Tourism and Leisure Management: Gastronomy's Role (TML202, Sem 1)

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Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Section A.........................................................................................................................................4
Question 1:...................................................................................................................................4
Section B........................................................................................................................................10
Question 6:.................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
Reference list.................................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
Globalisation affects the socio-economic and cultural aspect of every region and that affects
various decisions of the consumers as well. The choice of food and eating habits vary according
to region and geography along with the type of gastronomy the region exhibits. The term
gastronomy is defined as the study of the relationship between food and culture. It is evident that
food choices and eating habits change according to the culture and availability of raw materials.
The culture of a region is directly related to the type of economy the region has. Globalisation
affects the society, economy and culture of a region thus it also affects the gastronomy of the
people.
The following report will identify the ways globalisation impacts the heterogeneity and
homogeneity of food and drink consumption and the cultural identity of different areas. The
report also examines the importance of gastronomy in festivals and events. The report will
provide the reader with an appropriate understanding of the factors of globalisation that affects
the food choices of a region and the ways it could alter the cultural identity of the region.
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Section A
Question 1:
Using examples, critically discuss globalisation, and the key underpinning aspects of
homogenisation and heterogenisation in relation to food and drink consumption and
cultural identity.
Introduction
The aspects of globalisation, such as foreign direct investments have been observed with
restricted impositions by the South American market. This has resulted in the alleviated
production of soybean oil (Hawkes, 2013). The governing bodies have been observed to decrease
the farm income taxes in order to accommodate more foreign concerns to contribute to the
production of soybean oil. This decision reflects on the concerns of internalisation of the market
to attract a number of foreign companies. Thus this exemplifies the impact of the globalisation
on the food production. The effects of globalisation in the culture of a region are observed
through the difference in cuisines and culinary styles that promotes the successful interpretation
of cultural homogeneity and heterogeneity of the regions.
Discussion
The demography of South America has been one of the soybean oil production giants as the
wave of globalisation seems to alleviate the international market the trade and financial policies
have been observed to be undergoing leniency by reducing the government interventions. The
food habits of the Asian demography have been observed to incline to the dietary intakes of leafy
vegetable through the impact of diet convergence (Brunelle et al., 2013). This change in dietary
roles has been attributed to the economic and cross-cultural influences of the globalisation.
As the aspects of intercultural relations of globalisation allow the flow of information and reflect
on the benefits of plant and animal food calories, the Chinese population has realised to delve in
the consumption of nutritional foods of a dietary pattern. The food projections have been
observed to depend on the increased levels of the per capita income and population on the global
scale and this has been represented by the sensitivity of the food consumption habits (Mak et al.,
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2013). This sensitivity tends to change in accordance to the overall income of the global
population. The instantiation of superior processing techniques in the fields of food production,
which could be acknowledged to the contribution from the conglomeration of the developed
economy, has resulted in setting up a global dietary pattern for the international population to
delve in. This has made the Chinese population increase the volumes of food consumption as the
use of the state of the art technology speeds up the rate of production. The diet evolution trends
in the Chinese population has been observed to reach around 2100 to 4500 kcal/cap/day asserting
on the importance of metabolism and physical activity. These factors reflect on the impact of
globalisation on the advents of food consumption.
The impact of the globalisation on food distribution system has been more prevalent in their
contributions to the fields of technological advances and the international trade policies (Qaim,
2017). The recent implementation of the Radio Frequency Identification Technology and
warehouse data management systems as a tracking system have been updated to monitor the
amount of resourcing the raw food material and the produced goods. This has led to the
facilitation of the logistics and shipping department and has been observed to improve the food
distribution system. The food distribution system has been further enhanced through the
globalisation policies of Free Trade Agreement as the countries have been observed to decrease
the import barriers on the food product and enable the enterprises to distribute and sell products
with ease (Footer, 2014).
The assertions made by the cultural homogenization is defined as one of the aspects of cultural
globalisation which sheds light on dissolving the cultural barriers and alleviating the
conglomeration of different communities into a community of a sole intermixed culture
(Pieterse, 2015). The context on which the description of the cultural homogenization would be
exemplified is on the account of McDonaldization. This term was coined by the sociologist
George Ritzer. The cultural homogenization has been observed to reflect on the domains of
western culture to be one of the cultural inclinations that assert the dominance of the others. On
the contrary, it has been argued that the fact which states the dominance of one culture over the
other is a misinterpretation, but it defines the conglomeration of different cultural values. As the
tourism industry observes record footfalls in the global scene, more and more people are exposed
to different ethnical backgrounds. This makes the tourists communicate with the natives and gain
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information about the different customs. This, in turn, transcends their understanding of the
culture and generates interest among the local population about the incorporations of the new
customs.
As the native population revels in the understanding of the more modern cultures, they tend to
deviate from the aspects of adhering to the cultural heritage and significances. Thus, it results in
the loss of the cultural affinities and the customs that are native to a particular ethnical
background (Robertson, 2018). The impact of this is quite severe because on the long run the
community is lost among the backdrop of the developed and modernised world. Hence, this
reflects on the reasons why cultural homogenization is resented by much indigenous culture. The
contributing factors that incline to the implementation of the cultural homogenisation revolve
around the prevalence of the global institutions such as World Bank, International Monetary
Fund. As the organisation instantiate stipulations and regulations on an international scale, each
and every organisation has to adhere to the rules and further contribute to globalisation
homogenization. The liberalisation policies that are introduced by the WTO had homogenised
the international trade.
As all most of the economies are in the mix of international market and the incorporations of free
trade, it has made the advents of discovering similar products in each and every economy leading
to the consumer’s consumption behaviour and inclinations lying on the domains of
homogenisation (Robertson, 2018). The cultural homogenisation is observed to have a negative
impact on the cultural identity of a country as it degrades national customs and values.
Sometimes the impact of the cultural homogenisation is very beneficial to backward regions as
some of the notions that should be actually prevalent in the society are disregarded. With the
introduction of the dominant western culture, it may impart credible customs of their cultural
values to eradicate the liable clauses of those particular notions and alleviate the native society as
a whole. This is ever so prominent in the demography of Saudi Arabia, where the extensive
penetration of the foreign customs had alleviated the woman rights in education and driving
licenses.
The cultural aspect of heterogeneity is identified through the perspective of the tourists and the
economy of different regions that participate in the gastronomic tour of different regions. The
cultural aspect of a region is directly related to the type of globalisation that the region has
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experienced in the past few years. There has been an increase in the linking of business
objectives with the development of the economy of a region and foreign influence had constantly
affected the cuisines and culture of a region. Cultural heterogeneity is identified through the
variations of cultural norms that the region faces due to globalisation. Different class and section
of a society have different cultural norms that are displayed in the type of cultural proposition the
region displays during business and economic activities. Language, ethnicity, traditions and
several other intangible factors play a decisive role in creating cultural heterogeneity of a region.
The cultural differences in Europe and Asia prove that cultural heterogeneity provides an ardent
example of the benefit heterogeneity can provide to a region. Globalisation provides the
economies of the world with an extensive scope of displaying the variety of their culture through
appropriate means and trading activities.
Cuisine plays an essential role in being a determinant for the cultural homogeneity and
heterogeneity of the region. The variation in culture provides diversity to the norms and cuisine
of a region. Diversity promotes the possibility of growth and development of tourism and the
economy of the region. A multicultural environment with a wide variety of food and cultural
norms inadvertently showcases a wide variety of traditions and customs. Variety within a region,
when celebrated in a holistic and sustainable manner, provides the region with an improved
scope of economic and socio-cultural development. Several countries across the world showcase
their cultural diversity through their food and in the age of globalisation, the world shares certain
cultural similarity with every country.
The growth and development of cultural homogeneity and heterogeneity are evident from the
time of industrialisation. European colonialism began with the desire to incorporate spices from
the Indo-Asian market in European and British cuisine. The European countries developed
colonies in Asia, Africa and other places to acquire spices, post the world wars and the end of a
colonial era, these colonies had already developed certain cultural attributes of the colonisers in
their local culture (De Jong et al., 2018). Cities from colonies provide an extensive idea about
the cultural heterogeneity. The Turkish cuisine has several elements that provide an essence of
European traits within their culture due to the history both the region shares. Korean and
Japanese cuisine share similarities and etiquettes despite being two different cultures. The
similarity of the Caribbean and African cuisines provide an understanding that countries and
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economies that share similar religion, culture and opinion regarding intangible assets will have
similarity in their food habits as well. The linking between the cuisine and culture of a region is
evident from the successful implementation of several statistical correlations between the
cultures. Intermixing of cultural values and norms through trade and religion provides the
economies of these regions with an effective understanding of other culture and scope of
development.
Trade ensures the cuisine of a region also modify according to cultural homogeneity and
heterogeneity. Heterogeneity provides the region with a variation in cuisines that vary from place
to place and among communities. Europe has a wide variation in their cuisines. Spanish, Italian
and French cuisine varies greatly despite belonging to the same European state. Similarly, there
are variations in Korean cuisine according to districts and communities. It is also identified that
the Japanese and the Chinese cuisines vary greatly despite sharing a similar Asian culture. Thus
cultural homogenisation and heterogenisation are observed through the type of cuisine that the
region possesses. Every country in the world has a unique cuisine that varies within the
geographical boundary and plays a significant role in determining the variation of culture in
different areas. Successful trading gives rise to cultural similarity and difference that gains
effectiveness with time and enhances the diversity of a region (Diaconescu et al., 2016). Thus it
also promotes the depth of cultural norms and affects the culinary style of the region
experiencing cultural diversity for a long time. Gastronomy of a region is directly affected by the
changes in culture dynamics that a region faces and experiences through an extended span.
Conclusion
Thus it can be identified that culture plays an essential role in understanding the effect culture
and globalisation has on the choice of food in a region. The cultural aspect plays a determinant
role in identifying the fact that globalisation plays a generous role in modifying the culture of a
place. Food choices of a region are based on the culture and gastronomic study determines the
fact that culture and cuisine are directly related. The successful identification of the effects of
globalisation on a certain culture can be observed through the change in their cuisine.
Industrialisation and globalisation both had affected the global cuisine. Variety and similarity of
cuisines across the world promote the successful implementation of differing cultural aspects
within the cuisines and culinary processes that provide the global community with an effective
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understanding of the type of cultural difference that exists between different communities.
Globalisation provides the global community with an effective understanding of the variation in
culture across the world. The effects of culture on cuisines are observed through the modification
in culinary styles that are observed and experienced by different economies.
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Section B
Question 6:
Using examples, critically discuss the importance of gastronomy to festivals and events.
Introduction
Gastronomy of a region is identified as the relation between the culinary choice of a region and
the culture of that place. Globalisation and other tourism factors that affect the culture of a region
also affect the gastronomic choices of the region. Tourism activities of a region are affected by
the diversity of culture and cuisine of a region that the regional community displays in their
tourism sector (Andersson et al., 2017). Organising festivals and events based on the culinary
choices of the region will improve the cultural diversity and economic situation of the region.
Festivals enhance the cultural diversity of a region as tourists and guests from different countries
mix in the host location to experience a range of cultural and gastronomic delights.
Discussion
Festivals offer an important scope to local communities and guests to understand the culture of a
region. Festivals also serve as a purpose to increase the economic interaction between different
communities. Festivals are an essential aspect of globalisation in implementing cultural variety
in different areas. The purpose of festivals is to attract guests from various areas to improve and
showcase the regional economy and culture. The relation between culture and food is
homogeneous and is affected by each other continuously. Gastronomy is identified as the
relationship between culture and food of any region. In gastronomic events, the culture of a place
is displayed through the food. Tourist attraction of a region is enhanced by the type of
gastronomy displayed in the region. The cultural influence on diet and food choices affects the
eating habits and culinary activities of a region. Festivals organised to attract tourists to a region
play a generous role in displaying the culture of the host community and region through the
culinary options of the region (Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016). Tourists’ attraction of a
place is based on the culinary choices available in the region. Tourism of a region is developed
by showcasing the diversity of culture through food and festivals play a major role in improving
the tourism of a region.
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As identified by the growth of several food festivals and culinary events across Europe and Asia
to cater to the demands of the consumers across the world. The success of economies in
developing cuisines in festivals can be identified as the effect of globalisation in gastronomy.
Festivals and events are created for the economic benefit of a region as well as the improvement
of the cultural diversity of a region (Croce and Perri, 2017). The French cuisine has become
popular across the globe due to the gastronomic tourism the country has participated in the past
few years. The sustainable tourism development activities of France has increased as the global
demand for French wine had increased along with the popularity of visiting the La Paulée de
Meursault, SIAL Paris, Vinexpo and other festivals that showcase the rich wine heritage and
culture of France to the world. Various festivals across Europe cater to the needs of the global
tourism sector by enhancing and sharing the culture of their locations through festivals that
attract tourists from across the world (Cunha, 2018). Showcasing culture and cuisine of the
region implements sustainability of tourism development and economic stability of a region thus
countries like Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and other minor countries prefer to incorporate
creativity in their tourism development plans.
There are several food and drinks festival across the world that specifically cater to the tourists’
demands of experiencing foreign cuisine and local delicacies. The economic growth and
development of the region are based on the success of these festivals and cultural differences
between the guests and the host communities. Exchange of gastronomic choices between the
guest and host communities will enhance the cultural diversity within the region. Since a local
cuisine is majorly affected by the culture of a region (Folgado-Fernández et al., 2017). Since
food and drinks festival of a locality displays the cultural variation of a region, they attract more
gastronomic tourists from different countries. As noticed during the wine festival of France, the
local chardonnay and grape harvest of Burgundy, the inflow of tourists from other European
countries in the region have increased the variety of wine collection that is displayed during the
festival. A similar situation has been noticed in the varied festivals in Spain. La Tomatina had
become an entertainment festival instead of a food festival and the cultural aspect of the festival
had reduced. Whereas the bread festival of Spain- Els Enfarinats- had gained popularity due to
the variety of breading techniques that the country uses in developing new varieties of bread.
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The tourism development schemes of different countries are focussed on the growth and
showcasing of cuisines of the region. Highlighting the local cuisines through festivals provide
the countries with an appropriate understanding of the culinary factors that boost the tourism
sector of the countries (Frost et al., 2016). Local cuisines and culinary delights attract tourists
from different countries and festivals provide the perfect platform for such situations. Variation
in cultures and culinary styles attract tourists and it is feasible in festivals and culinary events
where tourists prefer to enjoy local as well as global cuisines in festivals that would promote the
varieties of cultures in different locations. Festivals and events that cater to the requirements of
tourists and develop an ambience that attracts global tourists create the possibility of economic
development of the region efficiently (Gómez et al., 2015). Festivals provide a ground for inter-
cultural mingling and mixing of various cultural aspects between the hosts and the guests. Thus
the aspect of developing a sustainable model of tourism in the area will assure the country and
the community to display solidarity and enhance cross-cultural communication through cuisines.
Global tourism has developed a new strategy of achieving sustainability that promotes creativity
in attracting foreign tourists from different areas and communities. The growth of sustainable
and creative tourism through culinary activities provides European and other countries with a
holistic procedure of encouraging inter-cultural communion and communication. The different
areas of the world that develop varied ways of showcasing their cultural variety encourage the
growth of local culture and input aspects of globalisation in their cultural dynamics.
Food and cuisine showcase the local culture in an effective way that is different from other forms
of social and economic assets. The environment and geography of a region largely affect the type
of food choices that is evident in a region (Mak, 2018). The relation of culture and food choices
are intricately related and people seek the experience of foreign culture through foreign food that
is evident through the creative tourism that most countries now prefer against traditional tourism
strategies. According to several studies, it is evident that food plays a role in identifying the type
of culture that is predominant in a region. Food choices of a region and individual development
through various aspects and cultural conditioning of the region is evident through the variations
of cuisine (Lanquar, 2018). A majority of the tourism sections across the world prefer the
development of the local economy through culinary tourism since the latest trend according to
general psychology is based that tourists prefer to understand and nurture a culture through their
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