Food tourism is closely related to cultural and heritage tourism. Food tourists are experiencing the culture of a destination through tasting its national dishes and traditional cuisines. Most major countries around the world have their special food which is considered as a characteristic of a particular destination. Food is a very important part of the tourism product and it is involved into the marketing plans in many countries. Therefore, food is considered one of the factors that tourist consider when they choose a tourism destination. Food tasted by tourists is playing a major role in impressing them and might make them come back again and again to the same destination. Specialized food tours have emerged in concert with the growing interest in, and demand for, authentic cultural tourism experiences.
The study aims to represent the importance of food tours in expressing the identity and culture of countries and how food tourism is an important element of the intangible heritage. Some countries have their own particular cuisines or national dishes while others have no special cuisine due to the multicultural nature of these countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Australia and United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. The study sheds the light on the importance of food tours within the intangible heritage frame. It discusses the importance of food and gastronomy in multicultural countries from the theoretical point of view through the literature review and analysis. The importance of food tourism in the city of Dubai as a cosmopolitan city and reasons behind the recent growing and popularity of food tours in the city are also represented in this study.