By Luis Javier Álvarez Alfeirán*
We have just lived one of the most important events of recent years, the death of Pope Francis, the conclave and the choice of who is now the new leader of the Catholic Church: Leo XIV. It is to attract attention the world coverage level not only by the Catholic media but also by the international press of all editorial and creed lines. The city of Rome has filled with tourists and journalists demonstrating why it is the world’s main religious tourism center. But, when listening to so many voices, so many pseudo-experiences and so many people think about who the “papable” would be, or how the church works or should work, as if it were just a loot of power and not an institution of faith.
This excess of opinions generated an interest that, helped by the media and social networks, kept everyone in suspense waiting for who would be appointed the Roman Pontiff chosen by the cardinals. What leads us to a natural question: Is there a real interest in the fate of the Catholic Church through its leader or is it a media morbidity to know the country of origin, ideology, color or line of thought?
The centenary protocols of the vacant headquarters and the conclave are something that highlights in the midst of modernity, but in turn, it is a reflection of the interest it generates and the taste it causes. Something similar happens with English royalty whose events also cause Azoro because of their colorful and elements that respect the oldest traditions.
This reflection, which is born from the personal, leads me to transfer it to the world of tourism and gastronomy, does the same happen?
It is common to see in the great museums of the world as the Louvre In Paris, how people gather to get the best photo of the tiny (in dimensions) Monalisa; The rest of the museum, beyond some other sculpture – like the Venus–, It is almost inadvertent by most tourists who only want the photo to upload it on social networks.
Is there interest in culture or do we live in a culture of interests? Does only what “is fashionable”, “what is viral”? The liquid society of which the Polish philosopher and sociologist Zygmund Bauman spoke is increasingly evident; The social interest moves depending on passengers and brutally ephemeral fashions. We do not ask anything and believe in everything, although a belief without roots will lead us to fundamental and dangerous fundamentalisms. The Romanian philosopher Catalina Dobre said by citing her compatriot Cioran: “The origin of evil lies in the lack of questions, that is; in ignorance.” Our society seems to drown in ignorance within the sea of information. What are the consequences in the tourism and gastronomy industry? Among other things, the so -called overtourism; the predatory mass of those who do not respect the meaning but destroys the environment, that which seeks experiences not because of personal enjoyment but for crossing them out of a checklist of “things you must do before dying.”
Is morbid the engine of tourism and modern gastronomy? Doing what others say that you have to do even when it goes against my own interests?
It is true that the industry benefits economically from it and with it also communities and peoples. Tourism promotion is important and necessary for the development and preservation of destinations and culture. The economic spill is vital for the survival of many monuments; But this reflection seeks to go further, has to do with the human person and what he seeks, with what transcends and makes us transcend as humanity. There is a place for everything and for everyone as long as we do not prostitute our tastes for a few photographs that fill our social networks accounts of something that we are not, of something that has to do more with the morbidity and not with interest.
About the author:
*Luis Javier Álvarez Alfeirán, Ma, is director of Le Cordon Bleu-Anahuac.
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Twitter: @DirectorLCBMx
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