This paper explores the links between local resources (the natural environment) and the local food on offer; i.e., what parts of nature reach the tourist’s plate. It is based on a content analysis of restaurant menus in the Great Masurian Lakes region, which is considered to be one of the main nature-based tourism destinations in Poland. The concept of Ecosystem Services (ES), closely interlinked with the idea of sustainable development, is employed as it recognizes the relationships between humans and the natural environment. The results indicate that food representing the region’s history is almost non-existent. Instead, the local food heritage is being reinvented based on the area’s iconic ES, i.e., wild food. In this way, the supply side of the ES cascade (ecosystem resources and potential) and its demand side (the benefits for tourists and the costs they pay to obtain these benefits) are encompassed on a tourist’s plate in Masurian restaurants. The findings also reveal that, in many cases, the localness of “local” food is an illusion. This, in turn, poses an important challenge for the sustainability of food (and) tourism in the studied area.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.