The Benefits of Sustainable Food Tourism
March is Women’s History Month, which means it’s the perfect time to highlight sustainable food tourism, a segment of the industry that provides ample opportunity for female empowerment, among other benefits.
In an era of excess, when issues like overtourism, overconsumption, and food waste via overproduction are more pressing than ever before, sustainable food tourism is the ultimate form of resistance. It also happens to be an up-and-coming travel trend. According to recent surveys conducted by Skift and TripAdvisor, culinary tourism’s focus has shifted away from fine dining toward experiences that prioritize hands-on learning and immersion in local communities. This includes activities like cooking classes, farm-to-table dining, exposure to eco-friendly agriculture practices, and learning about traditional Indigenous foods.
As travelers show that they’re interested in more meaningful experiences, opportunities arise to put both the environment and local communities at the heart of the tourism industry.
What is Sustainable Food Tourism?
It’s easy to throw around a term like “sustainable,” but what does that mean when it comes to culinary travel? According to Gerardo Ibarra, a sustainable travel consultant, sustainable food tourism is “That which is concerned with the origin, the process, and the sociocultural, environmental and economic impacts that food has within a destination, as well as how it relates to the tourist.” That means sustainable food tourism experiences often revolve around local communities, especially those using environmentally conscious farming, food preparation, and food waste management practices.
Of course, food as part of the tourism experience is nothing new. “People have to eat,” says Ibarra, “so in mass tourism, food is one of the services that complements the tourist’s experience.” But it also has the potential to be more than that. He continues: “Food is the element of culture that best reflects the relationship between people and their territory.” When travelers physically consume that food, they also consume the complex culture behind it.
What Are the Benefits of Sustainable Food Tourism for Local Communities?
More so than other kinds of culinary tourism, sustainable food tourism has the potential to benefit local communities in the following ways:
Economic Opportunities
For many communities around the world, sustainable food tourism offers a way to make a living. This is particularly important in remote areas, where there may be few other job prospects. According to Alessandra Turco, head of the Slow Food Travel project, “Sustainable food tourism allows small-scale producers, farmers, artisans, and restaurateurs to value their work and receive fair compensation, avoiding the standardization of the global market.”
Incentive for Sustainable Practices
Environmentally friendly food cultivation and preparation practices aren’t always the most efficient or cost-effective, but when they become tourist attractions, there’s an incentive to continue with them. “Sustainable food tourism encourages the protection of the land and local traditions, favoring economic development based on quality and not quantity,” says Turco.
Conservation and Biodiversity
Sustainable farming and food management practices go hand-in-hand with environmental conservation, which can also encourage biodiversity and contribute to healthy ecosystems. This is particularly important for Indigenous communities around the world, who are disproportionately affected by issues like deforestation, pollution, and climate change.
Maintaining Tradition
Sustainable food practices rely on traditional methods that have been passed down from generation to generation. In farming, that includes crop rotation and rotational cattle grazing, both of which are ancient practices that have been lost to mass food production. When tourists pay to visit farms and learn about these agricultural methods, communities can make a living by maintaining their traditions. As Turco puts it, “Sustainable food tourism is not just a trend, but a necessity to preserve food diversity and traditional knowledge.”
Female Empowerment
These kinds of tourism experiences also create economic opportunities for women, who are often already relegated to jobs within food preparation. By teaching cooking classes in their homes, for example, women can contribute to their household income without having to step away from their families. Selene Orellana, a representative of Planeterra, a Canadian NGO dedicated to supporting community-led tourism experiences around the world, sums it up: “Sustainable food tourism can be a powerful tool for female empowerment because it allows women to turn their traditional knowledge into an economic asset.”
What Are the Benefits of Sustainable Food Tourism for Travelers?
Of course, sustainable food tourism also has an impact on the travelers who experience it, with benefits such as:
Connection With Community
As with other types of community-based tourism experiences, sustainable food tourism encourages a connection between travelers and locals. This kind of human-to-human exchange can breed empathy that surpasses cultural and linguistic barriers, making for more cathartic travel experiences.
Educational Experiences
Often, sustainable food tourism includes an educational component. That may be learning how to make a new dish, understanding long-held regional traditions, or even discovering an eco-friendly practice that travelers take with them, helping them make better-informed and more responsible consumer decisions once home.
Authentic Culinary Discovery
Culinary experiences are a major attraction for many travelers, who choose destinations based on cuisine. Sustainable food tourism experiences are a natural fit for foodies—as Turco says: “To live an authentic experience of sustainable food tourism, cultural openness and the desire to discover flavors and traditions are essential.”
Examples of Sustainable Food Tourism
Sustainable food tourism comes in all shapes and sizes. Here are a few restaurants and tourism experiences around the world that exemplify the sector’s potential.
Punta Allen, Mexico
The small fishing village of Punta Allen on the Yucatàn Peninsula is part of Maya Ka’an, a network of Indigenous communities that have come together to combine cultural and eco-tourism offerings. Punta Allen is well-known for its fishing cooperative that has developed sustainable Caribbean Spiny Lobster harvesting practices. The community welcomes tourists to learn about the fishing cooperative, take cooking classes with the fishermen’s wives, and participate in sustainable catch-and-release fishing, among numerous other activities.
Parwa Community Restaurant, Peru
This restaurant in Peru’s Sacred Valley is the result of a collaboration between Planeterra and G Adventures. It serves a mix of traditional and modern cuisine made with ingredients purchased directly from local farmers. The restaurant’s benefits extend beyond its ties to the local agricultural community, though—as part of this project, 25+ local entrepreneurs have received assistance and funding to get small businesses up and running, including some that now work directly with Parwa. Profits from the restaurant are also re-invested in the community via funding for social projects.
Slow Food Travel
Slow Food Travel is the tourism branch of the Slow Food Movement organization and works with destinations to develop sustainable food tourism experiences and itineraries. In Saudi Arabia, Slow Food Travel experiences include a farm tour complete with cooking classes, the opportunity to taste fresh camel milk with a Bedouin tribe, learning about coffee cultivation in the Soudah Mountains, and more. The organization has also created bread and cheese production experiences in Austria, winemaking and beekeeping activities in Azerbaijan, and 15 different full itineraries in Italy, with plans to expand their network of destinations in the coming years.
Locavore, Bali
This ‘hyperlocal’ restaurant in Bali relies on solar power, uses greywater and wastewater systems, and grows much of the food on the menu in the food forest and mushroom fruiting chamber on the property. They also host regular events—a recent Locavore challenge brought 10 chefs from around Asia together for a foraging trip that resulted in an improvised, one-night-only dinner.
Coquira Soil Project, Panama
Over the last five years, the Coquira Soil Project in the hills outside of Panama City has turned a previously arid patch of land into a verdant oasis. In addition to offering regular farm tours and community feasts, Coquira Soil Project recently added an agrotourism hotel on-site, welcoming city dwellers and tourists alike to get in touch with the land and dine at the property’s farm-to-table restaurant.
Forest of the Nuwas, Peru
The Shampuyacu community, located in the Alto Mayo Valley of Peru, is home to the Awajún Indigenous people, who have lived in the Peruvian jungle for hundreds of years. In 2012, in response to rampant deforestation and in the hopes of preserving their ancestral traditions, a group of women from this community requested a protected area of land where they could grow medicinal plants. This has evolved into a community-led tourism destination called Forest of the Nuwas, where travelers can join the Shampuyacu women to learn about medicinal plants and enjoy a traditional Awajún meal.
What’s Next for Sustainable Food Tourism?
According to a Booking.com report, 75% of travelers around the world hope to travel more sustainably in the coming year. The question is, then, how can tourism organizations and local communities continue to grow their offerings to meet that demand while staying sustainable?
“I guess that sustainable tourism is going to fall short,” says Ibarra, “because we cannot sustain the pace at which tourism is developing.” Instead, he suggests, both industry professionals and travelers must see the bigger picture to transform their habits. “The tourist’s gastronomic experience shouldn’t be only between the kitchen door and the table, but from the kitchen door back until it reaches the field, the sea, the mountains…”
About the Author
Zanny Merullo Steffgen is a freelance travel journalist based in Colorado whose work focuses on sustainable and responsible tourism. Her writing has appeared in Lonely Planet, Fodor's, Adventure.com, and other magazines. To read more of her work, visit zannymerullosteffgen.com or follow her on Instagram @zanmerusteffgen