Chapter 18: Traditional, Artisan, and Craft Foods and Drinks

How do you define a food or drink product as “traditional”, “artisan”, or “craft”? These categories are fluid, relying on changes over time in the organization of production, as well as differentiation from other methods of making foods, particularly large scale, “industrialized” production. This chapter summarizes issues and methodologies involved in evaluating traditional, artisan and craft foods—foods that are not new or novel, but rather embedded in place, culture, and history. It explores the importance of acknowledging and incorporating both the intrinsic and extrinsic qualities which can comprise the “craft”, “traditional”, or “artisan” nature of these foods and drinks throughout a research study, from the parameters of production to marketing and sales. To this end, it reviews research from both social and sensory science fields on the importance of extrinsic qualities to an individual’s perception of a product’s quality through the lens of traditional, artisan and craft food production. Studying consumer perception and acceptance of these foods from a holistic perspective can lead to new markets and can also provide generalizable insight into how and why some products succeed and persist, while many others fail and disappear.