Digital food narratives and rural influencer: Rethinking the local food in agricultural heritage tourism

Local food, as a key tourism resource in agricultural heritage sites, reflects traditional lifestyles and human–nature relationships. The growing influence of social media, particularly TikTok, has transformed the interaction between local food and tourism, yet this transformation remains insufficiently understood. Using the Xinhua Ziquejie Terraces, a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) site in China, as a case, this study explores an emerging phenomenon: farmers acting as rural influencers who promote local food through social media. Adopting a qualitative case study design informed by ethnographic and netnographic principles, it draws on 107 TikTok videos, shadowing with an influencer and 22 interviews, employing multimodal discourse and reflexive thematic analysis to examine how local food is digital mediated and experienced in the heritage site. Findings reveal three interrelated processes. First, rural influencers derive legitimacy from local resources, positioning local food as the core material of digital production. Second, through multimodal curation involving text, image, sound, and interaction, the local food is mediated and transferred into emotional narratives, social identities, and tourism value. Third, audience engagement operates as a networked feedback mechanism that co-configures production practices, tourism imaginaries, and livelihood strategies, illustrating how tangible food products and intangible heritage meanings are relationally mobilized. The study advances understanding of agricultural heritage tourism by linking food and influencer studies, framing rural influencers as active agents in the co-creation of heritage. It also shows how social media can foster rural tourism transformation and destination marketing innovation through food heritage, digital storytelling, and community participation.