Current Trends and Practices in Tourism

Introduction

Geosemiotics provides an important framework for understanding the resources that are effective in transforming spaces into meaningful places where the flow of social practices takes place. Geosemiotics offers a vital foundation for consciously utilizing resources to design the semantic groundwork for social practices within the spatial configuration of gastronomic experiences. In the conceptual part of the study, we focus on highlighting and elucidating the significance of memorable gastronomy experiences (MGE) through the lenses of geosemiotics and semiotic ideology. As for the methodology, we suggest and apply utilizing critical discourse analysis in terms of a coherent technique for studying the geosemiotics. Subsequently, we conduct a single case study approach, examining The Fat Duck restaurant, a 3-Michelin-star restaurant located in London, which effectively constructs a molecular culinary experience based on symbolism. In a qualitative research design, we analyze the discourses present on the case restaurant’s website, as well as their impact on consumers’ MGE, as reflected in TripAdvisor reviews. Thus, this study provides a human-place relationship perspective to our understanding of the design of a better and more MGE.

Recent research (Cao et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2019; Sthapit et al., 2023) has defined the memorability of gastronomy around a variety of aspects, including sensory, behavioral, emotional, authenticity, novelty, intellectual, and social. The precise impact of each attribute on the overall memorability of a dining experience is yet to be fully understood (Ma et al., 2023: 872). This requires investigating how the elements that help such abstract concepts turn into mental schemes work. This study proposes the utilization of geosemiotics as a heuristic mechanism to facilitate the organization of these elements’ transformation into mental schemas. For this, we employ semiotic ideology to elucidate the significance of geosemiotics as a coherent tool in terms of generating the intended consumer responses. Therefore, in the empirical part of our study, the Fat Duck restaurant is examined. This remarkable case serves as a tangible exemplar of harnessing the power of geosemiotics to curate a MGE. By orchestrating discourses infused with symbolism, the restaurant adeptly molds its consumers’ semiotic ideology, crafting a tapestry of sensory delight and meaningful encounters.

The Concept of Geosemiotics

Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the place in which the gastronomic experience takes shape and its intricate construction is of utmost significance. According to Taylor and Phillips (2017), place acts as focal points where the interplay between individuals, their thoughts, and the surrounding milieu finds its manifestation. By understanding the essence of place and its structuration, we gain a mindful perspective that empowers us to delineate and craft the semantic dimension of the practices integral to the gastronomic experience. At present, geosemiotics, embodying Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) place-centered position to semiotics, establishes a research foundation firmly rooted in empirical evidence within the field.

Geosemiotics is simply ‘the study of the material placement of signs in the world’ (Scollon & Scollon, 2003, 110). As a place-based semiotic interpretation, geosemiotics is mainly dedicated to investigating how discourses or signs are indexed in the real life and work together to represent meaning (Whittingham, 2019). Scollons warn us to pay tremendous attention to the fact that discourses achieve their meanings through properties of indexicality. That is, the discourses only have meaning because of where they are placed in the world. Scollons delineate geosemiotics as a trilogy comprising interrelated structures situated within the milieu of social action, namely the interaction order, visual semiotics, and place semiotics. The main aim of this characterization is to scrutinize the potential utilization of indexicality in investigating the process of transitioning from abstract meaning to practical meaning with due regard to their intricate dialogical interaction.

Interaction order The term “interaction order” in geosemiotics pertains to the potential for indexicality that arises from the patterns and dynamics of interpersonal interactions within a given social context (Whittingham, 2019). Recognizing interaction orders as semiotic signs that transmit social information about individuals holds paramount importance, as emphasized by the Scollons.

Visual semiotics The second element of the geosemiotics is visual semiotics, which encompasses the processes through which various visual components such as signs, images, graphics, texts and photographs and their blending are synthesized into cohesive and significant entirety for visual interpretation (Scollon & Scollon, 2003: 8). It is related to how texts and images are ‘read’ in place (Nichols, 2011), how the placement of the visual symbol in space affects its meaning and the visual representation of interaction order (Whittingham, 2019).

Place semiotics In order to understand how space is “read,” semiotics of place takes into account a variety of factors, including materiality, illumination, architecture, the natural setting, and the general feeling of the space (Nichols, 2011: 169). It examines the meaning system of spatial organization and categorizes places based on their intended functions, such as front stage versus backstage, private versus public, and display space versus passage space (Lee & Lou, 2019). It also emphasizes the signifigance of viewing space not only as the backdrop for language but also as an autonomous semiotic channel, possessing inherent meaning and communicative potential (Lee & Lou, 2019).

According to place semiotics, social action creates discourses (semiotic aggregates) within the structural plane of a physical space through the interaction order that takes shape here and the habits of the sociocultural group that bring about this order (Scollon & Scollon, 2003; Whittingham, 2019). Scollons offer a place oriented analytical perspective to examine discourses in place. Place orientation perspective sees any place as an aggregate of discourses, or a semiotic aggregate (Scollon & Scollon, 2003). The focus here is on gathering discourses found in a specific place and understanding how these make the place one of a kind (Whittingham, 2019). Based on these insights, this study employs a place-oriented analysis to investigate a particular restaurant case and its contextual dynamics.

To Scollons (2003: 170), specific places in the context of built environments such as restaurants and malls feature at least four zones that are meant to stimulate or inhibit various types of activities: (i) exhibit or display spaces (e.g., garden spaces and wall decorations); (ii) passage spaces (e.g., stairs and boulevards); (iii) special use spaces (e.g., high seats in a coffee shop); and (iv) secure spaces (e.g., banisters and caution signs). Restaurants are high in special-use spaces, marked by, for example, the disposition of tables and chairs (Scollon & Scolllon, 2003). For example, Starbucks is renowned for successfully integrating design discourses into its founding ideology of “creating a third space between workspaces and homes”.

The Concept of Semiotic Ideology

Keane (2018: 65) defines semiotic ideology as “people’s underlying assumptions about what signs are, what functions signs do or do not serve, and what consequences they might or might not produce.” Keane asserts that semiotic ideology focuses on the complete spectrum of potential sign carriers and the sensory modalities they may employ, such as sound, smell, touch, muscle activity and other somatic phenomena. He draws the conclusion that semiotic ideology connects people’s interpretations of their experiences to their underlying assumptions. Because beings are devoid of intrinsic meaning, they evolve into signs once humans give them meaning in the form of discourses such as words, objects, images, gestures, and sounds within a system of semiotic signs (Nescolarde-Selva & Usó-Doménech, 2014).

Semiotic ideology serves to explain how the signs given by the objects that make up the space become legitimate as discourses that guide social practices or create an ideological load. Because, first, semiotic ideology keeps us conscious of how the social power of objects is vital for understanding the way things gain object status (Keane, 2003). Second, object legitimacy is intimately tied to basic assumptions about what objects represent and the style in which they work rather than what they are (Nicholes & Snowden, 2015). Hence, geosemiotics and semiotic ideology provide an important ground for developing approaches to the diligent design of MGE in the gastronomy consumption landscape in a more holistic way. At this juncture, we employ semiotic ideology to elucidate the implications of designers’ utilization of geosemiotics, as informed by consumer interviews, in the process of crafting MGE.

Memorable Gastronomy Experience

Kim et al. (2012: 13) define memorable tourism experience as a “tourism experience positively remembered and recalled after the event has occurred.” Memorability in the gastronomy experience is more related to creating a positive experience (Tung & Ritchie, 2011). In this paper, we interpret MGE as an encounter that engenders a positive ideological load and is vividly remembered in great detail subsequent to an in-place dining experience. There are many factors involved in engendering MGE (e.g., Williams et al., 2019; Kauppinen‐Räisänen et al., 2013). Nevertheless, our understanding remains limited regarding the mechanisms by which these attributes are encoded within the real-world environment, resulting in significant meaning generation for customers and contributing as ideological imprints within their cognitive frameworks.

Therefore, we focus on MGE within the lens of geosemiotics for two reasons. First, in the current literature, MGE is mostly interrelated with place attachment (Sthapit Björk et al., 2023). Place attachment encompasses both emotional and attitudinal responses, reflecting a sense of perceived closeness to a particular place. This connection is influenced by various factors, including functional and material elements, as well as the interaction dynamics within the surrounding community (Lewicka, 2011; Hummon, 1992). Then, we suggests that geosemiotics can be perceived as a tool for stimulation, combining various discourses to offer the essential elements required for designing MGE. Second, geosemiotics provides a framework for a memorable design of servicescape. In accordance with the servicescape framework proposed by Bitner (1992), buyers react to the physical components within a preset consumption environment, known as the servicescape, by making choices of either approaching or avoiding the space. We know that a positive evaluation of an environment with regards to its spatial organization, signs, and symbols (i.e., discourses) stimulates pleasant memories (Dong & Siu, 2013). Therefore, a well-planned setting of the servicescape is a critical factor in creating memorable food experiences (Sthapit et al., 2023). In this manner, geosemiotics can be likened to an underlying metaphor or generative narrative that organizes our thinking in almost everything we do, as Kenneth Burke believes. In essence, geosemiotics enables us to construct the language of MGE, facilitating a dialogic interaction between the designer and the consumer of the design.

Within this framework, the purpose of our research is to demonstrate the design of attributes through the lens of geosemiotics, aiming to create MGE for gastro-tourists through a case study. Instead of investigating the factors that promote the memorability of gastronomy or dining experiences, as explored by prior research (e.g., Sthapit et al., 2023; Williams et al., 2019; Ma et al., 2023), we epmhasize the design aspect.

Method

In this study, we embrace an interpretivist approach as it allows the researcher to comprehend subjective and socially constructed meanings. We employ this approach to foster contextual interpretations of individuals’ realities, drawing from diverse experiences and perspectives, rather than seeking an absolute truth (Vickers, 2010). We concentrate on a single case study, namely The Fat Duck, a 3-star Michelin restaurant in London renowned for its molecular gastronomy approach. The restaurant, founded by acclaimed chef Heston Blumenthal in 1995, serves as our focal point for analysis. Heston is widely recognized as the pioneer of molecular gastronomy, credited with introducing innovative culinary techniques.

For the analysis of the case study, we employed critical discourse analysis (CDA) and utilized two distinct data sources. Our aim was to illustrate how geosemiotics, based on the construction of a semiotic aggregate from various discourses, can contribute to the formation of MGE. This research approach allowed us to fulfill our research objective of illustrating the relationship between geosemiotics and MGE. The first data source is The Fat Duck’s main website. The web site reflects the designer’s use of discourses in a geosemiotic way. The second data source consists of consumer reviews (between April 2014 and April 2023) gathered from TripAdvisor, which serve as examples of consumer responses in relation to the semiotic ideology induced by the website’s design. We note that, the main purpose of the second data source does not serve for a comprehensive analysis of the customer interviews.

At its core, CDA seeks to discover hidden meanings, ideologies, and discursive strategies within discourses (Fairclough, 1989). It aims to bring visibility and transparency to the mystifying power of discourses as reflections of social practices in contemporary societies (Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000; Janks, 1997). The main essence of CDA is its focus on discourses (e.g., texts, conversations, words, objects, images, gestures, and sounds, etc.) in terms of their power and dominance, managing and changing the minds of others in one’s own interests (van Dijk, 1993: 254). Creating critical discourse to build agreement, acceptance, and legitimacy for dominance (van Dijk, 1993) corresponds to our positioning of geosemiotics, which is to create the designed gastronomy experience that is accepted or memorized among the consumers.

During our analysis, we specifically examined how the case restaurant critically employs discourses in its geosemiotic design to establish dominance and evoke an ideological load on its customers, ultimately enhancing the memorability of its molecular menu consumption landscape. We pay extra attention to the case restaurants’ utilization of discoursal properties for enacting dominance, such as morphology, lexicon, metaphor, storytelling and conversation (van Dijk, 1993).

To do the CDA, we followed Fairclough’s (1989) three intricate processes of analysis, which are linked to three interconnected dimensions of discourse: (i) description (of text such as speech, writing, images, or a combination of these); (ii) interpretation (of text by subjects) and (iii) explanation (of the social context). We posit a correspondence between Fairclough’s 3D model and Scollons’ (2003) triology of geosemiotics, indicating that the description dimension aligns with visual semiotics, interpretation with the interaction order, and explanation with place semiotics. During the CDA, the starting point of analysis holds little significance as long as all types of analysis are encompassed and proven to be mutually explanatory. What matters in this context is for the researcher to identify notable patterns and discrepancies that necessitate description, interpretation, and explanation (Janks, 1997).

Findings and Discussion