A Taste of Catalonia: A social media analysis of gastronomic content on Instagram

Abstract

This study explores the projected image of Catalan gastronomy on Instagram by analyzing both user-generated content (UGC) tagged with #SomGastronomia and brand-generated content (BGC) published on the official account @SomGastronomia. The research is framed within the promotional activities of the “Catalonia, World Region of Gastronomy (2025)” initiative. A mixed-method approach is applied, incorporating the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model to analyze how content features influence users’ emotional reactions and engagement behavior, comparing UGC and BGC. A total of 3471 posts from 2014 to 2024 were analyzed. The results show that UGC significantly outperforms BGC in terms of engagement, particularly content shared by nanoinfluencers and personal profiles, while official institutional posts recorded the lowest levels of interaction. Sentiment and emotion analysis revealed that negative sentiment and emotional tones, such as sadness and happiness, generated higher engagement than positive or neutral content. Additionally, image-based content performed better than videos, especially on the official profile. These findings emphasize the potential of UGC as a powerful tool for brand promotion in the gastronomy sector and the importance of emotional relevance in social media strategies. This dual analysis provides insights into how Catalan gastronomy is promoted and perceived online, examining the interplay between official narratives and user interactions to assess how social media shapes a cohesive and authentic gastronomic identity, with strategic implications for tourism boards and policymakers.

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE within the RevTour project (Ref: PID2022-138564OA-I00).