Digital Food and the Innovation of Gastronomic Tourism

Abstract

This article examines 17 examples of digital food in the tourism sector. Innovative digital transformation includes, for example, robots, integrated data-based servicescapes in restaurants, platform solutions that enhance community creation and sustainability, augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), smart destinations, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated a deeper tech-supported division of labor in the food sector, and transitions seem to be viable after the normalization of social life. Digital transformations may have come late in the food sector. However, the way that solutions are constantly modified converges with general logics in tech sector—that is, monopolistic tendencies, rapid accumulation, and planned upscaling and internationalization. Digital solutions receive widespread and positive appreciation for their ability to enhance creativity and experience value. Critical voices regarding new social practices are still limited, as are traces of e-fatigue. The article recommends that future studies embark on social, economic, and environmental discourses in greater depth. Critical theory will be helpful to guide the mapping of how digital food innovation can liberate, mobilize, and empower tourists and residents.