Taste of tradition: a critical examination of the relationship between heritage, food and tourism promotion in Scotland.

Food has both traditional and historical aspects and it can often be used to link contemporary experiences with the past and thus mediate current constructions of what is authentic, positionally desirable or appropriately 'other'. This linkage is often facilitated by the tourism and heritage industries. Dominant ideological constructions of Scotland are such that it continues to be the rural space which lends both Scottish food and tourism products their particular appeal. This paper argues that the rural space remains powerfully locked into images of the past which are increasingly problematic for a post-devolution 'new Scotland'. The continued dominance of representations of 'peasant pasts' (crofting and clanship) and of landowners and aristocratic estates as symbolically representative of Scotland's rural space is such that current promotion of the cultural industries in these 'traditional' terms is both widespread and expected. Furthermore, it appears that linkages between the food and tourism industries are set to develop, and critical understanding of current configurations is crucial.