Abstract:
The study of Sri Lankan Traditional Culinary Heritage for personal image building is a major outcome of Sri Lankan identity built through culinary heritage. As a result of this study, culinary heritage is clarified as soft power. Sri Lankan society is typically rich in high culinary heritage. The term 'soft power' was coined in 1990 by Professor Joseph Nye to explain how modern states can use positive attraction and persuasion to achieve global influence (GÜNEK, 2018). Soft power is a new type and face of power. If you want to influence foreign countries, you should have a good image regarding the foreign audience. When considering the identification of Sri Lankan heritage, Sri Lankan Traditional culinary is the best way to identify their image. Therefore, the study is done in the tourism industry to identify the way of building a personal image with culinary heritage. The main objective of this paper is to understand the Sri Lankan Culinary heritage as a soft power and to identify personal image building via the tourism industry. This is a case study of the reviews of foreigners based on Sri Lankan Traditional Cookery Class named Ella Spice Land. The research area is based on Sri Lankan Traditional Cuisine, the level of how they understand the personal image through the cuisine and what kind of personal image is built among tourists through the culinary heritage in Sri Lanka. The methods of data collection were questionnaire analysis and Observation. Data is analyzed based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) Analysis. It especially examines the main culinary heritage which influenced to build the personal image. To overcome identified problems, it provides a code of ethic and suggestions to develop culinary heritage in Sri Lanka.
