Food As a Vehicle of Sense of Place in Ecomuseums Practices

Food is a medium for conveying intangible culture and local identity. It creates a connection between eating habits, familiar flavours, and an individual's cultural background, which includes identity, sense of place, emotions, and memories (Pravettoni, 2010). Ecomuseums are "locally-driven, place-based organizations that encourage sustainable community development, based on in situ heritage conservation and interpretation," and "they enable communities to preserve cultural practices" for local development (Saskatchewan, 2015). Through their active work, ecomuseums address a wide range of themes relevant to the local community, fostering a sense of place, a concept that involves the social dimensions of place and the emotional investment and meanings that local people attach to it (Hummon, 1992). Ecomuseums thus support the development of empathetic communities by strengthening the sense of place (Pigozzi, Borrelli, 2023). Food can be considered a "cultural touchstone," a special feature of our environment that we cherish (Davis, 2005), serving as an extension of community identity, telling the story of one's roots, heritage, and connection to a community. Each cuisine embodies a system of practices, values, and meanings shared by that community, representing a vital aspect of identity and a repository of traditions that shape an invaluable intangible heritage (Coloma, 2024). The purpose of this abstract is to explore how ecomuseums, through various food-related actions, can contribute to conveying and strengthening local identity and community cohesion, ultimately enhancing the sense of place.