This article explores how food becomes a gateway to understanding and appreciating the country’s traditions, while also driving economic growth and cultural exchange on a global scale.
Pakistan’s tourism landscape is a rich tapestry threaded with the colours of its vast culinary progress. Culinary tourism, also defined as food tourism or gastronomy tourism, is the experience of exploring food as the purpose of tourism. Pakistan, a cultural and culinary melting point, offers a vast variety of cuisines, and thus, experiences, for food tourists. This is corroborated by an influx of tourists, bloggers, and explorers, all of whom find some aspect of what they come searching for in various parts of the country.
Whether it be hiking to the snowy peaks of K2 or Nanga Parbat, a blissful retreat to Murree or Fairy Meadows, or even if one finds themselves meandering southwards, through the cultural enigma of Punjab’s historical sights, down to the magnetic cosmopolitan attraction of Sindh’s various cities, the culinary experience is only a singular aspect of all the country has to offer. With a growing global emphasis on an appreciation of other cultures and their authenticity, it becomes more important than ever to harness this attention and direct it towards positive growth.
Yet, the culinary tourism that Pakistan offers is so unique, so central in its intention, yet so interwoven with culture, that tourists find themselves drawn time and time again to the experience. Pakistan’s social fabric, like a number of Asian countries, places a central focus on family, on upholding traditions, and of the collective as a whole.
This is reflected in the way we eat: with traditional restaurants and eateries maintaining their cultural means of production, recipes and ingredients, as well as a collective eating structure, and a sense of brotherhood that underlies the culinary exchange.
Food brands have taken notice of this demand, this need for not just food but an entire culinary experience, and like any demand function of the free market system: have responded with an increase in supply. There are a number of ways that food brands interact with culinary tourism.
There are two approaches to culinary tourism: that which takes place in the bustling metropolitan setting, of busy roads and the smell of development, cities folding unto themselves to make space for population, the smell of spices and hot oil, restaurateurs feeding thousands of mouths a day. On the other hand, culinary tourism looks like spots hidden away in nooks and crannies of icy rivers, mountains, and winding roads where nary a car can make its way. The cosmopolitan culinary landscape is fast-evolving, being able to attract hordes of its customers with singular events or attempts at exposure.
Concepts such as the food street of old Lahore have been brought to life through hashtags and influencer marketing.
Financial, practical, and logistical obstacles to engaging customers all diminish in the face of digital marketing. The media commercialisation of such events is also a result of digitisation: using influencers and celebrities to draw attendees to specific events or trends, and enabling tourists to connect with brands before physical contact is even initiated.
There is much progress to be made in the northern regions of Pakistan through leveraging such innovation as well. Talk of traditional marketing forms brings to mind print ads and billboards, flyers and magazines, but the difficult terrain and diluted population of the north makes such efforts comparatively ineffective.
However, harnessing digital platforms to appeal to the tourist consumer base would allow for an easier, more targeted, and more direct approach. Like all factors discussed above, an intersectional approach is required to truly harness the possible advantages.
There is a significant infrastructure and digital development journey to embark upon before both the physical and digital landscapes can truly be optimised to cater to the needs of the modern tourist, and to provide them what they come searching for.
Culinary tourism in Pakistan extends far beyond a simple international exchange of goods and services and shared experiences. Pakistan’s rich cultural landscape allows for inter-provincial and intracultural variance, often resulting in the largest impacts of tourism having an internal effect. From Karachi’s bustling street-life to the walled majesties of old Lahore, from nooks and crannies in Hunza and Skardu to the deserts of Sindh and Balochistan, each Pakistani citizen has a world of flavour that awaits them from within the borders of their own country.
In this newly digital age, food brands now have endless opportunities to leverage their unique identities on a global scale, integrating themselves into Pakistan’s macroeconomic and international goals. The culmination of this serves as a testament to the country’s capabilities within cultural traditions and norms that are often perceived as barriers to global success.
The success of culinary tourism cannot be solely attributed to the food industry, but to the cultural and traditional practices that make Pakistan’s culinary industry an experience that is more than a plate of food, more than a meal at a restaurant. Likewise, the development that this growing industry demands is not solely the responsibility of these eateries, but of the institutions and infrastructures that our country has grown to develop. In conclusion, the country owes itself a pat on the back, not only for the efforts of its tourism board, but for the recognition of social and cultural qualities- that culminate in its unique culinary experiences.
Events like Karachi Eat and Lahore Eat attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, exposing the target consumer base to a variety of smaller, niche food brands that would otherwise only exist on digital platforms. The digitisation of culinary tourism is a tool that allows for previously unprecedented returns on investment. Pakistani brands can utilise digital platforms to overcome resource scarcity and achieve new heights, all through a screen.