also a new label, New Mediterranean Diet, following the case of the NND. The presentation will address both types of territory-based diets, their evolution and state of the art.

• Track B.3: Swedens New County Meals – a National Gastronomic Mobilization.*

  Track Organizer: Magnus Gröntoft

  Track Description: Regional business development in the form of gastronomic destinations based on local ingredients, craft traditions, recipes, and meal creators is seen today as a way to start a positive rural development. However, there are indications that the various initiatives, campaigns and programs at national and regional level that exist to support such development are clashing with each other, creating friction and hindering the development of common local or regional conceptual ‘narratives’ about the dining destination and its profile (Rinaldi & Lucarelli, 2022).

  In this track, an alternative Swedish model for local and regional gastronomic mobilization is presented that can demonstrate great national commitment and concrete results. The model that will be presented in the track has led to twenty-six Landscape meals around Sweden (including also a Stockholm meal), created by over 500 persons all over Sweden and up till today consumed by approximately 50,000 guests. The program has also been used internationally to convey a positive image of Sweden. The book with the regional menus will also be presented in the track.

• Track B.4: Restaurants as spaces for cultural production

  Håkan Jönsson, Lund University, hakan.jonsson@kultur.lu.se 

  Description: The connections between culture and restaurants are plentiful. Restaurants can be arenas for cultural distinctions, between high and low, rich and poor, what’s hot and what’s not. They are also places for staging of food culture, often in terms of geographically defined cuisines. Further, restaurants can be an integrated part of cultural exhibitions (e g museum restaurants) or claimed to be cultural heritage. They are also workplaces, where professionals with distinct working cultures, (chefs, waiters, cleaners etc) interact, collaborate and clash.
  
  Restaurants are central places for the practices, rituals and development of gastronomy as a cultural phenomenon. Yet still, the connections between restaurants and cultural production have not been sufficiently covered in research on gastronomy. The session invites papers dealing with restaurants as spaces for cultural production. Topics may include, but are not limited to, restaurants relation to; cultural heritage, arts, staging of food cultures, cultural conflicts and/or dialogue. Research from different fields in time and space are all equally welcome, as a papers on workplace, school or hospital restaurants, all producing different form of culture. Papers dealing with ancient Mesopotamian inns, Roman taverns, restaurants in contemporary cosmopolitan and rural areas, in the global north or global south are all equally welcome. 

• Track B.5: Local food systems -when and how the producer interacts with the customer

  Birgitta Schwartz, SBS, Stockholm University, birgitta.schwartz@sbs.su.se
  Jessica Lindbergh, SBS, Stockholm University 
  Hélena Lindström, SBS, Stockholm University 

  Description: We can see a growing interest in several parts of the world in local food systems (Mars & Lounsbury, 2009; Mars & Schau, 2017, 2018, Lindbergh & Schwartz, 2021, Rytkönen et al., 2023). We also see an increased diversity of small-scale local food producers (Lindow, 2012) which are characterized as community-based food production and distribution, often utilizing traditional and environmentally friendly methods (Connelly et al. 2011; Guthrie et al. 2006). These producers create alternatives to large-scale food production, which are increasingly demanded by consumers (Wretling Clarin, 2010). With an increased growth of small-scale food production, we also see an increase in other, more direct, distribution channels for food (Norrman, Hunter & Berg, 2020), which places demands on new business models, new communication channels, and utilization/development of digital technology cutting off the food retailers. Examples are REKO, Farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture, farm shops, food cooperatives, urban agriculture. The complexity of local food systems extends beyond the business level, involving numerous stakeholders such as farmers, consumers, policymakers, social movements organizations and community members as they may have conflicting interests (Hinrichs, 2000). Still, we need more theoretical and empirical research about local food systems, for example:

  1. What influences the development of local food entrepreneurship and local food systems?
  2. How do different types of local food systems (e.g. farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture, urban agriculture, REKO) differ in terms of their benefits, challenges, and outcomes?
  3. How are partnerships formed/organised between local food producers, distributors, and consumers?
  4. How can technology and innovation support the development and expansion of local food systems?
  5. What role do stakeholders play in supporting the development of local food systems?
  6. What are the cultural and social values associated with local food systems, and how are these leveraged to support participation and engagement in local food initiatives?
• Track B.6: A lot can happen over coffee and tea: Swedish Fika, British Afternoon Tea, Japanese Tea Ceremony, Turkish Coffee & Tea Ceremonies, and more *

  Stina Almroth Swed. Acad. of Meal Sci., stina.almroth@fikamadeinsweden.com 
  Hartwig Bohne, SRH Hochshule
  Thomas Blom, Karlstad University
  Daniela Andersson, Swedish Academy of Meals in Finland  

  Description: We are proposing a policy track that will put a number of national coffee and tea ceremonies under the magnifying glass, focusing on all that can happen over a seemingly simple cup of coffee and tea, and exploring whether and how these ceremonies are utilized in nation branding and destination marketing. For this year’s track, we hope to attract contributors familiar with and knowledgeable about coffee and tea ceremonies such as Swedish Fika, British AfternoonTea, Japanese Tea Ceremony, Turkish Coffee & Tea Ceremonies, and more. Our aim is to explore each ceremony according to the following questions: 

  • How is the ceremony practiced: By whom, for whom, when, and why.
  • The significance, meaning, and value that is created.
  • The perception of it as a national/regional/local symbol and the recognition of it as a cultural heritage.
  • Its role as part of nation branding and destination marketing.

  We expect the track to be of interest to a broad audience, including researchers, practitioners of diplomacy, tourism and business, as well as lay individuals. Thus, we will be reaching out to all these groups. Our intention is that the track will both inform and inspire. By highlighting the intangibles, we aim to identify and bridge common cultural practices and unique value systems related to hospitality and social interaction.