Chapter 15: Udaipur as a Culinary Tourism Destination– An Exploration

Tourism is travel for pleasure or business. Tourism brings income into a local economy in the form of payment for goods and services needed by tourists, in addition to goods bought by tourists, including souvenirs. Culinary means the art of preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. Culinary tourism is defined as the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences. By combining travel with these edible experiences, culinary tourism offers both locals and tourists alike an authentic taste of the place. But culinary/food tourism is not limited to gourmet food. The World Food Travel Association adds that drinking beverages is an implied and associated activity in "Food Tourism". As Udaipur being most popular tourist destination in Rajasthan so as a author decided to take an exploratory research study on Udaipur as a Culinary Tourism destination. The ideas thrown up need further exploration and trial, but it may be suggested that it may be worth it to do the exploration and motivation. This may require research and exploration at international level, idea development and project work through joint efforts by tourism department, hotel industry and other stakeholders to put the idea into practice.