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Abstract
The purpose of this work is to explore the role of Catalan gastronomy as a destination
attraction, as well as the characteristics and awareness of its consumers and providers,
while attempting to determine whether its perception is influenced by new trends of if
it is disrupting traditional cuisine. Surveys were carried out on a series of restaurants in
Catalonia’s capital, Barcelona, as well as among visitors and Catalan residents. One
survey was conducted in 10 particular establishments that were selected among those
offering local dishes and which are regularly visited by tourists and residents. A second
questionnaire was distributed among tourists, obtaining 62 valid answers. A third
questionnaire was filled out by locals, gathering 61 answers.
The results reveal the strengths and weaknesses of Catalan cuisine. While tourists don't
consider it an important reason to travel to Barcelona, and confuse it with more famous
Spanish food, Catalans are active followers of their traditional cuisine and new culinary
trends don’t change their perception or consumption of it. Catalan restaurateurs run
their often very ancient activity, aware of the proliferation of new tendencies in the food
sector, but without seeming worried this will impact negatively on their cuisine. In fact,
some restaurateurs' owners even consider natural and important to incorporate good
aspects of other cuisines into their own. They are also aware most people don't
distinguish it from Spanish cuisine, including for example tapas and sangria.
Conclusions and implications were drawn based on the research findings. This
information would be particularly useful for future possible activities for promoting
culinary tourism, as well as for future research.
Keywords: “food tourist, Catalan food, culinary, trends, Barcelona, gastronomy, food
image”.
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INTRODUCTION
As in many other metropolises, Barcelona's foodscape is characterized by a great
variety of venues where food is produced for sale and consumption in extremely diverse
forms. Popular examples include traditional eateries such as fast food restaurants,
tourist attractions, airport, bus and train stations, shopping malls, grocery stores, cafés,
pizza restaurants. The city’s scene also offers less traditional and more unique locations
such as ramen shops, gourmet restaurants, and food truck events.
The aim of this thesis is double: first, it aims at analyzing how Catalan cuisine is
perceived by people living in Barcelona and those in visit. Second, it aims at
investigating the opinion of restaurant owners about the local cuisine’s connection with
tourism, and its future and current co-existence with new culinary trends.
By doing so, the author hopes to increase knowledge in the literature on traditional
Catalan gastronomy and the impact of modern culinary trends. The research targets to
gather deeper knowledge of people’s awareness on the tradition cuisine of the region
of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital city. Three surveys, studying the opinion
of tourists, locals, and restaurants, will be conducted. The introduction will briefly
describe the background of the problem and the inspiration for this thesis, as well as
present the research problem and research questions.
Background
Today’s dinner table and preferences seem to be quite different from what they were
just 10 years ago. First of all, there is likely a smartphone next to the fork. Also, on each
plate, there might be a different meal – mom's vegan, dad's miso ramen, the kids'
lactose-free food. At first glance, we might think these changes are unrelated. And we
might miss the old, authentic concept of family dinner. But it could be that, thanks to
the technology at our fingertips, people are actually much more thoughtful and open
about what they feed themselves and are willing to try.
One of the first things that catch the visitor’s attention in Barcelona is its contemporary,
vibrating, and booming food scene: along with classic Catalan cuisine, that for many is
completely unknown, Barcelona today embraces international culinary influences:
ramen, brunch, vegan, flexitarians, burgers, cold pressed juices, food truck markets and
festivals… There’s much more to it than paella, chorizo and tapas.
Visitors willing to step out of familiar food choices will easily discover a wealth of new
colorful options, as well as an enthusiastic population (of both tourists and locals)
sharing the same interests. They might find themselves having a brunch in a remote
industrial area of the city, and perhaps having lunch surrounded by other foreign visitors
attracted by the place’s great reviews on social media. Scenes like these are not
infrequent in Barcelona, and they raise a few questions: why are tourists choosing a
brunch place or a ramen restaurant instead of a local one, when they are only staying a
few days in Catalonia? How long are these new trends destined to last? Can a good
dinner based on ramen influence, for example, the desire of customers to travel to
Japan?
Two divergent trends seem dominant in Barcelona’s culinary scene: on the one hand,
of the city is experiencing a great proliferation of new restaurants, pop-up bistros led
by Michelin starred chefs, foreign foods, and online platforms, all of which contributes
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to the creation of a more ‘globalized palate.’ On the other hand, considerable efforts are
being put in place to re-establish local food systems, resulting in the continuation or
resurgence of local cuisines and in a new attention to sustainability and ecologic
ingredients.
Looking closely at each of these trends – e.g. changes in eating habits and preferences,
increasing concern over where food comes from, the open attitude and curiosity towards
novelty, the increasing role of social media reviews – two considerations emerge: first
of all, geography seems no longer the guiding value, when it comes to food – flavor is.
Second, the driving force behind new food trends seems to be a growing “desire for
connectivity” (Govender, 2015).
Recent studies & limitations
Unfortunately, due to the very recent shift of media and focus on Catalan gastronomy,
publications on the impact of new culinary trends on local Catalan cuisine are scarce
and fragmentary.
The main sources of knowledge on the scene analyzed by the present thesis can be
summarized in the following categories: scientific papers on culinary tourism (Ab
Karim & Geng-Qing Chi, 2010; Mak, Lumbers & Eves, 2012), publications on
innovation trends in the food industry (Bigliardi & Galati, 2013; Yang, Khoo-Lattimore
& Lai, 2014; Govender, 2015; Dimitrovski & Crespi-Vallbona, 2015), and manuals or
articles focused on Catalan cuisine (Mas de Xaxàs, Pujol, 2009; Bruegel & Laurioux,
2002).
The few available sources on Catalan gastronomy typically concentrate on its history,
recipes, or on the rise of some famous chefs of the region, although they don’t actually
work with traditional dishes. Furthermore, not much research was carried out on food
tourism in Barcelona in the last 5 years. Due to the fast innovation and changes existing
in the culinary and hospitality industry, using outdated information does not seem to be
useful for the purpose of this thesis. Similarly, there are few publications written
specifically on culinary trends, and even less on culinary trends in Barcelona and their
impact of tourism. In conclusion, this thesis shows the need for future research that can
broaden the current understanding of the demand of Catalan cuisine, analyzing all
actors involved in its scene.
The objectives
As shown in the previous paragraph, there are surely many questions related to the
“tourism and food” connection that would be worth exploring, but for a matter of time
and space allowed, the present work will specifically focus on the analysis of Catalan
cuisine and the new trends with which it is getting involved.; this mainly because the
author doesn’t think that the unique and very varied cooking of Catalonia has been fully
understood yet.
Much of the relatively unknown Catalan culinary tradition still has to be discovered;
first of all, because it is important to explore and preserve any so rich and delicious
root. Second, because it is believed that the cuisine of Catalonia, like any other, has
made itself comfortable in the modern society to persist and flourish.
Cuisines, like languages, borrow, adapt, modify accents, lose and gain valuable
components. This process accelerates in the restoration business of popular travel
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destinations, where the high incidence of tourism leads local cuisine to become more
commercial and more cosmopolitan (Govender, 2015).
This work, therefore, will investigate the co-existence of traditional Catalan cuisine and
new food trends, as well as the respondents’ perception of the regional cuisine and their
likeliness to change the way they think about food and way to explore a travel
destination through it.
Research questions
This study is conducted to understand to what extent Catalan cuisine is known outside
its region, Catalonia, and whether this is connected to the proliferation of new food
tendencies, especially in Barcelona.
In order to address the main problem, following research questions will be investigated:
1. Is Catalan food well-known enough to make tourists want to come to Barcelona?
2. How do tourists and local food lovers regard local cuisine?
3. Does the wave of new culinary trends influence the consumers’ way to perceive
traditional Catalan cuisine?
Whether a person is local or a tourist, edible experiences will change the way she/he
thinks about food, beyond the plate and the geographic frame? This study's attempt to
explore the relationship between Catalan food and its perception among the public is
intended as a step in understanding this.
This study attempts to explore the relationship between Catalan food and its perception
among the public, in order to examine how culinary experiences influence the way
people approach food in general and tourist destinations in particular.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The role of food in the tourism sector
Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries (Dwyer and Spurr, 2010) and involves
many branches, such as cultural tourism, leisure tourism, ecotourism, sports tourism,
religious tourism, up to more peculiar kinds like medical tourism and even sex tourism.
Each of them offers different kinds of experiences. All these tourism facets, though,
have something in common: people need to eat when they travel, so some sort of food
experience makes an indivisible component of traveling. In 2002, a study showed that
tourists spend almost 40% of their budget on food when traveling (Boyne, Williams, &
Hall, 2002).
More recently, the 2014 Restaurant & Foodservice Market Research Handbook asserted
that 50% of restaurants' revenue is produced by travelers (Miller & As, 2015). The 2016
Food Travel Monitor Report, published by The World Food Travel Association
(WFTA), announced that “Food and beverage are an increasingly significant motivator
for travel, as 75% of leisure travelers have been motivated to visit a destination because
of a culinary activity”.
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http://worldfoodtravel.org/food-tourism-research-study/
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