Fourteenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Heritage, traditional, foods cultivate senses of belonging, whether tenuous and difficult to “authenticate,” or by helping to connect people to a culture’s overlooked histories and significance. This paper provides research findings from two different expressions of relationships between food and belonging: heritage culinary tourism and Indigenous food sovereignty workshops. Rhetorical fieldwork analysis conducted throughout 2021-2024 at key heritage tourism sites in Scotland and the Southern Appalachian region of the United States, for example, elucidates how culinary messages constitute tourist identity in sometimes problematic ways, with heritage tourism experiences perpetuating stereotypical myths about their Scots-Irish cultural influences. In contrast, rhetorical fieldwork analysis conducted in Native American Cherokee and Catawba food sovereignty workshops highlights how learning about and preparing traditional Indigenous foodways allows tribal members to participate in discourses of cultural renewal and reclamation that fuel community resilience. Although scholars from various disciplines investigate heritage culinary tourism and Indigenous community building through foodways, the presentation details how both forms of rhetorical messages help constitute identity in ways that shape perceptions and motivate particular types of action. Findings address educational, economic, and wellbeing implications for heritage culinary tourism and food sovereignty efforts, but also offer intriguing directions for exploring the broader consequences of food’s rhetorical appeals to belonging and identity. Part of a forthcoming book, an additional edited book project in progress, and funded by several agencies, the study’s findings provide the foundation for more cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary research into the implications of culinary tourism, food sovereignty efforts, and communication.