Rural Wine and Food Tourism for Cultural Sustainability

This conceptual article explores the relationships between culture, sustainability, and rural tourism. The development of food and wine tourism and its role in cultural sustainability is given special consideration. Soini and Dessein's three-part, interdisciplinary conceptual framework for culture in , for, and as sustainability is presented as a means to understand the relationships between culture and sustainability. When applied to rural tourism, the framework reveals that rural tourism can support cultural sustainability in all three ways described: culture in sustainability, where tourism is a means to conserve tangible and intangible cultural capital and the diversity of cultural expressions; culture for sustainability, where tourism is a resource for rural development and a way to shape development processes; and ultimately, culture as sustainability, where tourism is a vehicle to facilitate a fundamental paradigm shift towards a shared "culture of sustainability." Illustrative case examples are discussed. Culture in , for, and as sustainability offers a framework for researchers and developers to critically analyze what is being sustained through tourism and why. Further research considering the transformative potential of rural wine and food tourism to support cultural sustainability is suggested.