Gastronomic tourism: a comparative analysis of the literature

GeoStudies 2: 51-65, doi: 10.3897/geostudies.2.e145909

Alessandra Souza Queiroz Melo^‡, Cláudia Araújo de Menezes Gonçalves Martins^§, Elimar Pinheiro do Nascimento^|, Marilia Ferreira Paes Cesário^¶

‡ Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil§ Amazonas State University, Manaus, Brazil| University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil¶ Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natall, Brazil

Corresponding author: Alessandra Souza Queiroz Melo ( alessandra_queirozz@outlook.com )

Corresponding author: Cláudia Araújo de Menezes Gonçalves Martins ( camenezes@uea.edu.br )

Corresponding author: Elimar Pinheiro do Nascimento ( elimarcds@gmail.com )

Corresponding author: Marilia Ferreira Paes Cesário ( marilia.cesario@gmail.com )

Academic editor: Desislava Varadzhakova

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Souza Queiroz Melo A, Araújo de Menezes Gonçalves Martins C, Pinheiro do Nascimento E, Ferreira Paes Cesário M (2025) Gastronomic tourism: a comparative analysis of the literature. GeoStudies 2: 51-65. https://doi.org/10.3897/geostudies.2.e145909

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate how gastronomic tourism has been approached in academic productions both nationally and internationally. The research used a qualitative methodology, with emphasis on bibliographic research, carried out on the journal portal of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). The search was directed to the period from 1990 to 2022, in order to gather the theoretical support necessary to deepen the understanding of the theme. 25 articles that were most aligned with the object of study were selected. The results indicate that scientific research on gastronomic tourism is recent, covering a period of about three decades, with different approaches and perspectives. The presence of convergent and divergent points was found between the articles, addressing aspects such as cultural identity, symbolic values and socioeconomic development. However, the main focus of the research was the analysis of the materials and methods used in the selected academic productions, which allow us to understand the most recurrent methodological approaches in the investigation of gastronomic tourism.

Keywords

Gastronomic tourism, gastronomic experiences, methodology, comparative analysis