Culinary Tourism is a relatively new industry. In fact, culinary tourism as an industry did not coming into being until the year 2001, when International Culinary Tourism Association (ICTA) President Erik Wolf distributed his culinary tourism white paper. It was this white paper that set the tone and stage for what would become the International Culinary Tourism Association and lead to the development of the world's culinary tourism industry (the white paper later evolved into the Association's first book, pictured at right and available here). Prior to 2001, academics around the world had been faithfully researching culinary tourism and wine tourism. However, that body of research rarely, if ever, found its way into the business world. It is, in fact, researcher Lucy Long, from Bowling Green University in Ohio (USA) who first coined the term "culinary tourism" back in 1998.

Then in 2003, under the guidance of a group of industry advisors, Erik Wolf founded the International Culinary Tourism Association. The ICTA has grown every year in terms of number of members and scope of programs offered. In 2006, the ICTA created a separate International Culinary Tourism Institue, which oversees the educational and training components of the ICTA's programs. Then in early 2007, the ICTA founded Epicopia Culinary Tourism Publishing & Consulting to meet the rising industry demand for guidance and leadership in culinary tourism product development and marketing.

DEFINING CULINARY TOURISM
In its broadest sense, Culinary Tourism is defined as the pursuit of unique and memorable culinary experiences of all kinds, often while traveling, but one can also be a culinary tourist at home. Also consult the Wikipedia definition of culinary tourism.

The phrase "unique and memorable" is key to understanding culinary tourism. Many times people hear "culinary tourism" and they think it means restaurants that have earned 5 stars or better, or high-end wineries. That is not the case, as culinary tourism is not exclusively what is pretentious or exclusive. Culinary Tourism includes a local pastry shop, an interesting bar on a nameless street that only locals know about, the pretzel vendor on the streets of New York City, or a gelato vendor on a historic street in Italy. Higher-end experiences fall into a subset of culinary tourism called "Gourmet Tourism". In fact, wine tourism, beer tourism and spa cuisine are also subsets of culinary tourism.

Culinary Tourism is not agritourism. While the seeds of cuisine are in agriculture, and agriculture and cuisine are inextricably linked, the two are very different. Agritourism is a subset of rural tourism, while cuisine is a subset of cultural tourism, as cuisine is a manifestation of culture.

Culinary Tourism includes culinary experiences of all kinds. It's much more than dining guides and restaurant weeks. It encompasses cooking schools, cookbook and kitchen gadget stores, culinary tours and tour leaders, culinary media and guidebooks, caterers, wineries, breweries, distilleries, food growers and manufacturers, culinary attractions and more. Authenticity is also of critical importance to culinary tourists.

While we say that one pursues these experiences while traveling, local residents can be culinary tourists in their own town. How often do we get set in our ways, frequenting our same favorite restaurants or rarely leaving our neighborhoods? Making the effort to trek across town to try an interesting new place is indeed culinary tourism.

CULINARY TOURISM TODAY
Since its true birth as an industry in 2003, culinary tourism has grown exponentially every year, as measured by a number of indicators. First the number of consumers interested in the subject matter has grown which is documented by the increase in culinary travel shows on television. One sees food shows on travel channels and travel shows on food channels. There continues to be a strong cross-over of these industries.

In recent years, the ICTA has seen an enormous surge in the number of destinations exploring culinary tourism. This can mean organizing a seminar or workshop for their members, culinary tourism product development, or culinary tourism promotion that includes culinary tourism as an important part of their strategic marketing plans.

The growth in the range of the ICTA's products and services is also a strong indicator of the strong interest by the foodservice and tourism industries. In 2003, we saw no requests for culinary tourism product development and marketing assistance. Today, we see such requests on a very regular basis. Are you ready to take your interest in culinary tourism to the next level? Read about the Association's membership levels and benefits here.