Extraordinary or ordinary? Food tourism motivations of Japanese domestic noodle tourists

This study investigated food tourist\u27s motivations, using an inductive phenomenological approach. Participants for the study were selected among food tourists who were at least partially motivated to visit specific locations associated with food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production regions. The paper is informed by 26 interviews which were conducted with respondents from the Mizusawa udon village in Japan. The findings indicate that the key motives of Japanese food tourists travelling to the Mizusawa udon village included: media exposure; enhanced awareness; reminiscence and memories; imagined sensory appeal; textural seduction; heritage; authenticity of cooking methods and foodways; and escapism, prestige and self-enhancement. Based on these findings, a range of recommendations are proposed