Several chapters of the Holy Quran have mentioned that tourism is a "Muslim's right." The Quran also revealed that Muslims could visit non-Muslim countries for entertainment, religious, and educational purposes; but has warned its followers to avoid indulging in any behaviors against Islamic law, potentially diluting their faith. Food is a significant component of tourism. However, information about non-Muslim country's local street food effects on Muslim tourists' intention to revisit the destination is somewhat limited. Therefore, this study aims to understand Muslim-friendly Japanese street food's impact on Malaysian Malay Muslims' intention to re-experience Japan post-Covid-19 pandemic via the extended Theory of Planned Behavior. The research may perhaps be part of the early initiatives toward examining Malaysian Malay Muslim tourists' fondness for Muslim-friendly street foods in non-Muslim nations (such as Japan). It may well be an indication of their desire to revisit those countries post the Covid-19 pandemic. Recognizing the variations of food choice behaviors, especially across cultures, denotes a vital information source for relevant agencies in Malaysia and Japan involved in marketing and promoting Japan as a tourist destination post-Covid-19. Japanese street food may well act as the catalyst to revive the tourism economy of both nations.

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The significant shifts in urbanites’ lifestyles have been the catalyst behind the increased in the consumption of foreign foods and beverages in Malaysia; particularly those made in western nations. Notably, Malaysia’s total import for food had risen significantly from RM26.7 billion in 2009 to RM42.6 billion and RM 45.4 billion, in 2014 and 2015 respectively. These days, urban Malaysian Malays are being inundated with various foreign Halal food products in local markets however, these can also leave them in a rather risky circumstance as the likelihood that some of these foreign food products are not suitable (i.e. Haram) for their consumptions, is relatively high. Halal food issues (namely those foods originated from non-Muslim countries) have created lots of anxieties within the Malaysian Malays’ society. Hence, this study aims to examine factors affecting willingness to accept foreign Halal foods by urban Malaysian Malays. Convenience sampling technique was used to obtain responses from 450 urban Malaysian Malays in designated areas within the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley region. The results demonstrated urban Malaysian Malays willingness to accept foreign Halal foods were significantly affected by trust but displayed no relationships with subjective knowledge and attitude. Also, the insignificant attitude- willingness relationship signified the presence of the attitude-behavior gap. The study’s outcomes may perhaps offer new understandings on urban Malaysian Malay markets particularly for global brand owners and marketers.

The paper investigates the influences of gastronomy behaviours on the repatronage intention (RI) of Malaysian Muslim tourists toward Japanese street food vendors. The present literature review showcased multiple studies on street food vendors at various destinations. Despite this fact, there is a lack of information concerning Malaysian Muslim travellers and Japanese street food vendors. Notably, Malaysian Muslims love to travel to Japan due to its visa-free travel, the availability of various Muslim-friendly facilities, and its delicious street food. Street food is described as ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by hawkers or vendors in streets or any other public spaces (such as markets, fairs, or carnivals) for immediate consumption, including finger food and fast food. In general, people buy street foods because of factors such as convenience, reasonably-priced flavourful food, samples of ethnic cuisines, and nostalgia. Most importantly, street food reflects the local culture and appeals to many palates. Nowadays, savouring authentic local dishes of certain places has become a tourism trend. Moreover, statistics showed that millions of tourists have decided to revisit familiar locations to enjoy their local gastronomic culture. In fact, gastronomy is among the main factors that affect tourists’ destination choices. Based on current literature, this study theorised that gastronomy attractiveness (GA) and past gastronomy experience (GE) indirectly affects the repatronage intention (RI) through gastronomy satisfaction (GS). Furthermore, gastronomy knowledge (GK) and gastronomy motivation (GM) are direct predictors of RI. In this study, the analysed data showed significant relationships between GA, GE, and RI through GS and between GM and RI. However, GK and RI had an insignificant relationship.