Main Impacts of Food And Wine Festivals All Over the World - Case Study Example

Student Name: Tutor: Course: Title: The Five Impacts of Food and Wine Festivals Date: Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………..3 2.0 Impacts of Food and Wine Festivals………………………………4 2.1 Cultural Impacts…………………………………………….4 2.2 Social Impacts………………………………………………6 2.3 Economic Impacts……………………………………..……7 2.4 Economic-Political Impacts………………………………..8 2.5 Environmental Impacts……………………………………9 3.0 Conclusion………………………………………………………..10 4.0 Bibliography……………………………….………………….…11 5.0 Appendix………………………………………..…………………12 1.0 Introduction Food and Wine festivals are a very critical component of cultural expression in various civilizations. As things stand, various countries choose to hold these festivals to showcase whatever cuisines that are available in their various cultures. As a matter of fact, these festivals have a very big impact on a country. Five of these impacts include cultural, social, economic-political, economic and environmental. Out of all these impacts, there are those that seem to bear both advantages and disadvantages, while there are those that only create advantages or disadvantages. This paper will focus on the aforementioned impacts of the Food and Wine Festivals all over the world, while focusing on two particular festivals from Australia. 2.0 Impacts of Food and Wine Festivals 2.1 Cultural Impacts Closely knit communities have a way of celebrating their cultures in such a way that they remain alive through ages, and are passed down to generations. Food and Wine festivals are just but an example of such celebrations that always point out to the outside world what the said community has on offer for them. For a start, these festivals are a way of life for many communities that resides within certain locations. An example that would suffice here is the Melbourne Food and Wine Festivals. Hall and Sharples (2008) report that the Melbourne Food and Wine Festivals gets to reveal more than just the available culinary delights that are a characteristic among the communities that resides within Melbourne. For this reason, even chefs, authors of books on food recipes also get to showcase whatever it is that they have on offer. This means that the community displays more than just the food. The larger the number of people who attend these events, the wider the audience that gets to sample what is on offer. Secondly, food and wine festivals brings in a number of people who are foreign in the areas where they are held. For instance, if a food and wine festivals is held in Adelaide, say, then we can expect various visitors of different types to visit from far-flung regions. Of course Sydney may have a number of representatives from its own committees that organize for similar events just to visit and sample whatever is on offer. However, there are tourists who may find it appealing to attend the event with the sole aim of checking on the food cultures from the particular area. More often than not, wine connoisseurs find it quite refreshing to visit such events so they can find out for themselves the wine cultures in said areas. Cultural matters are very important. Some communities use cultural identity to separate themselves from many others. However, food and wine festivals pose a grave danger to the preservation of cultures. Without a patent to some products from these festivals, there is a great risk of losing out on people who may be interested in exporting the recipes and using them for their own benefit, maybe even without correctly mentioning or citing the source of the recipe. This dilutes the cultural impact of food and wine festivals since unique cultural aspects of dishes and wines from certain regions may be stolen and used elsewhere to attract another population, and to the benefit of whoever takes these recipes without citing sources. This means that food and wine festivals would in fact be an avenue for patenting things like food and wine recipes that are unique to the community that chooses to exhibit the said food during such festivals (Hu, pg. 3, 2010). It is therefore only prudent that each and every participant in such festivals patent their products so that they do not stand a chance of allowing other people to import their cultures without using proper recognition of the sources of the recipes that were used to bring up such delicacies. 2.2 Social Impacts In every setting, there are certain rules and regulations that set up a tone for social interactions. It goes without saying that each and every region has a unique social setup that may be used to identify them. For instance, we can attribute socialization as the main factor that influences how people live in urban setups. Be that as it may, wine and food festivals are bound to alter the setup and even shake it up for some time. With such events, there is always expected that people from diverse social backgrounds congregate and offer different and diverse angles to socialization. In regard to such, it is appropriate to state that the amount of social capital available from such a scenario is overwhelming. Hall (2005) compares social setups as areas where social capital may be gained or lost. However, food and wine festivals mainly foster positive attributes of social capital. A great instance would be the events presenting an opportunity for chefs from different areas, say, meet to exchange notes on their cultures, hence gaining a lot from the exchanges. A great feature of food and wine festivals is that the residents or people from the immediate community always come together to work and make the festivals a success. For this reason, most of those who participate offer their services free of charge as volunteers. This means that at the end of the day, they come out with social capital as the biggest benefit besides the generally accepted benefit of getting to sample different cuisines and wines from different areas of the region. This means that there are various challenges to contend with. Dougherty recognizes this as a big challenge that may well present both positive and negative aspect of food and wine festivals with regard to the social capital generated from the event. This means that while people get to offer their services as volunteers, there are others who may get exasperated in the process due to social-cultural effects that they may not be happy with. For instance, some volunteers may not be happy with how visitors may treat them, while others may engage in behaviour that is foreign to the setting and the locals, thus creating a lot of confusion. Such events also come with a lot of risks, meaning that there has to be a very elaborate arrangement made to take care of anything that arises out of the event. For instance, wine enthusiasts may indulge in more than is necessary, thereby creating a situation where someone needs to take care of them so that they do not harm themselves or other participants. This may take several angles, including a legal one that protects everyone and every business, if any. 2.3 Destination Marketing – Economic Impacts As initially intimated, food festivals attract people from far-flung areas. While an event, say Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, ma attract locals and even Australian nationals, it has the capacity to attract people from farther than the borders. Such are the impact of food and wine festivals. In the event that Melbourne is taken as a destination for the said festival, then there is more to it than just the tourism that is expected to spring from the visitors getting to come and see and experience for themselves all activities in such festivals. The Telegraph (2015) identifies Australia as a prime location and destination for tourists to find and visit food and wine festivals during different seasons. The economic state of a region is very much affected when food and wine festivals are held within. To start off, Morgan (2015) pictures a scenario where the forex market of a country benefit largely from the foreign exchange in cash brought about by the high numbers of tourists who choose to attend such events. This in itself is a boon for any economy. Events such as food and wine festivals take place over a certain period of time. For instance, the Mayfair Hotel, Adelaide, is bound to host a number of events during the Adelaide Night Noodle Markets. This means that the hotel industry too gets to benefit as many of the participants from far-flung areas, including tourists, will be accommodated in the various hotels that can offer accommodation. It is in contention, that food and wine festivals are a boon for localities, but may not exactly be the mirror of the whole region, thus creating a situation where the event serves to showcase certain attributes that cannot be extrapolated to the region. For instance, Melbourne and many of the regions that host such events may be producers of certain agricultural product that are used in producing the food and wine presented at the festival, yet the region may not be a particularly significant producer of the same agricultural product. As such, the potential to create a false impression is largely possible, and high. The impression that is created by food and wine festivals may not really be that which is true about a locality. Events serve to showcase various aspects about a community within which the events are run. However, they also present challenges thereafter. For instance, a frequent hosting of events within a certain destination may create a booming business in areas like accommodation and other auxiliary services. For instance, the cost of accommodation may go up, seeing as more people struggle to find accommodation for their stay during such events. The cost of accommodation may thereafter not go down since some entities may not want to lower their charges and incur losses (Robertson and Frew, pg. 4, 2013). 2.4 Economic-Political It is acceptable to state that tourism arising from food and wine festivals are a great way of creating revenue streams that the national economy can enjoy. Be that as it may, there are even further effects that are generally termed as multiplier effects. These effects cause more benefits to second users other than the people who are direct participants in the event. To start off, it would be appropriate to state that suppliers and buyers of products to and from the food and wine festival are distant beneficiaries of what is on offer from the food festival. Saayman and Saayman (2015) engage an even more intricate connection between food and wine festivals and the political wellbeing of a country. In creating this connection, they state that such activities are avenues for the creation of employment and other opportunities, which reduce rates of employments, hence increase the state of wellbeing of a population within the whole region. Blichfeldt and Halkier (2015) are of the opinion that community development does more than just lift the wellbeing of the community. Besides this, the community development experienced during cultural festivals are part and parcel of the packages that make sure politicians are more comfortable running the country since they have a better satisfied populace. The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is held in such high esteem since it holds more advantages for Melbournians than can be envisaged. Getz (2014) is convinced that the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is now a permanent fixture in the existence of the people of Melbourne. It is considered more of an institution than ever before since it holds much more for the community than can be gainsaid. All that accrues out of such an event seems to only bear good tidings for a country. However, every silver lining has a cloud! While it is great to host such events, there is a great chance that the patented products, as initially intimated, may find way into regions where it is not recognized as originally from a foreign location, say Australia, and Melbourne in particular. 2.4 Environmental Impacts Food management is not as easy as it may appear. Agricultural practises that come with advancement in technology appear to have created the need to use more chemicals than necessary in food production. Even more devastating is the fact that food production now comes with a relatively high amount of carbon footprint when compared to initial periods when more organic fertilizers and other products were common. This simply means that more people are bound to get affected since more industrial affluent goes into water ways from production of food. In addition, Collins and Cooper (2016) contend that such events leave a very huge dent on what may be considered as the normal ecological footprint of the people who reside around the area that hosts a food and wine festival. While it is prudent to take note of effects of such activities and take drastic measures to repair them, it would even be more effective if at all the organizers of such events would insist that participants and those who are showcasing their products embrace a stated modus operandi that will ensure the carbon footprint does not do so much damage to the environment. The effects of taking unsustainable means to achieving success in hosting an event like a foods and wines festival cannot be overlooked. We cannot, as well, claim ignorance and decide to ignore the potential effects of being careless with such activities. As such, there are more than enough measures that should be taken to discourage use of non-environment friendly practices and technology. However, there comes a big challenge in the manner of excessive funds to be used when embracing green technology. While this is so, the long run may see a more restricted use of funds since it is mainly the overhead associated with such green technology that increase initial operational costs. Conclusion Germov and Williams (2014) claim that rural areas are wont to host food and wine festivals than urban areas. Well, this may be true, but the general idea is that food and wine festivals come with a lot of advantages for the area where they are held. Be that as it may, these festivals hold five main impacts that may serve to either benefit or not benefit the people around those areas. It is widely believed that food and wine festivals are great points from which cultures and socialization of a people are shared. For instance, the Adelaide Night Noodle goes a long way in showing the cultures of the people of Adelaide, as well as become a point where their socialization is displayed. Economic and political impacts of these festivals is evident when the socio-economic wellbeing of the people in and around the areas that host these events becomes better. Further, the environmental impacts of such activities also show the dark side of technological advancements and how they affect the regions that host food and wine festivals. Bibliography Blichfeldt, B.S. and Halkier, H., 2014. Mussels, tourism and community development: a case study of place branding through food festivals in rural North Jutland, Denmark. European Planning Studies, 22(8), pp.1587-1603. Collins, A. and Cooper, C., 2016. Measuring and managing the environmental impact of festivals: the contribution of the Ecological Footprint. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, pp.1-15. Dougherty, M.L., Brown, L.E. and Green, G.P., 2013. The Social Architecture of Local Food Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities for Community Economic Development*. Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 28(2), p.1. Germov, J. and Williams, L.T., 2014. A qualitative study of slow food in Australia. Getz, D., 2014. Food and wine events as permanent institutions. Food and wine events in Europe, pp.28-44. Hall, C.M., 2005. Rural wine and food tourism cluster and network development. Rural tourism and sustainable business, pp.149-164. Hall, C.M. and Sharples, L., 2008. Food and wine festivals and events around the world: Development, management and markets. Routledge. Hu, Y., 2010. An exploration of the relationships between festival expenditures, motivations, and food involvement among food festival visitors. Morgan, M.J., 2015. Food Festivals, Food Marketing and the Re-invention of a Rural Community. The Journal of New Business Ideas & Trends, 13(2), p.57. Robertson, M. and Frew, E., 2013. Events and festivals: current trends and issues. Routledge. Saayman, M. and Saayman, A., 2015. Economic impact of cultural events. South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 7(4), pp.629-642. The Telegraph, 2015. Food Festivals for All in Australia. The Telegraph, UK. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/travel/australian-food-wine/11776239/food-festivals-australia.html {Accessed on 2nd June, 2016}. 5.0 Appendices i. Adelaide Night Noodle Market ii. Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Read More