Gastronomy tourism: challenges and opportunities to value traditional mexican cuisine.

Abstract

Traditional Mexican cuisine is a living cultural expression with a long tradition, age-old skills, culinary techniques and ancestral ingredients. Mexican gastronomy is one of the fruits of the sea and the earth; from wild and ield-grown origins, as well as Pre-Hispanic ingredients enriched by the mixing with European traditions. The ive regions include the north, centre, high plateau, south and southeast in which every cuisine is unique, and is characterized and supported by the ecosystem and culture. In 2010, Mexican Gastronomy was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, and became one of the irst cuisines around the world to achieve this distinction. The basis of the Mexican gastronomy is native corn; therefore, its increasing volume is a fundamental issue in the context of the globalization of food and the introduction of genetically modiied maize.