Slow food justice and tourism: tracing Karakılçık bread in Seferihisar, Turkey

Abstract

Using actor-network theory and the concept of the sociological imagination, this study follows the traces of an ancestral food, namely Karakılçık bread, in the Cittaslow destination of Seferihisar in İzmir, Turkey. Actor-network theory is used to explore economic, social, and cultural relationships and everyday practices in the making and selling of this ancestral bread. Tracing the bread in the networks of human and non-human relations helps towards understanding how slow food justice may be enacted in the hybrid socio-ecological-technological network of slow food tourism. The study shows the importance of local spaces like local farmers' markets that enable the sharing and conservation of food heritage through the social ordering of traditional Karakılçık bread. The festivalization of bread and the co-created experiences in local food places express values like sociality and conviviality that contribute to the well-being of residents and tourists alike. As interpreted in this study, slow food justice is a holistic concept that considers not simply principles like fairness and equity, but also resident and tourist well-being, cultural flourishing, and heritage conservation.

Keywords:

• Karakılçık bread
• Cittaslow
• slow food justice
• actor-network theory
• conviviality
• sociality

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

İlkay Taş Gürsoy

İlkay Taş Gürsoy is Dr. faculty member at Tourism Management Department, Reha Midilli Foça Tourism Faculty, Dokuz Eylül University. Her research interests include cultural heritage, sustainable tourism, social cohesion. She is a member of the executive team in the Erasmus + projects titled “Jean Monnet Chair in Social Cohesion”, “Jean Monnet Chair in European Social Policy” and “Heart of Anatolia Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence”.