How to Frame Destination Foodscapes? A Perspective of Mixed Food Experience

Abstract

Foodscape conceptualizes the dynamic human-food-place nexus. Tourism provides a cross-cultural context where tourists can consume different destination foods and places, during which multiple types of destination foodscapes are produced. However, few studies explore how to frame the types and connotations of destination foodscape. Tourists' travelogues provide a rich database to examine this question. Through netnography, this study collects and analyzes 86 posts of travelogues published from 2012 to 2019 in Mafengwo, a famous Chinese online travel community, about Chinese tourists' food experiences in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We summarize five types of destination foodscapes, globalized recreational foodscape, staged local foodscape, glocalized foodscape, authentic local foodscape, and overseas ethnic foodscape in which tourists obtain different familiar-novelty hybrid experiences. This study contributes to interdisciplinary dialogue between food and tourism literature by proposing a coordinate framework with two axes, the spectrum of cultural distance and the spectrum of serving tourists/locals, to classify destination foodscape and a six-dimensional network construct to reveal the connotations of destination foodscape. Relevant strategies for promoting destination food and tourism development are also provided.

Keywords: food experience; foodscape; netnography; tourism destination; travelogue.

Figure 2

Images of globalized recreational foodscape: (a–c) the modern facade with lovely cartoon models; (d) the menu with Thai, English, and Chinese languages; (e) tourists taking photos with the creative and lovely desserts used with permission (this applies to Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5 and Figure 6).

Figure 3

Images of staged local foodscape: (a–c) the physical environment with Northern Thai symbolical tropical environment and Buddhism culture; (d) the typical local Thai dishes with a combined flavor of western food.

Figure 4

Images of glocalized foodscape: some snacks with global brands, (a) Oreo ice-cream; (b) puffing food; (c) the Redbull drinks; (d) sandwich biscuit.

Figure 5

Images of local Thai foodscape: (a) the street vendors; (b) locals sell and buy fried meat; (c) some favorable local dishes adaptable to the taste of Chinese tourists.

Figure 6

Typical images of overseas ethnic foodscape: (a) the interior setting of a Mexican restaurant; (b) the spicy food of a Chinese Szechuan restaurant; (c) a restaurant of Japanese barbecue.

Figure 7

The dimensional construct of destination foodscape.

Figure 1

Five types of destination foodscapes in the coordinate typological framework of destination foodscape.