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Ute Walter

Position: Senior Lecturer School/office: School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Meal Science

Email: dXRlLndhbHRlcjtvcnUuc2U=

Phone: +46 19 302036

Room: K1109

Research subject

Culinary Arts and Meal Science

About Ute Walter

Ute Walter is associate professor (docent) in Culinary Arts and Meal Science at School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Meal Science at Campus Grythyttan. Ute is associate editor at Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. She has extensive experience of academic leadership from different positions.

Research

Ute Walter’s research is conducted within the research field of Culinary Arts and Meal Science, often also called gastronomy. She has, as PI, led two Formas-granted projects and one project granted by BFUF. In an INTERREG-granted project she, together with co-researchers in Finland, designed the application and was responsible PI for the Swedish part of the project in the Västerbotten Region. Currently she participates in a Vinnova-granted project and in a project granted by SLU, both with a focus on the role of local food in communities’ self-sufficiency. Ute Walters research could be described by the following areas.

Consumers’/guest’s meal experiences and experiences of meals in different contexts, and what they mean for consumers/guests. For example, good or bad experiences and drivers of these experiences, how meal experiences contribute to customers value creation, business travelers’ meals, which meal patterns business travel provokes and how travelers act in the sense of business travelers’ meal practices in order to get the meals they wish to have but are not always offered at the place they stay. This stream of research develops my earlier research on customer service experiences.

The significance of gastronomy for regional development in peripheral areas, with a focus on the northern regions in Sweden. Important aspects are the distribution of gourmet restaurants (fine dining restaurants), from central places to rural regions, based on facts from the Swedish restaurant guide “White Guide” from 2004-2016. Also interesting in this context is restaurants’ and small-scale food producers’ view on regional food products and on their own businesses. Culinary and gastronomic tourism related to the local (food) culture and regional development are other areas of interest. In this stream of my research Ute conducted two projects granted by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, Formas.

Ute Walter’s research is based on a genuine interest for gastronomy, restaurants and culinary craft in kitchens and front of house, meaning cooking and serving meals, with the goal to serve “good meals” for the many. She has extensive practical experience from the field of culinary arts, where she held different positions in both restaurant and kitchen. This experience is the basis for Ute’s research interest in the complexity of culinary crafts, and which consequences the complexity has for the practitioner. Together with a PhD candidate hospitality work is examined from a hospitality workers perspective, and also how hospitality work is communicated in job advertisements. In collaboration with a post-doc at University College Copenhagen and Roskilde University, the development of dynamic hospitality work between different actors in retirement homes in Denmark is examined. A multi-method ethnographic approach characterizes the field work. Another important research area is how gastronomic higher education could contribute to knowledge-based development of society, which is examined in a PhD project. The starting point in this project is that gastronomic knowledge is based on a continuous interplay of practical knowledge, theory and aesthetics, especially regarding the creation of meals.

Ute Walter is part of the research group: Meals from a social and cultural perspective.

Teaching

Ute Walter has teaching experience from all levels of education within culinary arts and meal science. She has special experience in course and program design within the area of gastronomy and culinary arts based on a multi-disciplinary approach. Her teaching experience includes planning, lecturing, coordination and responsibility of whole semester courses where practice and distance-based learning are combined as well as supervision of students’ thesis work. Ute is continuously involved as main- or co-supervisor of PhD candidates.

Active projects

Completed projects

Restaurant practices and Professional ideals

Research groups

Social and cultural perspectives on meals

Publications

Articles in journals

Hult, K. , Lainpelto, J. , Walter, U. & Jonsson, I. M. (2023). Constructing the hospitality superstar in restaurant dining rooms. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 23 (2-3), 264-281. [BibTeX]
Hult, K. , Scander, H. & Walter, U. (2023). Contemporary dining room professionals: towards a “hip” style of hospitality identity. Research in Hospitality Management, 13 (1), 11-21. [BibTeX]
Östergren, D. , Walter, U. , Gustavsson, B. & Jonsson, I. M. (2023). Gastronomy: An Overlooked Arena for the Cultivation of Sustainable Meaning?. Challenges, 14 (4), 1-20. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. , Müller, D. K. & Långvall, A. (2022). The spatial distribution of gourmet restaurants. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 22 (4-5), 285-302. [BibTeX]
Sundqvist, J. , Walter, U. & Hörnell, A. (2020). Eat, Sleep, Fly, Repeat: Meal Patterns Among Swedish Business Travelers. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 4 (2), 53-66. [BibTeX]
Sundqvist, J. , Walter, U. & Hörnell, A. (2020). Meal identity as practice: Towards an understanding of business travellers' meal practices. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 22. [BibTeX]
Beck, A. , Heine Kristensen, N. , Justesen, L. & Walter, U. (2020). Meal practices and meal events in a nursing home. Ageing & Society. [BibTeX]
Wellton, L. , Jonsson, I. M. & Walter, U. (2018). Making Meals in Small Seasonal Restaurants. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, 16 (1), 1-17. [BibTeX]
Sundqvist, J. & Walter, U. (2017). Deriving Value from Customer Based Meal Experiences: Introducing a Postmodern Perspective on the Value Emergence from the Experience of the Commercial Meal. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, 15 (2), 171-185. [BibTeX]
Wellton, L. , Jonsson, I. M. , Walter, U. & Svingstedt, A. (2017). Restaurant practices: time, planning, knowledge and dreams. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 17 (3), 297-311. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. & Edvardsson, B. (2012). The physical environment as a driver of customers' service experiences at restaurants. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 4 (2), 104-119. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. , Edvardsson, B. & Öström, Å. (2010). Drivers of customers’ service experiences: a study in the restaurant industry. Managing Service Quality, 20 (3), 236-258. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. (2008). The meeting aspect and the physical setting: are they important for the guests experience?. Journal of Foodservice, 19 (1), 87-95. [BibTeX]

Chapters in books

Wellton, L. , Jonsson, I. M. & Walter, U. (2016). Culinary collisions: the vision of local food use collides with daily restaurant practice. In: C Michael Hall & Stefan Gössling, Food Tourism and Regional Development: Networks, products and trajectories (pp. 273-284). New York, NY: Routledge. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. (2010). Case 9:1: Kockar som företagare. In: Monica Hanefors [författare], Värdskap: inom turism och resande (pp. 78-81). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. (2008). Bordsbeställning. In: Lena Mossberg, Inga-Britt Gustafsson, Service på restaurang (pp. 16-24). Lund: Studentlitteratur. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. (2007). Konstnärer och "kokkonstnärer" som företagare. In: Richard Tellström, Lena Mossberg, Inger M. Jonsson, Den medvetna måltidskunskapen: en vänbok till Inga-Britt Gustafsson (pp. 217-223). Örebro: Örebro universitet. [BibTeX]

Conference papers

Öström, Å. , Bengs, C. , Olsson, V. , Sandvik, P. , Strandh Johansson, A. & Walter, U. (2023). Doctoral education in Gastronomy: Culinary Arts and Meal Science. Paper presented at Stockholm Gastronomy Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, November 23-25, 2023. [BibTeX]
Östergren, D. , Walter, U. , Jonsson, I. M. & Gustavsson, B. (2023). Gastronomic Sustainability: Communication, Cultivation, and Commitment. In: Food & Communication: Communicating "good" foods Book of abstracts. Paper presented at 3rd Conference on Food & Communication, Örebro, Sweden, September 13-15, 2023. (pp. 109-110). Örebro University: [BibTeX]
Walter, U. (2023). Social interactions as drivers of customers’ restaurant experiences. Paper presented at Stockholm Gastronomy Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, November 23-25, 2023. [BibTeX]
Olsson, V. , Sandvik, P. , Bengs, C. , Öström, Å. , Walter, U. & Strandh Johansson, A. (2023). What does an academic education on food and meals bring to the table?. Paper presented at Stockholm Gastronomy Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, November 23-25, 2023. [BibTeX]
Hult, K. , Lainpelto, J. , Walter, U. & Jonsson, I. M. (2022). Constructing the hospitality superstar: A document analysis of job advertisements in Sweden. In: M. Michaud; A. Giboreau; A. Perez-Cueto, Menu Volume 10 - Special issue. Report of ICCAS Proceedings. Twelfth International Conference on Culinary Arts and Sciences. Paper presented at 12th International Conference on Culinary Arts and Sciences (ICCAS 2022), Sustainable meal systems worldwide: Challenges for Culinary Arts and Sciences, Lyon, France, June 2-3, 2022. (pp. 92-92). Institut Paul Bocuse. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. , Muller, D. & Långvall, A. (2021). The Creation of Culinary Spaces through the distribution of Gourmet Restaurants. In: Kajsa Hult; Inger M. Jonsson; Henrik Scander; Lotte Wellton, Nordic Association for Food Studies Workshop 2021 Communicating and presenting food from the past to the future: Historical, contemporary and evolving perspectives: NAFS Workshop 2021: Grythyttan, November 25th. Paper presented at Nordic association for food studies Conference (NAFS 2021) Grythyttan, Sweden, November 25, 2021. (pp. 28-28). Örebro: Örebro University. [BibTeX]
Varela, P. , Sandell, M. , Hopia, A. , Galler, M. , Vazquez-Araujo, L. & Walter, U. (2020). Co-creative food development in SME’s boosted by gastronomic activities. Paper presented at 10th European Conference on Sensory and Consumer Research (Eurosense 2020), Rotterdam, Netherlands, (Online conference), December 13-16, 2020. [BibTeX]
Justesen, L. , Walter, U. , Kristensen, N. H. & Beck, A. M. (2019). The Breakfast Club - co-creational meal practices as rehabilitation strategies in nursing homes. In: European Journal of Public Health. Oxford University Press. [BibTeX]
Sundqvist, J. & Walter, U. (2017). Facilitating the value of the meal: a study of business travelers’ action prior to the eating context. Paper presented at 10th International Conference on Culinary Arts and Science (ICCAS 2017), Copenhagen, Denmark, July 5-7, 2017. [BibTeX]
Långvall, A. , Müller, D. & Walter, U. (2017). Nya kulinariska rum i Sverige: gourmetrestaurangers betydelse för regional utveckling och skapandet av nätverk mellan landsbygdens matproducenter och konsumenterna. Paper presented at 10th International Conference on Culinary Arts and Science (ICCAS 2017), Copenhagen, July 5-7, 2017. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. (2016). The Creation of Culinary Spaces in Sweden: On the Importance of Fine Dining Restaurants for Regional Development Platforms and the Establishment of Linkages between Rural Food Producers and Consumers. Paper presented at 1st Granqvist Culinary Arts & Meal Science Symposium, Campus Grythyttan, Örebro universitet, Grythyttan, Sweden, March 18, 2016. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. , Jonsson, I. M. & Sundqvist, J. (2015). Eating out: a study of visitors’ value creating activities related to food and meals. Paper presented at The 24th Nordic Symposium in Tourism and Hospitality and Research, Reykjavik, Iceland, October 1‐3, 2015. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. , Jonsson, I. M. & Sundqvist, J. (2015). Eating out: a study of visitors’ value creating activities related to food and meals. In: Juho Pesonen; Raija Komppula, Tourism engagement co-creating well-being: Proceedings of the 6th Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference, Joensuu, Finland, 8.-10.9.2015. Paper presented at 6th Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference (ATMC 2015), Joensuu, Finland, September 8-10, 2015. (pp. 327-329). Joensu: University of Eastern Finland. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. & Edvardsson, B. (2012). The role of the physical Environment as a driver of restaurant customers’ service experiences. Paper presented at 21st Nordic Symposium in Tourism and Hospitality Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, November 8-10, 2012. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. , Edvardsson, B. & Öström, Å. (2010). Social interactions as drivers of customers' service experiences. In: Pierre Eiglier, James Fitzsimmons, Katherine Lemon, Douglas Pugh, Marketing, strategy, economics, operations & human resources insights on service activities. Paper presented at 11th international research seminar in service management. (pp. 771-790). Aix-en-Provence: University Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III. [BibTeX]
Walter, U. & Öström, Å. (2009). The role of the physical and social environment in customers’ restaurant experiences. In: Bernd Strauss, Stephen, Quis 11 Moving forward with service quality. Wolfsburg: Ingolstadt School of Management. [BibTeX]