Food has always been an integral part of human life, and its valorisation for tourist purposes has become increasingly popular. Croatian culinary tradition is something that could help Croatia become more recognizable on the international touristic market and help differentiate it from the competition, but only if the branding of gastronmy improves. Nowdays everything authentic and original gets instant popularity, and given the Croatian wealth of authentic food, it is a niche that needs to be further developed, all with the aim of developing a selective form of tourism. Of course, in Croatin daily life, wines have an important role, and their touristic exploitation is also increasing. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of branding Croatian gastronomy with the aim of developing gastronomic and wine tourism, and explaining the purpose that food festivals have throughout that process.