HOLIDAY-INSPIRED AGRITOURISM IN THE U.S.: THE CASE FOR EXAMINING THE PHENOMENA THROUGH A GASTRONOMIC LENS

Abstract

Halloween, Christmas, and even Easter have become colossal cultural and economic phenomena. An increasingly popular aspect of these holidays is participation in agritourism experiences. While the original links between agricultural traditions, gastronomy, and the holidays were once direct and clear, today the relationships between food, agritourism, and holiday traditions are dramatically different. Food still plays an important role, however, the relationship between contemporary holiday agritourism rituals and the food eaten, and food-products purchased during the excursions has become indirect, obscured by industrialization and commercialism. Given the growing popularity and importance of agritourism and entertainment-farming, and the sacred place of both food and holiday traditions in society, an exploration of holiday-inspired agritourism through a gastronomic lens is timely and could reveal important factors contributing to rural tourism-development, placemaking, cultural and culinary heritages, and sustainability, and yield information about how these practices shape participants’ perceptions of agriculture, food-production, agrarian society, and class.

Keywords

• Agritourism,Culinary Heritage,Holidays,Christmas,Halloween,Food,Rural Tourism

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