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BY A CORRESPONDENT
March 8, 2007: A new study conducted in the United
States shows that 27 million Americans have made
culinary activities a part of their travels in the last
three years.
“It is something that really took off in the past five
years or so,” according to Cathy Keefe, manager of media
relations for the Travel Industry Association of
America, which helped pay for the study along with
Gourmet magazine and other organizations.
The Travel Industry Association of America study was
conducted by Edge Research, and surveyed 2,364 leisure
travelers between July 21, 2006, and August 9, 2006.
Of the 160 million US residents who travel for leisure,
about 1 in 6 recently took a food tour, enrolled in a
cooking class, toured a winery or otherwise participated
in culinary activities as part of a vacation, study
reveals.
Nearly half of that group took a trip or chose a
destination because of the food and wine activities they
would find there.
Berger, a payroll tax accountant from Del Ray Beach,
Florida, the USA, says her trip to New York, which was
planned with a group of foodie friends, was motivated by
food.
New York state is one of the most popular destinations
for food travel, outdone only by California and Florida,
according to the Travel Industry Association of America
study.
As for Carmen Botez, 29, the food interest became
apparent in 2006, when she was drafted as a tour guide.
After launching a Web magazine offering a virtual
“chocolate tour of New York,” Carmen was flooded by
hundreds of requests for the real thing.
Carmen has since launched her own company, named New
York Chocolate Tours, which charges visitors $70 apiece
for a tasting tour of the city’s high-end sweets shops.
The interest in culinary tourism followed a rise in
stress on food throughout American culture, says Barry
Glassner, a professor of sociology at the University of
Southern California and author of the book Gospel of
Food, published in February 2007.
Barry Glassner explains: “We define ourselves by how we
eat. We show others and we show ourselves what kind of
people we are by how adventurous we are about food.”
He attributed the shift, which he said has accelerated
over the last five to 10 years, in part to the many
foods that new waves of immigrants have brought with
them to America.
The increased availability of new items at supermarkets
around the United States, the appearance of more
food-oriented television programmes, and the many food
discussion boards on the internet have also played a
role, Glassner says.
For many tourists, culinary travel is less about
education and more about finding unique eating and
drinking experiences. More than half the travelers who
seek out food and wine activities make a point of trying
local cuisine and restaurants, according to the study.
The respondents of the Travel Industry Association of
America study had volunteered to participate in online
questionnaires, and results were then weighted to
reflect the general population.
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