FIGURE 1 THE HEAD OF THE SAND STONE BUDDHA IMAGE IN AYUTTHAYA
Ayutthaya province has been seen as a wellspring of cultural authenticity. The TAT has put the efforts to attract tourists by its historic destinations of this old capital city, Ayutthaya. Apparently, the obvious problem occurs in the attractive destinations have not been disrepair and getting less attention from tourists point of views. In recent years, an economical growing emphasis has been placed on tourism experiences and attractions related to food. In many cases eating while on holiday includes the "consumption" of local heritage, comparable to what is experienced when visiting historical sites and museums. Despite the increasing attention, however, systematic research on the subject has been nearly absent. In Ayutthaya, some destinations have begun to realize that there is great potential for food tourism to offer a sustainable tourism product, whether it is the succulent charcoal grilled river prawn (กุงแมน้ําเผา : kung-mae-naam-pao) of the Thai restaurants in the local markets; the authentic styled rice noodle soup (กวยเตี๋ยวเรือ : kouy-tiew-rue) of the ThaiChinese communities, or the renowned local dessert souvenir, a candy floss wrapped with roti flour (โรตีสายไหม : roti-saaimai) of the Thai-Muslim communities. One of the best examples of food tourism has been the rise in prominence of Ayutthaya as a food tourism destination whether it is festivals, the rice noodle soup’s trip created by the TAT or the local Thai restaurants in the river markets. Although Ayutthaya Province is adjacent to Bangkok, its river markets uniquely preserve remains the characteristic of the ancient communities and represents the identity of an ancestor’s table.