The Living Cuisine in Zeferan!
My dear readers, in this Anthropocene era, when consumption has peaked in every sense and area in humanity has come to pine for the good old days, even the years of poverty. People who are fed up with metropolises, being surrounded by concrete buildings and monotonicity of their lives are running away from this as fast as they can and returning to old ways. This escape, which can only be realized by those who have the means nowadays, seems to get more and more popular in the near future. Although it is too late, I see this as a positive development and I am following this swift change.
A virtue that people in every sector should have: Self-criticism!
Never before have we, as the country, nation, people in tourism sector and as individuals, needed self-criticism. Without flinging mud at each other, let us take a bite of the reality sandwich. Let us all, as Turkish managers, do the SWOT analysis. Let us first put ourselves under the microscope and then the sector, which we are representatives of as well as the contributions we can make to our country’s tourism and problems we can actually prevent…
An open letter from the kitchen!
We have one of the richest cuisines in the world. Hey, Even the richest one! Any objections? Can you imagine a country like ours? A country that has seven regions with different culinary cultures. Apart from this, cities like Antep, Hatay, Bursa and Konya, which surpass the regions they are in with their rich cuisines…
Is gastronomy tourism an alternative or a necessity?
Between September 19th and 21st, I was in the 4th International Congress of Gastronomy Tourism Studies organized by the Tourism Faculty of Nevşehir Hacı Bektaşi Veli University in order to talk about ‘the Living Cuisine’ movement, which I started as a reaction against the ‘all-inclusive’ system and unconscious consumption in 2014 and patented in 2016. Before starting my words, I wholeheartedly congratulate Prof. Dr. Şule Aydın and her team, who organized this successful congress. It is obvious that they have gained momentum since Çanakkale.
A masterpiece in Ürgüp!
The land of beautiful horses and fairies, Cappadocia has reached the present day starting its life around 3000 B.C. during the times of Assyrians and, respectively, becoming home to Hittites, Phrygians, Roman Empire, Mongols, the Seljuk Empire, the Beylik of Karaman and finally to the Ottoman Empire.
Alternative tourism is easy in the domestic market!
To take a stand against technology, the lifestyle centered around consumerism and fast food, movements like citta slow, which support slow lifestyle and minimalism, which aims to enjoy the life to the full by saving everything as much as possible instead of consuming are rapidly spreading all around the world!
Everthing is actually hidden in ‘su böreği’*!
Before starting my article, I would like to send my deepest and most sincere regards to all of my readers from Kazakhstan. Please pardon me if I get into politics in this article along with tourism. A couple of days ago, I was in an enormous and a very old bazaar which is at one of the most frequented points of the historic silk road in Shymkent. A week before that, I was in International Hoca Ahmet Yesevi Turkish-Kazakh University and Hoca Ahmet Yesevi shrine in Turkistan for the Living Cuisine seminars. (*a pastry with cheese filling)
The road map of idealist tourism entrepreneurs
There are precious tourism entrepreneurs in our country who are idealist, ambitious, motivated and demanding as well as being friendly. In every corner of Anatolia or Thrace, we have entrepreneurs who consider the improvement of not only the business they work for, but also that of the city or town in which his business is. These people take the smallest detail into account as to how they can contribute to the mobility in their destination in addition to brainstorming with their teams and preparing action plans. I always liken such respectable people to the late-lamented governor Recep Yazıcıoğlu and Diyarbakır provincial police Chief Ali Gaffar Okan. To those valiant people who always stood their ground at the risk of their lives.
We must bring the theory and practice together!
The culture of gastronomy is going on its way at full speed. Universities on the one hand, and businesses on the other. Indeed, both schools and businesses are spreading to every corner of the country each passing day. Yet, they are spreading without the necessary infrastructure being prepared and necessary data being collected.
My impressions of Gastronomy Tourism Congress
You may come across different definitions of the word gastronomy. If you ask me, a person who has been working in food and beverage department of tourism for 22 years, it is the art of preparing fine food and eating it. That is, the whole process in which fruit, vegetables, meat and fish come from where they are raised to the plate they are served and consumed in as well as the attention and awareness in this process are called gastronomy. Good drinks accompanying good food are also a part of gastronomy.
A war of nerves
For the purpose of scrutinizing the issue and, before further losses of qualified staff and executives, contributing to the tourism sector, which literally turned out to be a war of nerves for people working in this sector as a result of the degeneration in it… Yes, as of 2017, we are at a point at which it is absolutely a must that tourism, which has turned out to be a war of nerves, be reevaluated under the headings of employers, executives, guests, employees!
Earthquake in Tourism
As you know, like everyone else, an earthquake with 6.3 magnitude that affected the whole Gökova coast including Bodrum occurred in the offshore waters of Bodrum Odak Island. It has had an earthquake effect in tourism sector, which is going through a phase recovery. However, it is not Almighty God that created this earthquake effect in tourism sector. There two issues to be scrutinized related to this unfortunate natural disaster. What are they?
In the new era of hotel management, those who do these will win!
Like everything that has an end, surely, one day the pandemic will also come to an end. It will end; however, those with different names, different symptoms and different origins will come. Actually, it was about time, too! Isn’t it human beings themselves, who have the capability to be both the most gracious and the most ungrateful of all that have been created that have brought the world to the point where it is today? Anyway, it is not our topic now…
My country is a place of carnival
Undoubtedly, change is the only thing that does not change. Everything changes in time. Borders, red lines, habits, even empires…
Fusion Generation
We can change the whole world’s understanding of tourism with our Untouched Fusion Generation Anatolian cuisine and our legendary hospitality.
How can we spread the Turkish Cuisine to the world?
In most of the world cuisines, you can see the traces of Ottoman cuisine. There were things that our ancestors, who spread over three continents, both learned and taught in the lands where they went. That’s why Turkish cuisine is a total harmony of cultures. Although we have a rich culinary culture, only we know it ourselves. When Turkish cuisine is mentioned somewhere out of Turkey, it is only kebabs and doner that come to people’s mind. However, we are one of the rare nations who adapted different nations’, including Greeks, Indians, Arabs and many others, culinary cultures to our very own culinary culture, and developed them with our original interpretations.
Equation with three unknowns
It is well-known that we, as a country, are going through tough years. While European Union is doing things to revive tourism and control economic crisis in countries going through a similar tough time like Spain, Greece and Portugal, we don’t, I don’t know whether because of this BOP or not, seem to get out of trouble. Of course, it is the job of politicians to question the reasons for this and to do what is necessary in the light of the answers they find. Yet, of course, we, as tourism professionals, should be able to feel the pulse of the country and think one step ahead.
Attention! Top Secret!
Tebdil-i Kıyafet (Disguise): Mingling freely with the crowd by hiding your real identity with the help of clothes etc. Mehmed the Conqueror, Mahmud II, Murad IV, Osman III, Mustafa III and Abdülhamid I were only some of the Ottoman sultans who made a habit out of mingling with the crowd disguisedly and collecting intelligence first hand as well as observing the situation the public is in.
Asociality on Social Media
How many fellow chefs, including me, are able to arouse curiosity by subscribing to an international platform and sharing their unique presentations in English?
Astoundingly delicious tips!
We are living in Bodrum, a uniquely precious place. It does not lose its charm even though concrete structures around us are increasing rapidly each passing day. Yet, I believe we, as the inhabitants of Bodrum, cannot benefit from the richness of Bodrum sufficiently.