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The paper aims to explore the food needs of a growing Muslim population in Italian kindergartens and primary schools and to provide a basis for further quantitative research.

The methodology is essentially qualitative – historical, anthropological, social sources were studied to set the scene for a number of interviews (now 14, eventually 20) with cultural mediators, who know the implications of both cultures, and are trained to see the differences. The results of the interviews were then validated through interactions with anthropologists, food and religious historians, religious authorities and others.

The main findings are that: food and food prohibitions bear fundamental religious and identity-related implications for Muslims, that reverberate onto migrants' children of school age and dramatically limit their access to canteen food; halal meat traders exist in Italy, and can provide legally compliant, halal-certified meat, but school/public administrations do not seem to be aware of their interest.

The number of available mediators is relatively small, although they generally agree on all the basics. The research is qualitative and will require more in-depth analysis.

Better awareness of the Maghrebi Muslims' food requirements in school canteens. The need to develop a halal meat trade for public institutions and to lobby for the right of these children to bring packed lunches from home.

The paper has a heuristic value. It could have immediate implications for the stakeholders and, on the other hand, promote quantitative studies.

This paper aims to understand how food and drink producers have combined food and culture into the tourism experience through an explorative analysis on a sample of Italian enterprises.

The paper opted for a two-stage analysis. An explorative study has been carried out to identify producers with this offering and assess their main characteristics. A direct survey has been carried out to acquire detailed information about the profile of the enterprises as well as to assess motivations, results achieved and satisfaction concerning the experience offered.

Food can be alternatively the main subject (e.g. food museums) or be combined with other cultural expression (e.g. music festivals inside wineries), and the choice appears to mainly depend on personal interest of entrepreneurs. The production of the food tourism experience not only increases the tourist attractiveness but also generates other benefits, such as improving brand visibility and relationship with local stakeholders.

Because of the sample chosen, the research results may lack generalizability. Furthermore, it may be important to deeply investigate some issues that remain partly unanswered.

The paper sheds lights on characteristics of tourism experiences combining food and culture and hopefully aims at increasing awareness among producers about their current attractiveness.

This paper tries to contribute to improve the knowledge on a topic of current interest such as tourism experiences combining food and culture.