Omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness are frequently discussed topics in food studies. Scholars have engaged with these concepts in consumerism and foodways. However, there is an existing research gap in the perspectives of restaurants on how they interpret these concepts and negotiate them in their daily operations. Using Shanghai as a case study, I examine how restaurant operators in Shanghai understand gastronomic omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness and how they employ them in operations to align with consumers’ desires. Do they admit the existence and importance of these concepts, and how do they interpret them? Do they take action on these ideas based on their understanding? If so, how do they employ omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness in restaurant operations? Do they construct their restaurants’ culinary identities, and how? I used semi-structured interviews with restaurant operators in Shanghai to investigate how they interpret omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness and employ these concepts in operations. The findings reveal that authenticity and exoticness are socially constructed culinary identities, and uniqueness and distinction are the true causes supporting the credibility and popularity of a restaurant. In addition, the study points out another form of omnivorousness in Shanghai, which has not been shown in previous studies. Finally, this research also shows that some factors in operations are not concerned by restaurant operators to build culinary identities, including ingredients, staff, service, and advertising.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/48964 |
| Date | 31 May 2024 |
| Creators | Li, Ziao |
| Contributors | Elias, Megan J., Metheny, Karen |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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