Paper long abstract:

These 'conjectures' derive primarily from fieldwork in Emilia Romagna (E.R.) in northern Italy and from development literature Assembled in the form of an 'ideal type' construct, they highlight the features which underpin that Region's highly effective food based tourism. To extend and generalise from these findings involves making comparisons with data from elsewhere. An approach is offered that applies concomitant variations using data from Blackpool (a seaside resort in northern England), and Malta. It is hoped that these will be extended with data from other milieu.

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E.R. is noted as a prime destination for culinary tourism because it has:

1) Well known and iconic produce - much Italian food, in fact derives from E.R.

2) Superb restaurants, based on ideals of long-run family ownership.

3) A varied domestic cuisine, traditionally held in common by the whole population - not just an elite.

4) A culture with a tradition of hospitality and the gift-giving of food and which competitively - and repetitively - assessed households and allocated prestige on the quality of their domestic performances.

5) A culture that recognises, values and rewards entrepreneurs.

6) A market that is sophisticated, informed and demanding about food standards and whose tastes 'fit' the parameters of the domestic cuisine.

7) A 'good' climate, fertile soil, and high levels of expertise in their exploitation that is dependent on peasant household's continual association with the land.

8) The availability of communal or/and commercial institutions able to maintain an infra-structure that effectively offers: a) financial support; b) marketing and PR; c) training in catering /hospitality; d) effective means of transport; e) the ability to enforce standards (eg. of hygiene) and f) enforce civil contracts.

9) An awareness of global influences on taste / allied to preparedness to adapt to the expectations of visitors.

Attention will be directed at the attenuation of domestic based cooking skills in the face of commercial pressures and at the means of countering these trends. Tentative comparisons are made with data from Malta and Blackpool that discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their tourism in terms of the presence, strength or absence of the above. At this stage of the analysis these ideal type components are not weighted though they obviously vary in significance.