Paper short abstract:

Food as a component of the tourism experience and means of embodiment connecting tourists' to place.

Paper long abstract:

The aim of this paper is to show how the embodiment, and experience of tourism and place is frequently enhanced, and motivated by food, whether ingredients, dishes or food related activities. Archival resources will be utilised to demonstrate tourists' evolving interests in regional and local food.

The county of Devon in South Wesy England, a long establisheed tourist region provides numerous instances of tourists' embodiment through connections with its past, and current food experiences. A rich legacy of farming, landscape, foodstuffs, food production (and their attendant elements of mystery, culture and folklore) together provide varied opportunities to explore the relationship between embodiment, the senses and tourism.

The interest in Food Tourism, is suggested by Hall and Sharples (2003: 10) as a desire to experience the attributes of specialist food production regions. Many tourists appear to be interested in food and culture, and the experience of consumption. Visits to farms, vineyards, farmers' markets and restaurants provide interesting prospects for food encounters. Gibson (2010: 521) indicates that tourism encounters are immediate, embodied and geographical, and perhaps a need for social interaction. The examples of food presented in this paper reveal that this may be through consumption, exploring the past, or a quest for autenticity and tradition.

Crouch (200o: 63)proposes that embodiment denotes the way in which individuals understand the world around them. Through food encounters tourists are enabled to discover more about the development of a cultural and regional identity. Emergent tourism activities, for example food tourism present researchers with new and exciting ways to study the anthropology of tourism.