The Restaurant, A Geographical Approach: From Invention to Gourmet Tourist Destinations

This book analyzes the way in which restaurants are geographical objects that reveal locational logics and strategies, and how restaurants weave close relationships with the space in which they are located. Originating from cities, restaurants feed off the urban environment as much as they feed it ? participating in the qualification, differentiation and hierarchy of cities. Indeed, restaurants in both the city and the countryside maintain a dialogical relationship with tourism. They can be vital players in the establishment of emerging types of gourmet tourism, sometimes even constituting as gourmet tourist destinations in their own right. They participate in the establishment of necessary conditions for local development. Some restaurants are even praised as historic sites, recognized as part of the local heritage, which reinforces their localization and their identity as a gourmet tourist destination.

Table of Contents:
Foreword ix Introduction xi Part 1 The Restaurant: An Eminently Urban Subject 1 Introduction to Part 1 3 Chapter 1 The Geographical Origin of the Restaurant: The Urban Environment 5 1.1 From bouillons 5 1.2  to the establishment 6 Chapter 2 The Concentration of Restaurants in the City Centers 15 2.1 A center-specific logic 16 2.2  to a logic of axes 29 2.2.1 Axial diffusion 29 2.2.2 Social diffusion 34 Chapter 3 The Geographical Diffusion of Restaurants in Provinces by Cities and City Networks 41 3.1 The geographical diffusion of restaurants in the provinces: an application of rank-size law 41 3.2  but disrupted by tourism 43 Part 2 The Restaurant in Terms of Places and Geographical Spaces 47 Introduction to Part 2 49 Chapter 4 Logics and Strategies for Locating Restaurants 51 4.1 The logic of proximity 51 4.1.1 Proximity to the political and administrative sphere and the business world 51 4.1.2 Proximity to the cultural sphere and the artistic world 54 4.1.3 Proximity to food retail and supply points 58 4.2 Accessibility logics 60 4.3 The logic of landscape charm 66 4.4 The logic of assimilation 73 4.4.1 Affectivity 73 4.4.2 Appropriation 76 Chapter 5 Restaurants in the City 87 5.1 Restaurants in small cities 88 5.2 Restaurants in average-sized cities 90 5.3 New dynamics in large cities 91 Chapter 6 Restaurants in the Countryside and the Relationship Between Cities and the Countryside 97 6.1 Restaurants in the countryside 98 6.2 The restaurant, the city/countryside relationship and nature in the city 100 Part 3 The Restaurant at the Heart of the Tourist System 111 Introduction to Part 3 113 Chapter 7 The Relationship Between the Restaurant and Tourism 115 7.1 Complementary relations between restaurants and tourism 116 7.1.1 Along the coastlines, at the beach 116 7.1.2 In the mountains 117 7.2 The interdependence between restaurants and tourism 119 7.2.1 The restaurant through tourism 119 7.2.2 The restaurant for tourism 126 Chapter 8 The Restaurant, a Tool for Gourmet Tourism 141 8.1 Cavaillon 142 8.2 Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade 147 8.3 Megève 151 Chapter 9 The Restaurant as a Gourmet Tourist Destination 155 9.1 The gourmet tourist destination: from the 3-star Michelin restaurant 155 9.2  to a network of restaurants 159 Part 4 The Restaurant as a Tool for Local Development 163 Introduction to Part 4 165 Chapter 10 Restaurants and Local Development in Urban Areas 169 10.1 At street level 169 10.2 At neighborhood level 178 Chapter 11 Restaurant and Local Development in Rural Areas 185 11.1 On the scale of the plateau 186 11.2 Across the country 193 11.3 At the village level 200 Part 5 The Restaurant: What Heritage? 207 Introduction to Part 5 209 Chapter 12 The Restaurant: From Monument to Heritage 211 12.1 The restaurant as a historical monument 211 12.2 The restaurant as a showcase for intangible cultural heritage 233 12.2.1 The repertoire restaurant 233 12.2.2 The haven restaurant 237 12.2.3 The observatory restaurant 240 12.2.4 The conservatory restaurant 243 12.3 The restaurant in heritage 248 Chapter 13 Tourists as Actors in the Process of Adding Cultural Heritage to Restaurants 251 13.1 Parisian brasseries 251 13.2 Lyon’s bouchons 258 13.3 La Mère Poulard restaurant in Mont-Saint-Michel 261 13.4 What about the bouillons? 263 Conclusion 273 References 275 Index 285

About the Author :
Olivier Etcheverria is Maître de conférences at ESTHUA - the Faculty of Tourism and Culture at the University of Angers in France. His teachings and research focus on the geography of gastronomy, gourmet tourism and the intersections between gastronomy and local development.