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Slovenia lies at the crossroads of the Alpine, Mediterranean and Pannonian regions, and this variety of geographical landscapes is reflected in its diverse and rich culinary heritage. Down the centuries, the diverse culinary heritage developed as part of everyday life and the festive calendar in close correlation to whatever nature provided and to the standard of living.

In 2006 Slovenia adopted the Gastronomic Strategy of Slovenia, which includes a culinary pyramid with 24 gastronomic regions and over 360 distinct dishes with a local character. Posavje with Bizeljsko represents one of the gastronomic regions of Slovenia. The National Gastronomic Strategy lists the following dishes and wines for the Posavje Region: pofaláča, bizeljski ajdov kolač (Bizeljsko buckwheat cake), koruzna prga (corn cake), pleteno srce (plaited-dough heart), bizeljska mlinčevka (Bizeljsko flat cake tart) and white and red wine Bizeljčan. These dishes and wines represent the foundation of the distinct culinary identity of the Posavje and Bizeljsko Region.

The aim of this chapter is to define the culinary heritage of the Posavje Region and identify its special and characteristic taste. A mix of methods including qualitative research, field research, expert groups and workshops was applied to identify dishes, recipes and ingredients in everyday and festive cuisine as well as cuisine related to different jobs and tasks. A gastronomic pyramid of the Posavje Region was developed and culinary workshops were conducted to introduce regional gastronomy to tourism. Challenges identified in the project exposed the need for the establishment of local supply chains, good cooperation among stakeholders in tourism, quality assurance, branding and other issues related to local tourism and gastronomic development.

This paper aims to describe the way participants in the hobby of gourmet cooking in the USA manage culinary information in their homes.

The study utilizes domain analysis and serious leisure as a conceptual framework and employs an ethnographic approach. In total 20 gourmet cooks in the USA were interviewed at home and then their culinary information collections were documented through a guided tour and photographic inventory. The resulting ethnographic record was analyzed using grounded theory and NVivo software.

The findings introduce the personal culinary library (PCL): a constellation of cooking‐related information resources and information structures in the home of the gourmet cook, and an associated set of upkeep activities that increase with the collection's size. PCLs are shown to vary in content, scale, distribution in space, and their role in the hobby. The personal libraries are characterized as small, medium or large and case studies of each extreme are presented. Larger PCLs are cast as a bibliographic pyramid distributed throughout the home in the form of a mother lode, zone, recipe collection, and binder.

Insights are provided into three areas: scientific ethnography as a methodology; a theory of documents in the hobby; and the changing role of information professionals given the increasing prevalence of home‐based information collections.

This project provides an original conceptual framework and research method for the study of information in personal spaces such as the home, and describes information phenomena in a popular, serious leisure, hobby setting.

The chapter is an auto-ethnographic account of the self-management of a chronic illness within the context of a participatory research project on Mediterranean Diet (MD). A group of Italian women with type 2 diabetes is following a non-medical, personal interpretation of the Mediterranean-style diet. The research account is preceded by a critical appraisal of the scientific narratives of the MD.

Analysis of epidemiological research on MD examines some methodological aspects of gender blindness in its scientific approach. The ethnography concerns self-management of MD diet and redefinition of gender relations.

MD is analyzed as a case of transplantation of yesterday’s cultural and social capitals of the peasant classes, to today’s discourses on food considered as appropriate for affluent people suffering from satiety diseases. The ethnography highlights gender aspects of biographical work, examining in particular a “conversion” dietary model.

The ethnography must be amplified to include women and men from different social classes with various Mediterranean cooking habits, and family and gender patterns.

The chapter highlights cultural processes for women’s empowerment in self-managing type 2 diabetes.

This chapter may represent a seminal sociological work on chronic illness, gender and food studies in one of the “native” contexts of the Mediterranean-style diet.

India is edging China to become the most populous country by 2028. More than 60 per cent of the current population of India is between 15 and 59 years of age, whereas domestically, its relatively youthful profile is seen as the biggest challenge for the government, as India is the largest employable manpower base globally. In the past two decades, the rate of population growth in India has reduced, but the skilled labor force is expected to grow almost 2 per cent annually for the next couple of years. Historically, the Indian economy has been mainly agriculturally based, but, with urbanization, the labor is drifting toward service sectors, and people are increasingly looking to develop their skills in sectors such as hotels, restaurants, airlines, retail and health care. To sustain economic growth, there is an urgent need to develop vocational training programs that address current needs. In spite of all the favorable numbers, the question that must be answered by employers and policymakers remains: Is the available labor being skilled appropriately to be employable? The mushrooming of educational and training institutes in India has imparted professional skills to youth, but industry leaders tend to talk about the unavailability of skilled labor, especially in the culinary skills arena. In a country like India, the labor market tends to alternate between the availability and shortage of skilled labor, and so it seems ironic that on the one hand, there is a shortage of staff and at the same time graduates from various colleges and professional institutes remain unemployed; the reason could be lack of employability skills, especially culinary skills. Given this, the hospitality and tourism industry has emerged as the main driver of the service sector in India; it contributes 6.23 per cent to National GDP and 8.78 per cent of the total employment in India, contributing to significant economic growth. In this context, it is imperative for the government to take appropriate steps in devising strategies to address the problem and also secure successful implementation. This paper aims to analyze the Skill India initiative for the hospitality sector and compare it with the realities on the ground, with particular reference to culinary skills.

The research reported here was conducted using primary and secondary sources. Industry data were collected through focused groups and roundtable discussions. Online sources, magazines, newspapers and books are referred to as secondary sources, and the data collected are critically analyzed to reach a conclusion.

There is a significant increase in foreign and domestic tourists, and the subsectors discussed are very closely linked to food, health, traditional cooking, regional and seasonal cuisines. The demand for Indian food and slow cooking is increasing; however, despite various government initiatives, there is no significant improvement in the skill set of the available labor. As food is an important component of all tourism packages, there is a particular need for public–private partnerships to take the Skill India initiative to the next level. That said, academic standards and curriculum must align with international quality frameworks and be in sync with current and future industry demands and benchmarks.

The dependence on the sources available online and their credibility remains the biggest challenge; however, increasing the sample size and more participation from nodal bodies and government officials would have broadened the base of the study.

The research adds value for industry leaders and policymakers at large. Educational institutions, students and hoteliers will find it useful as they attempt to bridge the gap and plan a roadmap according to industry requirements.

The importance of gastronomy for tourism development has been broadly recognised in academic literature and practice, as it represents an essential element of tourism services and has a significant impact on customer satisfaction. Gastronomy in the Western Balkans has attracted increasing attention from tourism and hospitality researchers since the fall of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. As a relatively new topic in academic literature, it requires frequent and critical monitoring that can shed light on current research and practice and make needed adjustments in terms of future development. However, to date, there have been few systematic reviews of this body of work. As such, this study aims to fill this void by conducting a qualitative analysis of the development of gastronomy in the Republic of Slovenia. Particular attention has been devoted to the presentation of gastronomic heritage, tourism and policies implemented by Slovenian authorities in order to strategically develop the national gastronomic identity. Based on a literature review and interviews with experts from academia and practice, the findings reveal that for the successful development of gastronomy, a strategic approach to gastronomy and tourism development is needed. The development of gastronomy is also vital for the improvement of tourism and gastronomic services at the regional, local and entrepreneurial levels. The results of this study will be of interest to policymakers, researchers and practitioners. This research has also raised many questions requiring further investigation. It is suggested that future longitudinal studies include interviews with different groups of stakeholders and empirically investigate the different perspectives of gastronomy development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine base of pyramid (BOP) customer perceptions on the importance of branding as a purchase driver and to investigate firms' marketing programs used to manage brands at the BOP.

Qualitative data collection methods comprising in‐depth one‐to‐one consumer interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observations and case studies were used to conduct the research.

Key findings include the identification of importance of brands to BOP consumers, evolution of brand communities, and impact of social networks on the marketing programs used by firms to build brand equity.

The sample used for consumer interviews is small and confining the focus to the food and personal hygiene sector may limit generalization of findings to a broader population.

The study provides managers with insights on the importance of brands in the purchase decision at BOP and on the different nature and focus of marketing programs which can be effective at the BOP, specifically the need to align programs to social networks.

The study provides insights on how firms can improve livelihoods at the BOP by provision of employment and business opportunities through their brand equity building activities.

Research into the BOP is a relatively new area of study in international business. This expands knowledge in the area by employing empirical mixed research methods to study consumers and firms, since the two have a dyadic relationship – thereby providing new insights on branding at the BOP.

Today's restaurant customer is tempted with an unprecedented array of culinary delights coming from all around the planet. Consumers have been increasingly concerned about personal well-being and are better equipped to gain knowledge about health and nutrition through abundant information in print and other media such as the Internet. This study strives to discover what German restaurant goers really consider to be healthy. Due to the paucity of literature on healthy meals, this research attempts to initiate exploratory investigations testing a new psychological construct of healthy meals by using college students as the study population. This study finds that low-fat and non-genetically modified ingredients are the main concerns when respondents select a healthy meal. In addition, gender and eating habits affect the perceptions of healthy meals. Lastly, drawing from the key findings, suggestions for future research are proposed.

Deficiency of nutrition is generally referred to as malnutrition; however, malnutrition can refer to both overnutrition and undernutrition. Nutrient availability and intake are current challenges for society, and these challenges will only intensify as population continues to grow and resources become more stressed. This chapter examines the need for dietary guidelines to increase nutrition security, describes the history of dietary guidelines in the United States, examines compliance and challenges with compliance of dietary guidelines, and finishes with future implications of dietary guidelines. This study concluded that although the purpose of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines is to assist Americans in choosing healthy eating patterns and to alleviate the negative health and economic outcomes associated with malnutrition, consumers typically do not follow the USDA Dietary Guidelines due to their inherent complexities and other factors, such as income and access to food which may affect compliance.

This paper aims to deliver new models of brand management in bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid (BoP) markets, considering the personality traits, image, technology and reputation of firms associated with the brands.

Reviewing the previous research studies, the paper advocates new strategies for enhancing the performance of global brands in BoP market segments, improving brand‐positioning approaches, measuring brand performance and consumer value, evaluating brand attributes, and underlining brand dynamics in the competitive marketplace.

The study argues that the performance of global brands in low‐profile consumer market segments is constrained by high transaction costs and coordination problems along the brand promotions, consumption and consumer value chain. Hence, firms looking towards managing brands in BoP market segments need to reduce brand costs by increasing the volume of sales and augmenting consumer value. Brands of BoP market segments are socially and culturally embedded. They are co‐created by consumers and firms, and positioned with the influence of brand equity of the premium market. Unlike traditional brands, BoP brands may be sufficiently malleable to support brand interpretations in the rural and suburban consumer segments.

Acquired brands need to be merged into the existing structure, especially where these brands occupy market positions similar to those of existing brands. A balance needs to be maintained between the brand name and its equity. Managers should keep themselves better informed about consumer needs, market changes and company initiatives, thereby enabling staff to help consumers to improve service quality, which in turn can improve market positioning.

In today's rapidly changing product markets, a firm needs to focus on a limited number of strategic brands in international markets in order to consolidate and strengthen its position and enhance brand power. The paper offers new business strategies to managers on brand positioning and targeting in suburban and rural markets with convenience packaging, pricing and psychodynamics.

New initiatives to manage global brands in BoP markets comprising suburban and rural markets that need to be implemented in the existing organizational culture are discussed.