Determining the Impact of Attributes of Haryanvi Festival Food on Tourist Attraction

Abstract

The Indian state of Haryana has a distinguished cultural heritage, and fairs and festivals are celebrated across the state with great enthusiasm. Various food items are prepared to celebrate each festival attributed to a unique cultural event. Every festival has its culinary delicacies, which leave you with a lingering aftertaste, asking for more. Some food items prepared for festivals and cultural events are Puri, Malpua, Halwa, Kheer, Sevia, Gulgulle, Sakkarpare, etc. To prepare these dishes, jaggery is used extensively rather than sugar, as jaggery is considered good for health. It retains more macro and micronutrients than sugar due to its unrefined form. As the economy and culture of Haryana are richly based on agriculture and cattle farming, dairy products like milk, homemade white butter, fresh cream, and curd are used extensively in the making of festive food items. The present study is conducted to determine the relationship between the tourist demography and their perception towards Haryanvi festival food. In this regard, the study further attempts to understand the key attributes of Haryanvi festival food items that influence the tourist’s perception towards the festival food of Haryana as an attraction for tourist. The demographic factors of the 432 tourists taken into consideration are age, gender, marital status, the purpose of travel and history. The attributes of the Haryanvi festival food considered to study their impact on tourists’ perception were aroma, flavor, taste, food presentation, variety, richness in spices, peculiarity of the food items, health & nutrition. The study results reveal that among the demographic profile of the tourists, age is the only factor that bears a positive correlation with the perception of tourists regarding Haryanvi festival food.