North-Atlantic gastrotourism on the move: constructing the Faroe Islands as a food destination

Abstract

In this article, we explore the role of gastronomy in the development of the Faroe Islands as a tourism destination. We describe and analyze the practices and discourses of the Michelin-star restaurant KOKS, a destination landmark, looking at how high-end food transformations contribute to broader processes of narrating and constructing the islands as a food destination. To trace what this construction looks like in practice, we zoom in on the intersections between KOKS and the emergence of the Faroe Islands as a foodie destination, showing how KOKS is performed in nature, on the move and online. Results show that these performances simultaneously construct and challenge the idea of Faroese terroir, which we see as a constant and heterogeneous process of building the narrative.

Keywords:

• Faroe Islands
• food tourism
• gastronomy
• place development

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the people who provided their perspectives on the development of gastro-tourism in the Faroe Islands.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Data is contained within the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially funded by the Department of Business, University of Girona.