Eating like the locals

One of the highlights of travelling is trying out the local cuisine, but weeding out authentic, traditional restaurants from tourist traps is, in some regions, no simple task. A new standard has just been published to help.

ISO 21621, Tourism and related services - Traditional restaurants - Visual aspects, decoration and services, outlines requirements and recommendations for providing a credible culinary experience. The standard covers everything from how the restaurant should look, table settings, staff, menu requirements and more, to demonstrate that the restaurant is genuinely in line with the region and culture it professes to be.

Hensa Ghaderi, Project Leader for the group of experts who developed the standard, said it is important that tourists can distinguish between what is truly a traditional restaurant and those that simply claim to be.

"Up until now, there has been a lack of internationally agreed criteria for what is 'traditional', potentially leading to dissatisfied customers," she said.

"This new standard will not only help tourists make more informed choices, it will motivate the industry to improve its service offering as well." ISO 21621 was developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 228, Tourism and related services, whose secretariat is held by UNE, ISO's member for Spain. It can be purchased from your national ISO member or the ISO Store.