Culture Tourism: Food & People- Prince Edward County, Ontario
October 27th - October 31st
"Culture tourism – food and people” will visit a destination that provides an authentic tourism experience whereby one learns about, appreciates, and consumes food/drink that reflects the local, regional, or national cuisine, heritage, culture, tradition or culinary techniques. This mission will focus on local foods and their derived products, the slow food movement, and where “great tastings” are authentic to the place visited.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
• How to create authentic experiences, through local food and wine, for visitors that are thematically linked to culture and heritage
• How using derived products enhances sustainable practices and is a much more environmentally responsible way to operate a business
• How to grow a creative rural community through authentic experiences related to food and people
• How to attract local food artisans to supply a safe product to the public
• What are the economic benefits of providing authentic experiences through local cuisine and techniques
• To learn valuable tools that can be shared with the industry as regional cuisine and wine tourism experiences develop.
• How can leveraging rich cultural resources support the local economy and community development
• How to tap into the trend towards local experiences as a way to make our operation more “tourism friendly.”
• The importance of protecting the heritage of food, tradition and culture
• To learn about new ideas and techniques to improve the guests authentic experience.
• How to effectively promote and market taste education
• How to market against industrial standardization
• What types of experiences can be used to help increase the interest and understand the importance of the authentic experience through food and people.
• How to connect producers and potential consumers through educational events like fairs, markets, and local events as a means to showcase products
• How to achieve price points that will compete with industrialized products but will also compensate the operators
• How to market the benefits of buying local at a premium price
• How to overcome the challenge of relying on seasonal foods
• To learn of ways to illustrate the source of the products, allowing diners to learn more about the farm community
- I think the best thing about the mission was just the bringing together of the people to share their ideas. Also, for this particular subject, which related to culinary tourism, it was great that we were immersed in the subject for the week. We were exposed to a variety of things, so we were able to get the big picture and find out how it can all work together.
- The importance of protecting the heritage of food, tradition, and culture.
- How to overcome the challenge of relying on seasonal foods
- Networking opportunities with Atlantic Canadians interested in bettering culinary tourism in our areas, and with PEC. I received some great media / communications ideas for promoting our members (working together). The Taste trail is a great idea – and one that I think could be easily applied in a similar concept in Nova Scotia.
