Folkloristic perspectives on food as tourism souvenir: a reflection on stereotypes, meanings and messages in Irish soda bread

ABSTRACT

Food has always been a pragmatic part of tourism and hospitality, but it is now being recognised as a souvenir — a reminder of a travel experience. Along with the usual functions of souvenirs as status symbol, proof of travel, window into the place visited, or keepsake of experiences there, food adds potential layers of meaning, enabling tourists to relive and even re-consume an experience. Food souvenirs can also be used to share a taste experience with others. This article adds perspectives from the humanities discipline of folkloristics to the existing scholarship on the subject of souvenirs. Using Irish soda bread as illustration, it explores how souvenirs as symbolic messages can carry a variety of meanings that can be misinterpreted. It also suggests a foodways framework for expanding the form of souvenirs beyond material objects and adapts another framework for identifying the different ways in which memories are attached to such objects, making them meaningful to individual tourists. These perspectives can help hospitality and tourism professionals select souvenirs that are culturally sensitive and respectful of a destination, as well as satisfying to the tourists themselves.

Keywords:

• foodways
• folklore
• memory
• St. Patrick’s Day
• symbol
• tourists