Habitus and food lifestyle: In-destination activity participation of Slow Food members

• We examine the relationship between activities at home and in the destination of tourists.
• Behaviour of tourists in the destination can be explained by Bourdieu’s habitus.
• We find similar food consumption behaviour of tourists at home and in the destination.
• We report the increasing importance of studying tourists undertaking similar activity at home and in the destination.

A common theme in the tourism literature is that tourists are motivated to travel to escape from ordinariness. This may lead to the assumption that the activities tourists choose to undertake in a region are motivated by the same desire for the extraordinary. Some studies have found travellers who are highly involved in a particular recreational activity are likely to participate in it both at home and while on holidays. This study examines the travel motivations and destination activities undertaken by Slow Food members and finds that they undertake similar cooking and food related activities while away as they do at home. A theoretical explanation for this behaviour is taken from the concept of lifestyle and Bourdieu’s habitus.