Charleston Cooks! - eatdrink Magazine

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FOOD WRITER AT LARGE
issue no. 20
Culinary Tourism
Interest is growing for a London Initiative
By Bryan Lavery
Regular readers of eatdrink magazine
may recall my recent articles about
culinary tourism and community
building. I would like to give you
an update on conversations and progress in
this area.
In speaking with Tourism London, I identi�ed
the need to de�ne culinary tourism
and to catalogue the multiple culinary tourism
experiences and opportunities
in the London region. I also determined
that much of the infrastructure
is already in place, that
there is a need to further identify
collaborative partners and then
develop and grow existing culinary
forums and services.
In an e�ort to uphold the
case for London to be formally
recognized as a unique culinary
tourism region, I am continuing
to map and track the most sustainable and
economically relevant social and cultural
forces at work in our culinary sector. �e next
steps are to further develop a local Culinary
Tourism Initiative Association and Board, as
well as a blog, newsletter and website.
I am encouraged by the initial steps for a
more vigorous culinary initiative in the London
region. Tourism London has embraced
the �rst step and is partially funding a local
culinary guide. Published by the London
Magazine Group, publishers of eatdrink, the
culinary guide will take a comprehensive
and integrated approach to promoting our
local culinary community by identifying
London and area as a desirable destination
for those interested in culinary tourism, as a
primary or secondary consideration.
To this end, the early adopters in this
initiative want to create an annual, unique
publication that will highlight the diverse
culinary people and businesses in London
and area. �is will function as much more
than a restaurant guide, although it will do
that well too. �is resource will complement
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2010
and supplement the London Visitors’ Guide
published by Tourism London. �e culinary
guide will be ported to the web, where it will
also be enhanced with video and interactivity
and integrated with the innovative new Tourism
London website designed by local design
studio Velocity and Associates under the direction
of Marco Di Carlo and Shane Stuart.
�e culinary guide will show our city to its
best advantage. eatdrink will provide some
mentoring, if desired, for the culinary
community in promoting
their businesses in this publication.
It will be of bene�t for foodrelated
businesses to advertise in
this publication as it is so closely
linked to their industry. �e primary
target audience includes
people from London and region,
and those visiting the area who
have an interest in culinary experiences,
whether that is the purpose
of the trip or an added attraction.
�e guide will complement Tourism London’s
marketing to the corporate meeting and
incentive travel audience, as well as group
and motor coach tour marketers. �e publication
will include original, local and innovative
photography and original, more comprehensive
editorial content to more e�ectively
promote the culinary businesses in the area.
Ontario Culinary Tourism Summit
I recently attended the Ontario Culinary
Tourism Summit in Toronto to investigate
current developments, funding opportunities,
strategic partnerships and best
practices of other Ontario regions that are
leading in the �eld of culinary tourism. I
was joined by one other person, who represented
a London-based business association
and was very interested to learn how
a more broad-based culinary tourism may
bene�t existing London businesses and help
to attract more culinary-related investment
in the vicinity. Together we looked at the