Hospitality & Society - Current Issue

Food waste is a critical environmental issue worldwide. This qualitative study explores why plate waste persists in Arab societies, despite religious beliefs that consider wasting food ungodly and teachings that explicitly discourage wastefulness. Previous studies have acknowledged excessive Karam (‘hospitality’) as an important factor but have not fully explained the underlying causes of this phenomenon. This article makes a unique contribution by uncovering the deeper drivers behind Arab Muslims’ expressions of excessive hospitality – an often-overlooked aspect in existing research. The study unpacks the complex connections between hospitality, religion and food waste and advocates for rethinking generosity within Arab Muslim hospitality to address both the environmental and ethical implications of food waste. While considerable research has focused on food waste reduction, far less attention has been devoted to strategies that prevent food waste from occurring in the first place. This article aims to contribute to this area by offering insights into food waste prevention within Arab hospitality contexts grounded in interviews and Islamic teaching.

This article demonstrates how hospitality is unsettled by welcoming acts that subject irregular migrants to border control through the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Drawing on the analysis of policy-relevant documents on healthcare and immigration published by the UK Government, as well as the grey literature produced by migrant charities involved in healthcare provision for migrants, it offers insight into both official approaches to healthcare and the responses articulated by organizations working with migrant communities. The analysis argues that bordering practices within the English NHS destabilise hospitality as a core principle of ethical healthcare. The article offers an original reading of immigration enforcement in the health service by using the lens of hospitality to examine how healthcare provision for irregular migrants blurs the boundaries between care and harm. Drawing on Derrida, the article examines how migrants’ experiences of guesting, along with the hosting practices of healthcare professionals, unsettle the stability of hospitality as a practice that supports health and well-being by nourishing a sense of homeliness. In this context, hospitality is framed as a practice through which healthcare professionals and migrants negotiate degrees of belonging, simultaneously shaping the healthcare setting as a moral space marked by both inclusion and exclusion, care and control. This intervention therefore extends debates at the nexus of hospitality and (global) bioethics by tracing how NHS staff involvement in immigration enforcement, as an ethico-political concern, frames (and is framed by) the movement of people across UK borders.

Research on the cooking experience of chefs concerning food waste management in professional kitchens is rare. In particular, little is known about the psychological factors determining how chefs in busy and stressful work environments manage food waste. This article introduces flow and mindfulness as prospective determinants of food waste management in professional kitchens. This conceptual note argues that such elements of flow and mindfulness as the degree of awareness of the present moment, clear goals and a sense of control are essential for managing food waste. The article calls for more research on the role of flow and mindfulness and other elements of the cooking experience of chefs that can aid in food waste management in professional kitchens.

Hospitality and tourism (H&T) education is at critical crossroads, balancing enduring academic traditions and the demands of a rapidly evolving, technology-driven industry. This paper critically examines these tensions, particularly the balance between responsiveness to industry needs and preserving academic rigour, critical thinking and scholarly independence. Drawing on insights from the webinar Rethinking Hospitality and Tourism Education: Disruptors and Transformations and input from the authors of the book, this paper explores key questions on urgent disruptions to conventional H&T education, the reimagining of credentials, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in learning environments, innovative assessment models and the ultimate purpose of H&T education. While embracing necessary transformations, this paper cautions against over-alignment with industry imperatives and advocates for a reimagined H&T education model grounded in ethical responsibility, intellectual depth and broader societal relevance. Ultimately, it positions H&T education both as a site of professional preparation and a critical, reflexive and transformative public good.