The Mediterranean Diet was one of the first food-related nominations on the international cultural heritage list. By introducing the concepts of “epistemic community” and “governmentality” to analyze this heritagization process, I will evaluate the participation and consent of “the Mediterranean people” and their belief in a common identity based in a holistic conception of this food tradition—the so-called diaita. My goal is to demonstrate that the inscription’s proposal was motivated first by a long-term strategy aimed at promoting an “umbrella brand” of agro-food products extended to the whole Mediterranean space. Then, I will emphasize the attempt to design a model of property rights protection that is adequate for this food label, which was later presented within the realm of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization as a measure for safeguarding the diaita as an item of intangible cultural heritage. Finally, I will argue that this claim totally omits the rights of the numerous expatriates living outside this region.

Since a long time ago, the Madeira Island is known all around the planet for its wine, not only as drink but also as an ingredient of the famous sauce Madère. This paper is about how this beverage made the leap into the gastronomy during the 2nd half of the 18th century, in both sides of the British Atlantic. Cookbooks and other kinds of documents from this period are explored to collect evidence related to this issue. An ethnological fieldwork within the Madeira Wine Company completed the historical approach to understand the potential outcomes of this study in what concerns the storytelling making about this drinkable heritage and the self-perception of producers as guardians of a true living tradition.

This article presents the results of an exploratory investigation looking for new applications of augmented reality (AR) technology to enhance the sustainability of cultural tourism. The ‘sandbox’ approach was initially developed by programmers to experiment innovative solutions in safe conditions, being adopted later in other research areas for the same reason. In this case, the olive heritage at Madeira had been chosen as a background not because it is harmless, but on the contrary, for offering some challenging characteristics. The purpose is to stimulate creativity, forcing thought outside the box. This methodological path will lead to a new concept—the hyperplace of augmented visit (HAV)—conciliating several kinds of attractions in a sustainable way. The general idea is to create a hybrid tour. The user will have the possibility of interacting with a mixture of real objects and digital avatars, virtually reachable by the mediation of AR. The former will be found at the location where the user stands, and the others will be distributed in different areas of the same destination. The study leads to the conclusion that this concept will encourage travellers to spend more time in each spot and to include new points of interest, less popular or even unexplored, in their itinerary, and is also resilient in a context of public health crisis. At the close, HAV's potential will be evaluated and relevant issues mapped to design a suitable working plan to implement a pilot experience.

Tourism and Gastronomy (T&G) was published in 2002. Even today, this book is an indispensable reference for researchers from different disciplinary perspectives who study how food and beverage are linked to leisure mobility. At that time, the contributors witnessed a major shift in consumer behaviour, which would soon turn the act of eating and drinking into a first-order driver of this sector of activity. The objective of the editors was to map the evolution of this new trend and predict the future of gastronomy and culinary heritage in tourism. This paper will revisit T&G to fully understand how, in only twenty years, what was before just a ‘non-optional’ part of the package became a prosperous niche, and later a primary component of recreational travels. The ‘throw-back’ approach adopted here will enable us to reflect on how the COVID-19 crisis impacts holidaymakers’ choices, which could help in the design of more efficient recovery plans.