Eating in Asia: Understanding Food Tourism and Its Perspectives in Asia

Abstract

This introductory chapter provides the important contextual backgrounds of food tourism in Asia as well as key concepts and perspectives of understanding food tourism in Asia. Food as an experience of otherness, which has been predominantly discussed from a Western perspective, is understood within the Asian context through ethnic diversity and social changes in the region. Two distinctive approaches to food tourism in Asia are developed: food for tourism and tourism for food. The former corresponds to the conventional concept of food as a distinctive tourism resource, while the latter reflects on the contemporary social aspects of Asian countries where there is a strong and influential media presence.