Food and gastronomy constitute important elements of tourism. Food and gastronomy are tools for preserving the existing cultures of local cuisines and transmitting them from generation to generation. Therefore, food and gastronomy are highly related to sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism supports the environment by ensuring the most effective use of existing resources. Sustainable tourism uses local resources and also makes a positive contribution to local people and development. In this research-first literature, related to gastronomy tourism and sustainable tourism in rural areas and slow food were analysed. The research design is a case study about slow food movement in Germiyan village, Çeşme. Results of the study reveal that slow food movement in the Germiyan village has some limited effect on the local people's lives. With the slow food movement the number of local producers has increased, and agricultural activities have developed in the village.
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In the recent years, there has been a change on the popularity of mass tourism due to negative impacts on tourism destinations. Both tourists as person and also local people do not have positive attitude for mass tourism as they have in the past years. Tourists have travel motivations to visit destinations with some characters such as slow and quiet, undamaged, offering cultural values and interaction with local people. Moreover, tourists have a desire for local food and natural & organic food, they also want to know where the food comes from and support local producers. Additionally, local people who live in tourism destinations want to live a smoother and a slow way of life and implement an environmental approach on planting and growing herbs, vegetables, fruits and producing local and natural food with local producers. This kind of lifestyle links to and supported with slow life, slow food, slow travel and slow city which is a slow way of life. Slow life is a pioneer of slow food movement and slow city/citta slow. By principles of these movements, people may decelerate the speed of daily life and be socialized with their family and friends. So, with these positive outcomes of slow lifestyle, slow food and slow city movements have been spread to all around the world and followed by many people.
Slow Food movement has three philosophies: ‘good, clean and fair’. Good represents ‘quality, flavoursome and healthy food’. Clean stands for production that ‘does not damage the environment’. Fair is a symbol of ‘accessible prices for consumers and fair conditions and pay for producers’ (SlowFood, 2023). The Slow Food Movement associates gastronomy with the sustainability of tourism.
Sustainable tourism development is generally based on providing renewable economic, social and cultural benefits to society and the environment. A holistic view of sustainability requires considering the social, cultural and economic well-being of human communities as an integral component of environmental renewal (Richards & Hall, 2000, pp.1). The main aim of sustainable tourism development is related to increasing economic opportunities, protecting the cultural and natural heritage of the local community and improving the quality of life and thus increasing well-being of the local community (McCool & Lime, 2001, pp.385).
Sustainability of destinations' unique resources has an important place. Sustainable development must protect essential resources and have ecological boundaries that allow equitable access to resources (Scarpato, 2002, pp.138). With the increase in sun and sea tourism or mountain activities in recent years, other types of nature-based tourism have emerged, such as ecotourism and active adventure tourism (hiking, cycling, radical activities, etc.). These factors, which form the essence of destination attractiveness, require good planning because they depend on the integrity of natural resources (Romão, 2018, pp.44).
In order to create real sustainability in sustainable tourism practices, ecological, economic, sociocultural and political/management environments must be provided (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003, pp.44). In addition to this, gastronomic values are shaped by the destination culture and characteristics. Gastronomy is inextricably linked with the destination and its image. Moreover, tourists participating in gastronomy tourism are a meaningful and loyal market segment. Gastronomy-related experiences are considered important tools in destination marketing (Kivela & Crotts, 2005, pp.51).
Gastronomy is a concept that relates to the recognition of various factors related to food and beverages consumed in a region or even a nation by a group. Gastronomy is also a concept that includes the study of the terms 'good food' and 'good wine'. When gastronomy is evaluated from the consumer's perspective, taste level, quality, ease of service and price are important issues for the consumers (Gillespie, 2001, pp. 5). Tourists visiting a cultural destination want to have some sensory experiences as well as learning about that heritage. For this reason, the concepts of gastronomy and tourism are considered together, especially in the evaluation of tourist destinations related to culture and cultural heritage (Gálvez et. al.., 2017, pp. 610).