Abstract

This paper focuses on the socio-cultural dimensions of indigenous cuisine and cultural creative industry. It outlines ways of using indigenous cuisine as a cultural creative industry steeped in wider social, political and economic contexts. In particular, we offer relevant critical observations on the manifestations of everyday food consumption and explore its relationship to tourism development. These food practices are multifaceted, and like any cultural objects are represented in both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage resources of a locale. We argue that indigenous cuisine is an ‘alternative’ way of collecting and displaying traditional ecological knowledge through ethnic aestheticism. This paper draws on research from one Taiwanese East coast indigenous community, Rukai’s Taromak, based on longitudinal fieldwork since 2008. By using participation observation and in-depth interviews, this paper looks at the mundane practices and cultural events of Rukai’s people, attending to what food they eat and cook and how it is different from indigenous cuisine that is made for culinary tourism consumption. We argue that indigenous cuisine can play an important role in locally-oriented modes of culinary tourism and this is identified as a point of access to indigenous cultural creative industries. It also has the potential to enhance cultural identity and make the intercultural connections between host and guest.