Building awareness in community destination to preserve local gastronomic heritage

The process to bring awareness on the food heritage resources within a community destination and their implications for destination management is the focus of the study. A longitudinal ethnographic study of eight years in a community destination of the Alpine context of the Mediterranean Region puts in light the complex process of the dynamics of networking between the different stakeholders involved in the production, transformation, preparation and promotion of a specific kind of food: the cheese. Data and information coming from this analysis demonstrate a process through which local actors involved in the gastronomic heritage create a common understanding of the heritage resource and become aware of their identity (values, culture, knowledge and skills) in term of the tourism development. This emerging interconnection contributes to a rediscovered “relationship of belonging” between the different stakeholders and the territory, which contribute to the creation of a coherent narrative of the locality. The research results argue that this process represents a fundamental step that set the internal awareness which empowers the local communities in relation to their role within the gastronomic offer of the territory. From a managerial perspective this is the challenge for a community destination to balance top-down and bottom-up approaches, by combining destination management and stakeholder engagement.