BARCELONA'S CULINARY SCENE: the rise of new trends and their influence on Catalan culture

1 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”.