Digital sustainable transmission design strategies for regional culinary intangible cultural heritage based on cultural gene theory: a case study of Hubei Province, China.

INTRODUCTION: The digital transmission of culinary intangible cultural heritage (ICH) faces several challenges, including difficulties in extracting cultural resources, organizing them into systematic categories, and overcoming monotonous forms of practical presentation. To address these issues, this study proposes a strategy for the extraction, organization, and design representation of culinary ICH resources. Grounded in cultural gene theory and integrated with living heritage theory, the strategy aims to support the sustainable transmission and design transformation of culinary ICH. METHODS: The proposed strategy consists of three progressive stages. First, a five-level classification framework-"Region-City-Project-Category-Cultural Gene"-was developed to systematically deconstruct culinary ICH resources. Second, metadata annotation specifications were established to construct structured logical relationships among cultural data. Third, knowledge graphs, Sankey diagrams, and spatiotemporal evolution maps were integrated into a multidimensional visualization atlas to support knowledge-network interconnection, multi-project process comparison, and cultural transmission-path tracing. Culinary ICH resources from Hubei Province, China, were selected as a case study, and the proposed methodology was implemented through design practice and evaluated through a controlled experiment. RESULTS: The evaluation results showed that the visualization atlas developed using the proposed strategy markedly improved target users' ability to understand, retrieve, and compare culinary ICH resources. It also helped users identify the relationships among different cultural elements and gain a deeper understanding of their cultural meanings and contextual connections. DISCUSSION: The findings demonstrate that integrating cultural gene theory with living heritage theory provides an effective framework for the classification, organization, and visual representation of regional culinary resources. The proposed strategy offers systematic support for the digital transmission and sustainable development of culinary ICH and provides a practical design reference for its digital presentation and creative transformation.