Page 64 - Rural Tourism Report Washington County

CHAPTER 3: THE WASHINGTON COUNTY RURAL TOURISM SECTOR

4. Culinary Tourism
Culinary tourism attracts visitors to rural areas. At the Rural farms, businesses, and communities can benefit
most basic level, food is a quintessential component from the growing culinary tourism trend, and rural

of local culture just like art, music, architecture, tourism geared toward local food and drink can play
film, literature, humor, and so on. What we eat, a major role in driving economic development. As
how we prepare it, the dishes and utensils we use, noted within the earlier section on the County’s site
and even the recipes passed down by our elders research, 50 of 127 sites surveyed in rural Washington
are all part of our area's food and drink culture. The County were noted to host some form of culinary
strength of the food culture in countries like France experience. There is opportunity for growth in culinary
and Italy is readily apparent. For example, foods tourism in Washington County, including, but not
such as Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, originating in limited to, expanding opportunities for farm-to-table
the northern Italian provinces of Parma and Reggio dinners; winemaker dinners and wine tasting; cooking

Emilia have achieved iconic importance and serve as schools; food harvest, preparation, processing, and
culinary ambassadors for their regions. preservation experiences; on-site chef preparation of
self-harvested foods; and farm tours.
According to Erik Wolf of the Portland-based World
Food Travel Association , our region has a food-ob-
54
sessed culture. A group of 200 international food tour-
ism industry leaders met in Portland in spring of 2015
and confirmed the opinion that food and drink tour-

ism is here to stay. Major local food and drink-related
events such as the Pinot Noir, Beer, Blues, and Portland
Taste festivals provide a major draw to visitors.

According to the American Independent Business
Alliance, chain restaurants recirculate only 34.5
percent of revenue in the U.S. while locally owned
ones recirculate 65.4 percent. In other words,

money spent at independently owned local food
establishments is nearly twice as valuable to
the community because more of it stays in the
community. According to Mr. Wolf, visitors spend
about 25 percent of their travel budget on food and
drink. Travelers engage in a wide range of food-
related activities beyond the purchase of daily

meals. Cooking classes, food tours, wine and beer
tastings, and even grocery and gourmet store visits
all rank high on the foodies' to-do list.
54 http://worldfoodtravel.org Photo courtesy of Warren Goldswain
60 WASHINGTON COUNTY RURAL TOURISM STUDY