Abstract:
Gastronomy has always been linked with the tourism experience. However, it can be seen that this link between tourism and gastronomy is developing towards quite new tourism products. Gastronomy tourism is a result of this growth, which enables the tourists to indulge themselves with the food culture of the places they visit. During the past few years, traditional cooking demonstrations were initiated by individuals or families in Galle as small and medium scale enterprises. These cooking classes are rapidly gaining fame among international tourists and play a prominent role in the tourism sector now. This study was carried out to examine the nature and significance of these particular SMEs and to examine how their contribution can be expanded further for the development of Gastronomy tourism in Sri Lanka. The qualitative approach was followed as primary data were collected from owners of 10 cooking classes in the Galle district through semi-structured interviews and data was analyzed by using the content analysis method. Secondary data was gathered from reliable articles, websites, and books. The results of the study indicate that these ventures cater to the needs of guests through a good selection of local food items, proper demonstration of local ways of food preparation, and most importantly, making tourists actively participate in the cooking process and enabling them to experience Sri Lankan food culture first-hand.
