This paper identifies the effects of traditional food tourism in sustainability of the Rasht city in Iran. It also evaluates tourism development approach from experts' perspectives. This research has been done by descriptive and analytical way, and data has been gathered using documentary and field methods. The variety of indicators was developed for sustainable tourism and the respondents were key figures in the Rasht tourism sector. Completed questionnaires include 384 and 36 data sheets from local people and expert groups, respectively. To evaluate the effect of food tourism development in achieving sustainability and also to recognize tourism development approach, 27 indicators were established, and based on random sampling and Cochran's method. Mean square, SD (standard deviation) and the p-value were used to recognize local people opinions and experts' views about research aim. The findings revealed that the approach in this city was a combination of boosterism and economic approaches. The results also exhibited that food tourism development in the study area has failed to be sustainable, because only the economic dimension has been apparently respected