Making tourism our business: Cultivating culinary tourism | Columnists

A work colleague recently struck up a conversation with a stranger at a Texas airport. Come to find out, the man had visited Saipan about 20 years when serving in the military. What did he remember most, my friend had asked. The food, he said. Specifically, the island barbecue, and even more specifically, the sauce.

Just the thought of “finadene” sauce with its balance of salty, sour, and spicy is enough to make most of our mouths water. And increasingly, travelers are looking for that unique sense of place that comes with eating the cuisine of a specific destination. This is what is known as gourmet or culinary travel. And this is something our intercultural Marianas can offer in spades.

UN Tourism (formerly, the United National World Tourism Organization) recognizes that “gastronomy and wine tourism contribute to promoting and branding destinations, maintaining and preserving local traditions and diversities, and harnessing and rewarding authenticity.”

I had mentioned in this article series that a few years ago, the Marianas Visitors Authority conducted an exit survey of visitors leaving the islands. One of the interesting results coming out of that survey was a desire of many our visitors to have “gourmet” experiences when visiting the Marianas. Sure, they want to have some of the same comfort food they are familiar with, but more and more, today’s traveler is ready for a gastronomic adventure.

This information points to an economic opportunity for local businesses to either promote their unique culinary delights to visitors, produce more local-inspired food offerings, come up with record breaking food challenges, devise an extremely unique dish that attracts worldwide attention, or even create a gourmet tour highlighting the best of what our islands have to offer at various restaurants. Imagine what that might look like! Every day, an exploration of different cultures and dishes. And barbecued fish, roasted breadfruit, fresh caught venison, coco mango, and fresh coconut or sugar cane juice might be a highlight of that tour. As a destination, we offer our visitors a taste of that at many of our festivals. We are also pleased to see more hotels and restaurants adding traditional Chamorro and Carolinian dishes to their menus or incorporating fusion items inspired by those culinary heritages. But we need more. This makes good business sense for tourism, as it incorporates both the promotion of local culture and increased sustainability in sourcing local food products.

We should also consider that culinary tourism is more than just consuming food. Some travelers are also interested in cooking, visiting a farm or a farmer’s market, and attending festivals dedicated to food and drinks. This is one of the reasons the Taste of The Marianas International Food Festival was created 25 years ago. Since its inception, the festival has continued to grow in both size and popularity through the years, breaking revenue records in recent years. During May Tourism Month, the MVA invites you to enjoy our most highly anticipated annual signature event, known to many as simply “Taste.” Held every Saturday night beginning at 5pm at American Memorial Park, this year’s festival will feature 29 food and drink vendors serving up the best of many cultures living in the Marianas. From local barbecue with “finadene” to the most popular international dishes, everyone should be able find something to satisfy their appetites at Taste. On top of that, the Subway Sandwich Challenge will—well, challenge—competitors to be the first to finish five footlong Subway sandwiches on May 4. From there, the Top 3 finishers will move on to the Oh My Grill (OMG) International Food Challenge on May 11, challenging professional competitive eater Sachiyo Masubuchi from Japan and Sang Hyuk Kwon from Korea to finish an entire Marianas-style BBQ platter within one hour, with the first finisher walking away with $1,000 cash. On May 18, the Marianas Chefs Competition will challenge 10 chefs to prepare the best beef rib eye steak dish within an hour, incorporating all local produce provided in a mystery box. And on the final night of May 25, the HANMI-NMTech Pastry Chef Competition will feature one of our favorite local desserts—lantiyas.

And speaking of NMTech, we are especially pleased with the institute’s work to train more local chefs through their culinary program. Not only is food & beverage one of the most in-demand jobs in our tourism industry, but with their unique culinary cultures and heritage, these new chefs have the potential to bring more “local” food and fusion dishes into our restaurants. Some of them may even become our Marianas culinary ambassadors as they pursue careers off-island.

Culinary tourism starts with first knowing the food of our culture, recognizing its value, and continuing to make it a part of our homes, our families, and—more and more—our tourism industry.