strategic domain. Efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to identify and register geographically distinctive products are convincing but remain partial. As at the time of this writing, only a few Albanian products have been registered under the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) scheme or other related indications, and legal tools for supporting local producers, safeguarding culinary heritage, and promoting sustainable gastronomic tourism remain fragmented or underutilised. This study aims at conducting a legal and policy analysis of gastronomy as an emergent regulatory object in the Albanian legal context. It explores how gastronomy—understood not merely as food preparation, but as a nexus of tradition, identity, and rural economy—can be incorporated within Albania’s legal architecture. The inquiry focuses on the gaps and inconsistencies in the current legal framework, the lack of horizontal policy integration across agriculture, tourism, and cultural heritage, and the limited capacity of institutions to implement and enforce existing norms. By analysing gastronomy through the lens of legal recognition and institutional design, this study aims to contribute to the broader debate on how law can support both the preservation of intangible cultural heritage and its mobilisation as a resource for development. It suggests that Albania’s future as a gastronomic destination depends not just on its cuisine, but on how well its laws support and connect food, culture, tourism, and agriculture. II. LEGAL AND POLICY INTERSECTIONS OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD LAW AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND TOURISM IN SHAPING SUSTAINABLE GASTRONOMY 2.1. Agricultural foundations and structural integration with sustainable gastronomy Gastronomy, when examined through the lens of sustainability, must be understood as a deeply interdependent system whose foundations lie in the agricultural landscape and its institutional configuration. Albania’s agricultural identity is marked by family-based farming, biological diversity, and inherited agronomic practices.12 However, it also faces longstanding structural impediments 12 The strategy for agriculture, rural development and fisheries, 2021–2027, approved by the Decision of Council of Ministers no. 460, dated 29.6.2022, OG 100/2022. 471 SUSTAINABLE GASTRONOMY IN ALBANIA
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