Dziedzictwo kulinarne Karaimów jako regionalny produkt turystyczny Trok

ENThe twists and turns in the history of Lithuania created conditions for the formation of unique multicultural gastronomic herigate encompassing traditions of different nations. Exceptional types of gastronomic heritage have remained up to nowadays, which have been adapted for the needs of tourists for the past several years. The article focuses on the gastronomic herigate of the Karaite nation which is closely related to the town of Trakai. The first Karaites to come to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the ruling time of Vytautas the Great arrived from Crimea and those who have settled here have retained their national identity and uniqueness. Trakai is the only place settled by the Karaites in Lithuania, therefore, in the supply of tourist products in Trakai a lot of attention and effort is put to the communication about this type of ethnic heritage. Nevertheless, is is increasingly challenging to preserve the authenticity of an ethnical product in the environment of overwhelming globalisation, therefore, the aim of the article is to determine to what extent the products of the Karaite gastronomic heritage offered to tourists by the caterers of Trakai are authentic and what their quality is. The article reviews regulation of quality of ethnical and regional products by legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania, examines old recipes and crystallises the criteria defining the authenticity and quality of gastronomic herigate of the Karaites. In addition, the article presents the results of qualitative research carried out in the caterers offering the Karaite culinary.The results reveal the degree the entrepreneurs cooking the Karaite dishes are concerned and care about the creation of an ethnical dishes and the preservation of the old culinary traditions in attempting to provide the best quality products of culinary tourism. To achieve the goal set the triangulation of the research methods was applied whereby the methods of qualitative research were combined. Moreover, situation analysis was performed which involved document analysis, observation and interviews with the entrepreneurs providing catering services and specialising in the culinary heritage of the Karaites.