The role of local festivals in representing identity and reproducing tourism (Case Study: Trout Cooking Festival in Mahneshan County)

Introduction: The main output of food tourism is the provision of edible products with distinctive flavors that shape tourists’ taste preferences and evoke a sense of local uniqueness. Accordingly, various food items such as Bonab Kebab, Baghali Ghatogh, and North Kadoo Bareh, Southern Ghalieh Mahi, Tabrizi Koofteh, Kordestan Tarkhineh, Khorasan Bulgur Pilaf, Sistan Kashk-e Zard, Lorestan Shani Kovoo, Kermanshah Khoresht-e Khalal, Qazvin Gheimeh Nesar, Esfahan Beryani, Zanjan Jaghoor Baghhoor, and many other local dishes possess spatial exclusivity. They are prepared in different parts of the country. One notable example of an Iranian food festival is the Mahneshan Trout Cooking Festival in Zanjan Province, held annually near the Qezel Ozan River and the ancient Beheshtan Castle, and revolving around the cooking of rainbow trout and its offering to tourists by the local community. This event is accompanied by various cultural performances and programs, as well as the establishment of local marketplaces. This research aims to explain the role and impact of food-based tourism festivals in identity representation and tourism regeneration, with the study’s innovation lying in identifying the underlying structures and supportive elements of local festivals that contribute to tourism reproduction.
Materials and Methods: The present study is applied in terms of its objective and descriptive-interpretive in terms of its nature and methodology. Data were collected through questionnaires, observations, and case interviews with visitors (tourists) to the Mahneshan Trout Cooking Festival. The sample size, based on convenience sampling, consisted of 75 tourists. The research variables included information dissemination, communication and cultural programs, environmental attractions, supporting services, and experience, each measured using 35 items. The validity of the research variables was derived from theoretical studies by Hall (2013), Mirzaei (2020), Firoozi (2022), Akshoy (2019), Woli (2024), Oort (2019), and Yang (2017). For localization, the questionnaire was provided to 15 experts, specialists from the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, and university faculty members (in geography, social sciences, and tourism) to assign an importance coefficient from 1 to 9 to the research variables and items. A minimum mean score of 5 was considered as the baseline, and items with mean scores below 5 were excluded from further analysis. Based on expert evaluation, the mean coefficient was 8.3, indicating the study’s validity. The collected data were entered into SPSS 27.1, and the data analysis followed descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Measures of central tendency and dispersion, Kendall’s Tau correlation model, and stepwise multiple regression were employed to assess the relationships between factors of identity representation and tourism regeneration. The reliability of the instrument, based on Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.76, indicating a relatively satisfactory level of reliability.
Results and Discussion: The findings indicate that indicators of local identity representation, as reflected in the organization of the local festival (rainbow trout cooking), are above the normal level and are moving toward favorable conditions. The effect of the indicators explaining identity representation, at a 95% confidence level, based on the stepwise multiple regression model, shows that environmental attractions and communication programs (R² = 0.693) have the greatest impact on identity representation. Furthermore, the effect of identity representation indicators on tourism regeneration is relatively uniform, with communication programs and supporting services playing a more tangible role.
Conclusion: The organization of the trout cooking festival in Mahneshan, combined with other tourism elements such as the historical Beheshtan Castle, the Qezel Ozan River, and the surrounding mountains and natural pastures, has not diminished the core nature of the festival. On the contrary, diversifying environmental attractions has reinforced the central focus of the trout cooking festival. The active and professional participation of the local community has contributed to the introduction of Mahneshan’s cultural, social, and economic environment, thereby facilitating the representation of local identity. The outcome of this process is the regeneration of tourism.