Culinary Tourism in the Era of Global Logistics
It is hard to believe, but Tsuruoka, a coastal city of little more than 100,000 people in Yamagata Prefecture, has been designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy since 2014. And the designation really shows in the local food. From locally harvested rice, fresh seafood from Sea of Japan, to locally branded beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables, the ingredients are of top-quality. They are cooked in what are countlessly emphasized as truly local ways, steeped in local traditions, and supposedly unique and not found anywhere else in the country. Local chefs and hotel staff are undoubtedly proud of the culinary tradition.
However, for the travelers from a metropolis from Tokyo, it is often hard to find the uniqueness to be a strong sell. Not that the food is not special. Travelers would not hesitate to agree that the local food in Yamagata is a result of local traditions. But they are not unique as they can be found as easily in Tokyo as they are in Yamagata. In the city of 30 million plus, cuisines from all over the country and the world vie for attention, and there certainly are no shortage of eateries, both high-end and low, advertising the most authentic Yamagata ingredients and cooking styles.
So as the travelers roamed around the prefecture looking for interesting things to eat, one thing often on the mind was whether the foods being sold locally are truly available in Tokyo. Once those that are available in Tokyo are excluded from being sought out, the list of things to eat dwindle down to something quite limited. More often, eating local food became an exercise not so much in eating what is only locally available, but enjoying what can be had elsewhere in a truly local environment. The atmosphere of "eating locally" became more important than "eating local foods."
Such mindset is certain to become more ubiquitous in the near future. As ecommerce develops, cities no longer need many retail outlets to enjoy products from across the world. Japan, in particular, with its short distances, excellent transport infrastructure, and tireless logistic operators, can easily and cheaply ship products from one end of the island chain to the other within a day or two, in mint conditions, refrigerated if needed. It simply makes no financial sense for people to travel physically to the other end of the country to enjoy foods that they can get more conveniently and inexpensively at home, thousands of miles away.
The development of such convenient logistics is in some ways bad news for places like Tsuruoka that pushes food as the mainstay of the local tourism industry. If food can be transported nationwide and worldwide to be enjoyed in qualities as high as what can be had locally, many people, with their busy lives and plenty of choices in terms of tourist destinations, simply would not choose to go to a place that only has good food to offer. Even as the local food becomes more famous and popular, the trickle-down effect would remain limited as the local hospitality industry do not benefit from success of culinary exporters.
To spread the benefits of the strong local traditions, there are still means that the local government and industry can use, luring in tourists to visit physically even if food is not longer so unique. One is, as noted briefly above, the ability to accentuate the local atmosphere as a necessary ingredient to the local food. By stressing the culture, people, and places behind the food, culinary tourism can still take off by giving tourists the full experience of how food is made. The tourists should be made to believe that eating local food is just part of the whole experience, and the rest of experience needs to be had locally, there and then.
The other means is constant innovation. The spread of foods to locales outside where it originates takes time. Marketing them, making them popular and trendy, followed by establishing necessary supply chains could take years. Thus, while currently famous dishes are busy making rounds in other places, the locale should not simply sit and reap the harvest of currently famous dishes' success. They should invest in creating new dishes that has future potential of widespread popularity. While existing dishes are eaten in other locales, true gourmet hunters can be enticed to come physically and enjoy lesser known new dishes.
Finally and perhaps contradictorily, local foods should hunt for opportunities to export its cuisine to places where they are not yet so widely known. If e-commerce reduces foot traffic to where the foods originate, the lost income can be made up by shifting local labor force to double down on marketing and selling local foods to more places. For a place like Tsuruoka, the brand name of UNESCO City of Gastronomy is already there to be used in the marketing efforts. If it can use the international recognition to get its foods accepted more widely abroad, then living standards will continue to increase even if tourist numbers decline.
However, for the travelers from a metropolis from Tokyo, it is often hard to find the uniqueness to be a strong sell. Not that the food is not special. Travelers would not hesitate to agree that the local food in Yamagata is a result of local traditions. But they are not unique as they can be found as easily in Tokyo as they are in Yamagata. In the city of 30 million plus, cuisines from all over the country and the world vie for attention, and there certainly are no shortage of eateries, both high-end and low, advertising the most authentic Yamagata ingredients and cooking styles.
So as the travelers roamed around the prefecture looking for interesting things to eat, one thing often on the mind was whether the foods being sold locally are truly available in Tokyo. Once those that are available in Tokyo are excluded from being sought out, the list of things to eat dwindle down to something quite limited. More often, eating local food became an exercise not so much in eating what is only locally available, but enjoying what can be had elsewhere in a truly local environment. The atmosphere of "eating locally" became more important than "eating local foods."
Such mindset is certain to become more ubiquitous in the near future. As ecommerce develops, cities no longer need many retail outlets to enjoy products from across the world. Japan, in particular, with its short distances, excellent transport infrastructure, and tireless logistic operators, can easily and cheaply ship products from one end of the island chain to the other within a day or two, in mint conditions, refrigerated if needed. It simply makes no financial sense for people to travel physically to the other end of the country to enjoy foods that they can get more conveniently and inexpensively at home, thousands of miles away.
The development of such convenient logistics is in some ways bad news for places like Tsuruoka that pushes food as the mainstay of the local tourism industry. If food can be transported nationwide and worldwide to be enjoyed in qualities as high as what can be had locally, many people, with their busy lives and plenty of choices in terms of tourist destinations, simply would not choose to go to a place that only has good food to offer. Even as the local food becomes more famous and popular, the trickle-down effect would remain limited as the local hospitality industry do not benefit from success of culinary exporters.
To spread the benefits of the strong local traditions, there are still means that the local government and industry can use, luring in tourists to visit physically even if food is not longer so unique. One is, as noted briefly above, the ability to accentuate the local atmosphere as a necessary ingredient to the local food. By stressing the culture, people, and places behind the food, culinary tourism can still take off by giving tourists the full experience of how food is made. The tourists should be made to believe that eating local food is just part of the whole experience, and the rest of experience needs to be had locally, there and then.
The other means is constant innovation. The spread of foods to locales outside where it originates takes time. Marketing them, making them popular and trendy, followed by establishing necessary supply chains could take years. Thus, while currently famous dishes are busy making rounds in other places, the locale should not simply sit and reap the harvest of currently famous dishes' success. They should invest in creating new dishes that has future potential of widespread popularity. While existing dishes are eaten in other locales, true gourmet hunters can be enticed to come physically and enjoy lesser known new dishes.
Finally and perhaps contradictorily, local foods should hunt for opportunities to export its cuisine to places where they are not yet so widely known. If e-commerce reduces foot traffic to where the foods originate, the lost income can be made up by shifting local labor force to double down on marketing and selling local foods to more places. For a place like Tsuruoka, the brand name of UNESCO City of Gastronomy is already there to be used in the marketing efforts. If it can use the international recognition to get its foods accepted more widely abroad, then living standards will continue to increase even if tourist numbers decline.
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