Will they tell others to taste? International tourists' experience of Ghanaian cuisines

• Cross-sectional data used to explore utility of the Memorable Tourism Experience scale.
• Memorable local food experiences include culture, education, novelty, hedonism–meaningfulness, and adverse experiences.
• Positive memorable experiences significantly influence willingness to recommend.
• Adverse memorable experiences inversely impact recommendation.

Memorable local food experiences can influence tourists' intentions to recommend. However, food tourism literature has provided limited insights in this area of scholarship. This paper sought to explore international tourists' experiences regarding local foods in Ghana. The results from a random survey of 654 international tourists indicate that local food experience is multiple ranging from cultural, educational, novelty, hedonism–meaningfulness, and adverse experience. The study also found that tourists' local food experience has a statistically significant influence on their willingness to recommend. The study, therefore, concluded that the provision of memorable experience could be a viable approach for generating referral marketing of local foods. Theoretical and practical implications of the study findings are discussed.