Enacting the Local in Culinary Tourism Josefine Östrup Backe
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Enacting "the local" in culinary tourism A study of culinary actors and their practices Östrup Backe, Josefine 2020 Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Östrup Backe, J. (2020). Enacting "the local" in culinary tourism: A study of culinary actors and their practices. Lund University. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 JOSEFINE ØSTRUP BACKE ØSTRUP JOSEFINE Enacting “the local” in culinary ECOLABEL 3041 0903 NORDIC SWAN tourism Enacting “the local” in culinary tourism study -A culinary of actors and their practices Enacting “the local” in This thesis studies how culinary tourism is enacted as an economic, culinary tourism social, and cultural activity, through the notion of “the local”. Culinary experiences and activities with elements of “the local” are a growing A study of culinary actors and their practices niche, which mirrors the need for destinations to stand out, as well Lund 2020 Printed by Media-Tryck, as the trend of knowing where the food originates, and that it has JOSEFINE ØSTRUP BACKE been grown, produced, and transported in an ecologically, socially and DEPARTMENT OF SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND SERVICE STUDIES | LUND UNIVERSITY culturally sustainable way. To the culinary actors, the notion of “the local” seems to be something that connects the common interests and desires to offer unique and attractive food experiences. Departing from national, regional and local community culinary actors, this thesis examines how the local is framed, organised and performed as a combination of concrete acts and more abstract elements (such as providing food products, brochures and political documents, and emphasising traditions, origin or negotiating what or who is local). The thesis contributes to understanding the processes that take place in the planning and performance of tourism experiences and activities, as well as the complexities attached therein. This is Josefine Østrup Backe’s doctoral thesis. Department of Service Management and Service Studies 953547 Faculty of Social Sciences Lund University 2020 789178 ISBN 978-91-7895-354-7 9 Enacting “the local” in culinary tourism 1 2 Enacting “the local” in culinary tourism A study of culinary actors and their practices Josefine Østrup Backe DOCTORAL DISSERTATION By due permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. To be defended at Campus Helsingborg, U203, February 7, 2020, 13.15. Faculty opponent Professor Jon Sundbo Department of Social Sciences and Business, Centre for Experience and Tourism Research, Roskilde University, Denmark 3 Organization Document name LUND UNIVERSITY Department of Service Management and DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Service Studies Date of issue February 7, 2020 Author(s): Josefine Østrup Backe Sponsoring organization Title and subtitle: Enacting ”the local” in culinary tourism – A study of culinary actors and their practices. Abstract: As the competition between destinations grows, the need to stand out and offer memorable and unique experiences also grows. Culinary experiences and activities with elements of “the local” are a growing niche, which mirrors the trend of knowing where the food originates, and that it has been grown, produced, and transported in an ecologically, socially and culturally sustainable way. To be able as a visitor to get close to the products and the producers by participating in the production process adds an additional dimension to the experience. In Sweden and other Nordic countries, the movement around the New Nordic Kitchen has fed the rising attention on the local crops, production methods, and traditions, and “the local” has thus developed as a way of enhancing the culinary experience through recent years. The local as a means of culinary tourism is a phenomenon which is visible in several contexts, as in the form of small-scale producer networks, as well as in regional and national efforts, politically as well as commercially. To the culinary actors the notion of the local seems to be something that connects the common interests and desires to offer unique and attractive food experiences. A certain “taken-for-grantedness” has thereby emerged around the local as something good and positive, not just in an environmental perspective, but even socially and culturally. The overall aim of this thesis is to study how culinary tourism is enacted as an economic, social, and cultural activity, through the notion of “the local”. The vision of Sweden – a new culinary nation, and a culinary tourism producer network in Southern Sweden act as examples of this process. The empirical data was collected by an ethnographic approach, through observations, conversations/interviews and the study of various documents. Taking a practice theoretical perspective, the thesis analyses how the local in culinary tourism is enacted in three practice-bundles: framing the ideal culinary destination, organising culinary tourism, and performing the local in culinary tourism. The analysis demonstrates how the local is enacted as a combination of acts such as positioning a culinary tourism profile, staging of culinary products and experiences, negotiating what or whom should be included in a culinary network, or ways of talking about the local as a part of rural policy, ways of designing food tours, or specific uses of local food products and other items in culinary activities. The thesis contributes to understanding the processes involved with the planning and performing of tourism experiences and activities, as well as the complexities therein. Thereby different tensions that emerge in this vein also become visible, such as tensions between the local and non-local, the commercial and ideal, as well as the physical and more abstract elements linked to the local. Key words: culinary tourism, food experiences, the local, local food, tourism production, practice theory, social practices, destination branding, culinary actors, rural food experiences, ethnography Classification system and/or index terms (if any) Supplementary bibliographical information Language English ISSN and key title ISBN 978-91-7895-354-7 (print) 978-91-7895-355-4 (pdf) Recipient’s notes Number of pages 241 Price Security classification I, the undersigned, being the copyright owner of the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation, hereby grant to all reference sources permission to publish and disseminate the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation. Signature Date 2019-12-16 4 Enacting “the local” in culinary tourism A study of culinary actors and their practices Josefine Østrup Backe 5 Coverphoto by Mikael Risedal All photographs inside the book by author Rear cover photo by Anna Lindén Copyright Josefine Østrup Backe 2020 Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Service Management and Service Studies ISBN 978-91-7895-354-7 (print) ISBN 978-91-7895-355-4 (pdf) The printing of this book has been made possible with the generosity from Campus Vänner. Printed in Sweden by Media-Tryck, Lund University Lund 2020 6 For Viktor and Nikki 7 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 10 Prologue 13 Chapter1: Introduction 15 The role of the local in culinary tourism 16 Culinary tourism as social practices 21 Aim of the thesis 23 The empirical context of the study 24 Outline of the thesis 32 Chapter 2: Culinary tourism as a field of study 35 Economic, social, and cultural approaches in culinary tourism research 35 “The local” in culinary tourism research 41 Concluding remarks 55 Chapter 3: A social practices approach to studying the local in culinary tourism 59 Understanding social phenomena through practices 59 Studying culinary tourism practices 63 Concluding remarks 69 Chapter 4: An ethnographic study of culinary tourism practices 71 Where and how can the local be studied? 71 The analytical process 89 Concluding remarks 91 8 Chapter 5: Framing ideals of a culinary destination 93 Positioning a culinary tourism profile 94 Setting guidelines for a culinary destination 105 Including everybody 115 Concluding remarks 133 Chapter 6: Organising culinary tourism 135 Establishing a culinary front region 136 The local as a means of negotiations 144 Concluding remarks 160 Chapter 7: Performing the local in culinary tourism 163 Making good stories 164 Staging the local 179 Commercialising the local 187 Concluding remarks 193 Chapter 8: Enacting the local in culinary tourism 195 Practices of the local 196 The multifaceted local 200 Contributions of the thesis 205 References 207 Appendix I: Fieldwork overview 232 Appendix II: Key Documents 234 Notes 236 9 Acknowledgements After more than a decade with this thesis, I can now finally write these last lines. It has been an enlightening, frustrating, fun, insightful and everything but straightforward journey. However, it would not have been possible without the contribution and help from a number of people around me. First of all I owe the deepest respect and gratefulness to my two supervisors, Su Mi Dahlgaard-Park and Erika Andersson Cederholm, who have patiently followed this journey from the very beginning. Our meetings throughout the years have contained fruitful and constructive discussions and tears of frustration, but not the least a lot of laughter as well.