A Selected Internet Guide to Culinary Trails Dr. Hersch Jacobs Department of Geography Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management Ryerson University November 2010 1 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Australia 3.0 Austria 4.0 Belgium 5.0 Canada 6.0 Chile 7.0 Croatia 8.0 Czech Republic 9.0 France 10.0 Germany 11.0 Great Britain 12.0 Italy 13.0 New Zealand 14.0 South Africa 15.0 Spain 16.0 United States List of Tables Table 1.1 Selected Culinary Tour Operators Table 2.1 Seaford and Aquaculture Activities on the Eyre Peninsula Table 16.1 Calendar of Events on the Urban Bourbon Trail List of Figures Figure 1.1 Fabulous Food Trails - Ireland Figure 2.1 Butcher, Baker, Winemaker Trail Brochure Cover Figure 2.2 Butcher, Baker, Winemaker Trail Brochure Contents Figure 2.3 Butcher, Baker, Winemaker Trail Map Figure 2.4 The Para Wine Route Figure 2.5 Barossa Wine Route Figure 2.6 The Riverland Wine and Food Trail Figure 2.7 South Australia Riesling Trail Cover Figure 2.8 South Australia Riesling Trail Map 2 Figure 2.9 Chapman River, Antechamber Bay, Kangaroo Island Figure 2.10 Tamar Valley Wine Route Figure 2.11 The Margaret River Figure 2.12 Margaret River North Figure 2.13 Margaret River Central Figure 2.14 Margaret River Figure 2.15 Margaret River South Figure 2.16 Margaret River Food Trail Figure 2.17 The Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail Figure 2.18 The Swan Valley Food and Wine Trail Signage Figure 2.19 South Burnett Wine and Gourmet Trail Map Figure 2.20 Location of the Hunter Valley Figure 2.21 Hunter Valley Main Wine Country Figure 2.22 Hunter Valley - Cessnock and Kurri Kurri Figure 2.23 Hunter Valley - Broke Fordwich, Singleton, The Upper Hunter, Denman , Jerrys Plains, Sandy Hollow, Muswellbrook Figure 2.24 The Hunter Region to Sydney Route Figure 3.1 Styrian Wine Route Figure 3.2 Styrian Apple Route Figure 3.3 Styrian Wine Routes Figure 4.1 My Gourmet Trail.of Brussels Figure 5.1 Niagara Culinary Trail Figure 5.2 Ontario Craft Beer Route Figure 5.3 The Butter Tart Trail Figure 5.4 The Apple Route Figure 5.5 The Blue Mountains Apple Pie Trail Figure 5.6 Prince Edward County Taste Trail Figure 5.7 Maple in the County Events Figure 5.8 Stratford Chocolate Trail Figure 5.9 County Epicurean Trek Figure 5.10 Stratford Local Buy Fresh Figure 5.11 Simcoe County Farm Fresh Marketing Association Figure 5.12 Niagara Wine Route Figure 5.13 Toronto Wine Route Figure 5.14 Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Island Wine Route Figure 5.15 Prince Edward County Wine Route Figure 5.16 The Icewine Trail Map Figure 5.17 La Route des Fromages Navigational Map Figure 5.18 The Quebec Cider Route Figure 5.19 Route des Cidres Signage Figure 5.20 Quebec Wine Route Figure 5.21 Charlevoix Gourmet Route Figure 5.22 La Route des Saveurs de Charlevoix 3 Figure 5.23 Cheese, Cranberry and Gourmet Delight Drive Figure 5.24 Saguenay-lac-St. Jean Cheese Route Figure 5.25 The Okanagan Cultural Corridor Project Figure 5.26 The Okanagan Valley Wine Route Figure 5.27 The Cowichan Valley Wine Route Figure 5.28 PEI Flavours Culinary Trail Figure 5.29 Culinary Experiences and Suppliers Figure 5.30 Coastal Drives Figure 5.31 Culinary Guide to PEI Flavours Figure 6.1 Colchagua Valley Wine Route Figure 7.1 The Buje Olive Route Figure 7.2 The Porec Olive Route Figure 7.3 The Buzet Olive Route Figure 7.4 The Vodnjan Olive Route Figure 7.5 Olive Route Legend Figure 8.1: South Bohemian Beer Route Figure 9.1 La Route du Cidre de Cambrener Figure 9.2 Sur la route du Poiré Figure 9.4 The Olive Tree Route Figure 10.1 The German Wine Route Figure 11.1 The Ice-cream Trail Figure 11.2 South East Food Trails Figure 11.3 South East England Wine Trail Figure 11.4 South East Seafood Trail Figure 11.5 The Ribble Valley Food Trail Figure 11.6 Gourmet Yorkshire Trail Figure 11.7 Herefordshire Cider Route Figure 11.8 Isle of Arran Taste Trail Figure 11.9 The Outer Hebrides Food Trail Figure 11.10 Scottish Cheese Trail Figure 11.11 Scottish Farm Shops Logo Figure 11.12 Scottish Farm Shops Figure 11.13 Flavours of Scotland Figure 11.14 Itinerary for Flavours of Scotland Figure 11.15 Dumfries & Galloway Food Trail Figure 11.16 The Seafood Trail Figure 11.17 Real Ale Trail Regions of Scotland Figure 11.18 Real Ale Trail Members Figure 11.19 The Whisky Coast 4 Figure 11.20 Scotch Malt Whisky Trail Figure 12.1 Via del Grande Fiume,Via delle Corti Estensi and Via del Delta Food Trails Figure 13.1 North Canterbury Food and Wine Trail Figure 13.2 Hawke’s Bay Wine Company Food Trail Figure 14.1 Wine Routes of South Africa Figure 14.2 Breedeckloof Wine Region Figure 15.1 La Ruta de l’Oli Figure 15.2 Wine Regions of Spain Figure 15.3 Navarre Wine Route Figure 15.4 Rioja Alavesa Wine Route Figure 16.1 Connecticut Food Trail Logo Figure 16.2 Connecticut Food Trail Interactive Map Figure 16.3 The Amazing Chile Cheeseburger Trail Figure 16.4 New Mexico’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail Figure 16.5 The Prairie Home Cooking Trail Figure 16.6 The Southern Gumbo Trail Figure 16.7 The Southern Boudin Trail Figure 16.8 The Southern BBQ Trail Figure 16.9 The Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail Figure 16.10 The Urban Bourbon Passport Figure 16.11 Maine Beer Trail Members and Products Figure 16.12 Maine Beer Trail Route Figure 16.13 Interactive Map of Santa Barbara Wine Country Figure 16.14 Santa Barbara Wine Country Figure 16.15 Santa Maria and Los Alamos Valley Wine Trail Figure 16.16 Buelton & Sta. Rita Hills Figure 16.17 Los Alivos Promenade Figure 16.18 Santaq Ynez Wine Trail Figure 16.19 Solvang Wine Walk 5 1.0 Introduction Culinary tourism has become a recognized and significant segment of the travel market. An important strategy that numerous destination marketing organizations have employed to attract and hold visitors promote is the food and beverage trail, route or path.1 The product connects similar and complementary enterprises on maps that are distributed in traditional print formats and accessed on the internet. The growing functionality of personal devices further enhances their value, particularly for those who prefer narrative guidance and appreciate the ability to access supplemental information.2 The need for collaboration among potential destinations is most evident in rural areas. Where they tend to be widely dispersed, formal business linkages generate a necessary threshold of interest that justify the travel effort. In large urban places where the potential number of destinations is large, delineated routes enable visitors to navigate smoothly between stops. The following survey samples culinary trails in sixteen countries. While the actual number that operates around the world cannot be easily calculated, clearly most viticultural regions have an established wine route. In addition, trails have also been established for other beverages such as beer and cider and increasingly public agencies, industry associations, non-profit groups, institutions and private tour operators have created those that feature locally grown or processed foods. The discussion begins with an examination of commercial trail products before a review of those that have been established by leading public destination tourism organizations. Collectively, they reveal diverse approaches to content, promotional strategies and cartographic representation which can serve to inform choice in other jurisdictions with an interest in assessing or developing their own trails. This review avoids the large number of private companies that offer culinary and wine experiences that can be accessed through the internet. Rather, it focuses public agencies that have developed self-directed food and beverage trails, routes and itineraries that can be followed on maps that are available in print form or on the internet. Using examples from around the globe, it sets out to: provide insight into models of administration, including funding, and criteria for membership. illustrate the range of cartographic devices in both paper and electronic formats reveal decisions that have been made about the level of detail to include for each operators. show what strategies have been employed to encourage linkages along the route. describe signage that has been posted along roads to serve the needs of visitors for various modes of travel 1 According to The International Trail Data Standards, a trail is “a linear feature constructed for the purpose of allowing the free movement of people, stock, or Off Highway Vehicles.” ITDS, 2003 2 http://www.tourcaster.com/TourDetails.aspx?TourId=428 6 Corporate Operators The demand for culinary experiences is evident in the growth of the number of commercial food and beverage trails. Typically, they are led by food writers, experts who have been trained in culinary schools and other food service industry guides. Useful links for travelers in search of food, cooking and wine tours can be found in The Food Reference Website.3 Examples of prominent culinary trails, vacations and cooking classes that are available from private tour operators are shown in Table 1. 1. Table 1.1: A Sample of Private Sector Culinary Trail Products Tour Company Country Website A Question of Taste Seville, Spain http://www.aqot.com/ Active Gourmet France, Italy, http://www.activegourmetholidays.com/ Holidays Portugal, Spain Australian Food & Cairns, Australia http://www.findseedo.com/spfoodandwine.html Wine Tours Chocolate Lovers Belgium [email protected] Tours, Gourmet Tours Creative Culinary VT, ME, NH, NY, http://www.creativeculinarytours.com Tours RI, TN, USA Culinary Discoveries Spain www.culinarydiscoveries.com Culinary Tours Italy, Thailand, www.culinarytours.net New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, France and Spain Culinary Tours California www.thewinecomesfirst.com Discover Friuli - Italy http://www.discoverfriuli.com/eng/index.html Epiculinary Inc France, Italy, www.epiculinary.com Spain, Mexico, USA, Ireland, Morocco, Greece, Peru, Vietnam and Thailand Epicurean Ways Spain epicureanways.com Fabulous Food Trails Ireland www.fabfoodtrails.com.