%0 Journal Article
%T What is the future of foreign food experiences?
%A Erwin Losekoot
%A John Hornby
%J Research in Hospitality Management
%D 2019
%R https://doi.org/10.1080/22243534.2019.1653603
%X This article considers the impact foreign food experiences can have on an individual. Food can be transported across the globe and be a catalyst for understanding and integration, but it can also be used to emphasise the ¡°otherness¡± that sets people apart from those around them. This may lead them to ¡°gaze¡± on foods they are unfamiliar with distaste, or with a desire to understand and appreciate new culinary experiences. Using groups of international students who are in a ¡°host¡± country, a live research project was created where they were asked to discuss their experiences of ¡°foreign¡± food since arriving in New Zealand. Through a series of focus groups held as part of a research methods class, researchers sought to understand how students perceive and respond to ¡°strange food¡±. Five themes were identified: universal foods; great discoveries; things they will never like; benchmarking; and home foods. Apart from the value of involving students as co-creators in a live research project, this study noted the importance of food in hospitableness and feeling ¡°at home¡±, and raised the students¡¯ awareness of what it felt like to be confronted by strange experiences. It also discovered that while foreign food experiences can break down barriers in a global village, it can also serve to highlight, emphasise and reinforce a feeling of ¡°otherness¡±
%U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/22243534.2019.1653603