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A group of French culinary students and teachers spent a week this month cooking alongside Turkish classmates in Türkiye’s Aydin, part of a two-year European exchange that teaches future chefs to waste less food and promote local ingredients.
The French delegation visited Didim, a coastal district in Aydin province, from Oct. 11 to 16.
They worked in the kitchens of Zeynep Mehmet Donmez Tourism Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, which hosted the visit.
The students prepared dishes using regional products and followed zero-waste principles. Cultural excursions were scheduled alongside the cooking workshops.
The exchange is part of CulBRI, a small-scale partnership in vocational education that runs from November 2025 to October 2027.
France’s Lycee Francois Mitterrand coordinates the project. Teachers Mehmet Dogan and Guler Varis Akol lead the Turkish side.
The project aims to train future chefs by bringing together vocational students and teachers from both countries.
The goal is to include promoting sustainable gastronomy and zero-waste cooking, presenting local and regional products to international audiences, teaching techniques to reduce food waste, and building students’ digital skills and foreign-language ability.
Between in-person visits in Türkiye and France, students keep working together online. They share recipes, compare cooking techniques and develop dishes jointly.
Organizers say the project is also meant to build communication, teamwork and intercultural skills. The Turkish leg of the exchange will conclude with cultural activities in Istanbul.
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