Gastronomy as a mean of marketing management and rural destination development

Culinary experience is an unforgettable experience and a highlight for many tourists. The food contains "energy of love" and can be a powerful “push-up effect”. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that influence the culinary experience, and in this context, to introduce hedonistic food from Serbia. The paper is based on empirical research carried out amongst 328 foreign tourists “taste trekkers” from eight countries who visited six traditional farmhouses (Salaši) in the rural destination of Vojvodina Province (Northern Serbia) from August 2015 to August 2017. The results indicate that hedonistic culinary experience has been regarded as an infallible element of authentic travel experiences (91.4%), and that adequate marketing of very delicious food (yellow poultry soup with noodles and liver dumplings, kebab, homemade sausages, etc.) are the attributes that most affected tourist destination development