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Transitional periods are important for people, such as birth, marriage and death, are important times when ceremonial meals are prepared and served and certain practices are carried out. These periods and the practices constitute our gastronomic cultural heritage. In order to keep our cultural heritage alive and pass it on to future generations, existing values must first be identified and recorded. For this reason, in this study, gastronomic practices of Mentese's transitional periods were examined within the scope of intangible cultural heritage.

In this research, data was collected using ethnographic design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, and document analysis, interviews and focus group studies, as well as participant observation techniques and image/audio materials. The sample was determined using snowball sampling, convenience sampling and maximum diversity sampling methods. In the analysis of the data, themes and codes related to gastronomic practices in transitional periods were created and direct quotations were included with a descriptive approach.

It has been found that traditions are kept more alive in rural areas, while those living in the city centres no longer perform these practices dating back to the ancient times. Participants attribute the main reason for this to the fact that economic conditions are not favourable and that some traditional practices are “unnecessary” today. While wedding meals, which are the main part of the weddings, used to be made by women in the past, they are now mostly made by catering companies.

It was accepted that some of the participants started to give short answers as the duration of the interview increased and that the answers given were limited to what the participants could remember.

This study reveals special day meals and practices, rituals and traditions related to food within the scope of Mentese's culinary culture, which has a very deep-rooted history. In this regard, in addition to making an important contribution to the literature, the study also contributes to the articles about “recording and promoting the culture” mentioned in the Intangible Cultural Heritage convention.

This study examines the effect of some motivations of domestic tourists visiting Mugla related to the consumption of local Mugla food on behavioural intentions. The mediating impact of destination image on the behavioural intention effect of tourists' local food consumption motivations is also investigated.

A quantitative approach was adopted for the study’s objectives. The population of the study consisted of domestic tourists visiting Mugla, Turkiye. The sample was determined by the convenience sampling method, which is one of the non-probability-based sampling techniques, because of the characteristics of the research population. Around 390 questionnaires collected from tourists visiting Mugla were analysed. The structural equation model (SEM) was applied for testing the research hypotheses, and Bootstrap technique was used for mediation effect analysis.

Sensory motivation, which is one of the local food consumption motivations, was found to have a statistically significant effect on behavioural intention. No significant effect was found between other motivation factors (excitement, cultural, interaction and health) and behavioural intention. Also, there is a partial mediation effect of destination image in the effect of sensory motivation on behavioural intention. Whilst sensory value alone explains 28% of the effect on behavioural intention, it explains 31% of the effect on behavioural intention together with destination image.

The development of food culture in a destination and the increase in awareness of the food culture of the destination through different consumer components are of great importance for regional tourism. This research contributes to the gastronomy tourism literature in terms of examining the local food consumption motivations that are effective in visitors' experiences of Mugla food, the effect of these motivations on revisits and the role of Mugla destination image.