Food, Tradition, and Tourism

Navigating cultural food Traditions through affectivity

Abstract

This article proposes an analytical framework for examining the social and cultural processes that connect food heritage and tourism through the lens of the affective dimensions of social actors. Its primary objective is to conceptualize the affective dimension surrounding food, exploring how it intertwines with the life stories of individuals involved in creating and preserving food heritage. Additionally, the study investigates how these affective dynamics influence tourism processes, strategies, and initiatives aimed at promoting food culture and fostering resistance to the more aggressive impacts of globalization. The affective dimension's conceptualization is based on an investigation that combines data collection via questionnaires, quantitative analysis, and focus group interviews, analyzed through content analysis. We collected data from groups of Brazilian and Portuguese participants.

The findings reveal an affective dimension closely tied to the life trajectories of the actors involved. This dimension encompasses choices, memories, emotions, affections, traditions, knowledge, and the continuity of cultural and traditional food practices. Governed by these elements, the affective dimension becomes a defining feature of food heritage processes. When crystallized in food practices, it forms an inseparable component of heritage and tourism relationships, underscoring its central role in structuring these processes.