Curating Tourism Experiences through Colonial Culinary Heritage: A Study of Traditional and Contemporary Practices in Pondicherry

Abstract

Pondicherry, a former French colony, is today recognized as a vibrant yet serene destination, offering a distinctive blend of colonial charm, spiritual heritage, and scenic beaches. Despite its growing importance as a tourist destination, the Union Territory remains at a nascent stage in harnessing its full potential in culinary tourism. With its rich French colonial legacy, the presence of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and deep-rooted Tamil heritage, Pondicherry presents a unique and layered culinary landscape. However, limited scholarly attention has been devoted to critically analyze these culinary traditions for the strategic promotion of culinary tourism.
This study aims to analyze the traditional and lived practices of Pondicherry’s colonial culinary heritage and examine how these can be curated and positioned for culinary tourism development. Guided by an Interpretivist paradigm, the research adopts a qualitative, exploratory case study approach. Data were collected through participant observation in domestic households and commercial kitchens along with secondary data like archival cookbooks, restaurant menus, tourism promotional materials, Google Ratings for Restaurants and YouTube content highlighting Pondicherry’s culinary offerings.
Thematic content analysis and descriptive analysis were employed to examine how colonial culinary heritage is transformed and represented, as well as to understand the culinary tourism trend and tourist preferences. Drawing insights from Postcolonial Theory and experience economy theory, the study seeks to propose curated culinary tourism experiences that offer diverse and meaningful engagements. The expected outcomes include creation of different tourism experiences through cultural interpretation centres, food festivals, Culinary Heritage walks, Home based Cooking classes and workshops, host family dining or dining in historic settings to support culinary tourism promotion. The study is expected to contribute to tourism scholarship by linking culinary heritage with experiential tourism and heritage preservation within a postcolonial urban context.