ECOCLUB, Issue 93
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Tourism should not be "all or nothing" – to be overwhelmingly damaging for any community. We can learn from both the worst
and the best practices around the world.
ECOCLUB.com: What is the optimum tour group size for a good, authentic culinary experience? Do you limit size
through prices or by other means?
Nikki Rose: CCS network seminars are experiential learning - cultural immersion. Registration is usually limited to eight
people. This gives people the opportunity to spend quality time with residents, dine in their homes, discuss the topics in detail,
and explore the region more freely. As a small group, people have a rare opportunity to enjoy rural life, rather than observe it
from a tour bus window. The benefits of such experiences are immeasurable. Though CCS seminars are expensive to present,
we strive to make them accessible for the many, and not just the privileged few.
ECOCLUB.com: Laws and regulations are sometimes daunting for a small business, such as a small tour operator.
What is your experience?
Nikki Rose: It’s amazing that any small business can survive in today’s climate. CCS is no exception.
ECOCLUB.com: Is there a magic formula to preserve authenticity in the face of repetition & commercialisation?
You once told me that some Cretan villagers, your local partners, refused to accept payment from you for demonstrating
their traditional culinary skills, and you had to insist. Should tradition be monetised in your view? Is it a question of
"use it or lose it"?
Nikki Rose: There is no magic formula to preserve cultural-culinary traditions. Preservation is a difficult practice. Yes, there are
realistic ways to support preservationists - sustainable organic farmers, artisan producers, ecologists and many others working
on related projects – via responsible travel programs and other means. RT is not standard practice. It is a very different, ethical
way of doing business. RT means providing communities with the resources they need to build programs that work for them,
not an outsider’s vision of what local traditional culture should be. RT is crucial work that greatly benefits all of us. If we
choose to play an active role in preserving our vital resources, we need to pay the practitioners.
If we think tradition should be offered to us for free, we are part of the serious problem. The people we meet during our travels
are not obligated to treat us to a single peanut, let alone a feast free of charge. They are not our free entertainment – no matter
who we are – public officials, entrepreneurs, journalists, researchers or travellers. Tradition is not ours to take for granted. It is
ours to safeguard and support. If we want to be part of the solution, we need to be the solution. Ethical businesses cannot
survive without ethical patrons.
Many people do not know much about tradition, so it requires education. Modern society often repels tradition. Industrialization
of our food sources has proven to be dangerous to our health and environment. So the more we learn about traditional methods
of food production, the more we know that it is a critical necessity today. To become a practitioner of tradition requires skill,
investment and risk. Practitioners must also be educators and activists. Without solid opportunities to gain a return on these
business investments, tradition continues to disappear. So, yes, we are losing "it."
Some travel agents, travellers, public and private entities, researchers, journalists and even food affinity groups have asked
people in the CCS network to provide their knowledge and goods for little or no money. This is just wrong. They are requesting
the services of accomplished professionals to help them with their own work, or provide a memorable travel experience but they
are not giving back in return, in tangible economic benefits, to local people preserving traditions. This is a use it and destroy it
approach to tradition.
So, while the imperative work of preserving tradition via responsible travel is taking off, we must all participate if we expect it
to soar. Education, awareness and respectful partnerships between the providers and beneficiaries are the key. Responsible
travel can improve our quality of life and environment. If we choose to be a part of sustainable solutions, this is our opportunity.
It requires our action. To determine how to ethically monetize tradition, just ask the practitioners. We will discover how
wonderful and beneficial cultural-culinary traditions are, and how we can all work together to preserve them.
ECOCLUB.com: You have international experience as a chef, in the restaurant sector, an industry that many find
glamorous, but which insiders know as cut-throat and with abysmal working conditions backstage. How different is it
really from the tourism sector?
Nikki Rose: All industries can be inhospitable backstage. It’s from these experiences that I chose to work in a very different
manner. I’d like to think that the principles CCS represents -- sustainability, respect and fair compensation for our network
participants, promotion of their work, and respect for the environment, ameliorates both the glamour and the cut-throat attitudes
you allude to.
