Types of Culinary Tourism Experiences

There are 12 identified categories of culinary tourism experiences (International Culinary Tourism Development, 2009). They include (in alphabetical order):

  • Cooking schools & classes
  • Culinary attractions
  • Culinary destinations
  • Culinary events
  • Culinary media
  • Culinary lodging
  • Culinary retail & grocery
  • Culinary tours, guides, packages, & agents
  • Dine & drink establishments
  • Farms, ranches, & farmers’ markets
  • Food & drink clubs
  • Food manufacturers

Note: Certain experiences could fall under more than one category. See below for a description of each type of culinary experience:

Cooking Schools & Classes

  • Any stand-alone cooking or culinary school including vocational and part-time instruction
  • Any cooking lessons or workshops in people’s homes, restaurants, hotels etc. of any duration (a couple hours or a couple days or more)

Culinary Attractions

  • A business open to the public that focuses on Alberta food/drink experiences. These attractions could include museums, monuments, and places that have a connection to food or drink in any way. They can also include experiences that combine food consumption with a unique setting.

Culinary Destinations

  • Recognizes destinations (such as regions, cities, or other communities) that make a concerted effort to drive the development of culinary tourism products in their overall tourism promotion

Culinary Events

  • Any recurring or one-time event with a focus on Alberta food/drink experiences that is open to the public
  • Food or drink should be the primary focus
  • Events with a more broad focus, but have an element of food/drink are not typically included. However, if the F&B component features Alberta food/drink experiences which are similar to focused culinary events, they would be considered

Culinary Lodging

  • Includes hotels, resorts, bed & breakfasts, and other accommodation who focus on providing Alberta food and drink
    • Typically these are bed & breakfasts, inns, and sometimes boutique hotels
    • Larger hotels who have a unique restaurant attached would not be considered (the restaurant would be categorized separately)

Culinary Media

  • Any quality culinary media publication including foodie magazines, editorial-oriented media, books, newspapers, video, audio, blogs, and websites
  • Includes regional or town specific publications
  • Menu-only and ad-only magazines are not typically considered

Culinary Retail & Grocery

  • Businesses that specialise in offering Alberta food and drink products including:
    • Gift shops
    • Gourmet shops
    • Better quality liquor and wine stores
    • Kitchen gadget stores
    • Cookbook stores
    • Regular bookstores, gift stores, departments stores, and other regular stores are not included unless they have a unique or exceptional experience

Culinary Tours, Guides, Packages, & Agents

  • Any kind of culinary tour, culinary tour guide, wine guide, or culinary tour package in Alberta
  • Includes travel agents and consultants who specialize in culinary travel in Alberta

Dine & Drink Establishments

  • A location that offers a unique, quality experience focusing on Alberta food or drink products and preparation. Uniqueness can be through the food or drink offered, the service delivery, the interior design and setting, or ideally in all aspects.
  • Dine Establishments could include restaurants, cafes, delis, take-aways, street vendors, hawker stands, hotel restaurants, specialty dine-in/take-away shops (n.b. overlap with retail/grocery and consider whether it is more like foodservice or a browsing shopping experience), bakeries, candy shops, ice cream stores, and caterers.
  • Drink Establishments could include bars, pubs, lounges, clubs, nightclubs, breweries, wineries, and distilleries (n.b. brewery/winery/distillery overlap with food manufacturers and consider scale).

Farms, Ranches, & Farmers’ Markets

  • Includes farms, orchards, u-picks, and farmer/grower market
    • Should be a member of Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Association or Alberta Farmers’ Market Association
    • Animal slaughterhouses and children’s agri-entertainment farms would not typically be considered

Food & Drink Clubs

  • Social groups organized around food and drink that focus their efforts on the promotion, enhancement, or consumption of Alberta experiences.

Food Manufacturers

  • “Factory” producers and manufacturers of food and drink products including processors, distributors, factories, and packers, including boutique (small) factories (i.e. soda bottling, potato chip processing, coffee bean packaging)