Paper short abstract:

Basque cuisine has become one of the main strongholds of tourism in the Basque Country. Drawing from ethnographic data, this paper focuses on the way culinary tourism introduces significant changes in local values, raising questions on the production of new cultural practices.

Paper long abstract:

"You eat so well!" That is what almost systematically comes out when talking of the Basques. Indeed, Basque cuisine gives way to what can be considered amongst the most positive contemporary stereotypes about the Basques circulating in Spain.

Since the 19th century, the Basque country has been a tourist destination both for French and Spanish elites. Today, the Basque Country still attracts thousands of visitors despite broad significant changes in the tourism industry and the existence of a long-term political conflict in the area. Tourists include mainly Spanish and French citizens, but also American and British, as well as people coming from all parts of the world. Culinary tourism has become one of the main strongholds of this attraction. In Spain, where Basque cuisine is well known and where traditional dishes together with the most sophisticated creations of the so-called New Basque cuisine are much praised, Basque restaurants and bars have opened in the main cities, gathering those who did not dare travel to the Basque Country at times of high political confrontation. Basque cuisine has thus become a major commodity both for identity purposes and tourism development.

Today, together with the economic weight of culinary tourism, tourists themselves are introducing significant changes in the way Basque cuisine is thought of and locally displayed. These include new patterns of eating as well as specific tastes, such as those encountered in the Basque borderlands, where certain Spanish dishes are presented to French tourists as typical food. Among the first are changes in the way of eating pintxos, small bits displayed on the counter one eats during the pub crawl. These miniature culinary masterpieces are very much appreciated by foreigners who however are not always eager to follow the local "rules". Tourists have thus introduced new manners of eating pintxos, which have in turn been adopted by bar tenders. Drawing from ethnographic data, this paper focuses on the way culinary tourism is introducing significant changes in local values, raising questions on the production of new cultural practices.