I came, I saw, I tasted: A Literary Travel Journal of Culinary Tourism and Cultural Acclimation

Abstract

Food plays an important role in culture, and by extension, becomes an integral element of identity. Individual, local, regional, and national identities include food—what food is eaten, how it is prepared, how it is eaten, and with whom it is shared. Food also proves crucial to the practice of hospitality and to the connection of people across cultures; as a table or eating space is shared, lives intermingle and identities mesh and transform. Culinary tourism invites people to interact with the food of other cultures. This travel anthology presents the culinary adventures of an American woman living, studying, and eating in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic. It elaborates on intersections of food and identity and how a long-term experience with culinary tourism allowed the native culture of one traveler to shift and become melded with elements of her adopted culture.