A real Belizean: Food, identity and tourism in Belize

International tourism's dynamic globalized space acts as a catalyst for identity production, maintenance and transformation, fostering cross-cultural comparison, adoption and exchange not only of money and material goods but also of ideas, identities and conceptualizations of the self and other. This peculiar form of encounter challenges anthropologists to reconsider the nature of the international forces shaping identity, culture, economic development and experiences of inequality. Tourism creates a distinctive inter-cultural space where disparate groups temporarily observe and interact with each other in what is often a carefully structured, power saturated environment. What happens to food-ways in this distorted, dynamic atmosphere? Expanding on De Soucey's concept of gastronationalism, the way that food is used to express national identity in the global arena, I document the processes by which foods are selected and used as expressions of national pride in a non-European, post-colonial context. I examine how cultural and national identities are formed and expressed in Belize and the way that the tourism industry and migration have shaped Belizean gastronationalism in an international context. My work complicates the concept of staged authenticity, challenging the tourist gaze and arguing for a more flexible host-centric interpretation of authenticity that acknowledges the importance of identity work in international tourism zones. My findings contribute to tourism studies; specifically the role of cosmopolitanism and cultural capital in tourist expectations and experiences; and how tourism and tourism-driven migration influence the foodscape of a tourism zone. My research allows us to better understand how international tourism may function as a mechanism driving food marketing and the development of cuisines.