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Türkiye’s culture and tourism minister said the government is identifying restaurants that keep traditional recipes alive as part of a festival series that will promote local cuisine throughout the year.
"In every city, we are identifying restaurants that are especially good on flavor but also include old recipes suited to the city’s culture on their menus," Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said.
Ersoy said gastronomy will be a major focus of this year’s Antalya Culture Route Festival, now in its fourth year in the Mediterranean resort city.
The festival will help showcase Antalya’s culinary riches alongside its culture and arts scene, he said.
The Culture Route Festivals are being held in 26 cities this year, and the ministry aims to expand them to 32 cities next year, Ersoy said. He described Antalya as one of Türkiye’s key tourism hubs, welcoming large numbers of domestic and foreign visitors.
More than 440 events will take place at over 40 venues in Antalya, he said. The program includes concerts, traditional arts, opera, ballet, theater performances and exhibitions aimed at a range of age groups.
Ersoy said the festival has a separate gastronomy component. A jury that includes international chefs selects restaurants that reflect each city’s food culture.
The selection considers not only the quality of the food but also whether a restaurant helps protect regional cuisine and pass it on to future generations, he said.
"We are identifying restaurants that include recipes that need to be kept alive and handed down to future generations," Ersoy said. "We classify them in our list of flavor spots. We present these lists to visitors on Go Türkiye and our other promotional channels."
Through these listings, Ersoy said, domestic and international tourists can experience each city’s authentic cuisine, while businesses that preserve traditional recipes receive economic support.
He said the ministry does not limit promotion to the festival period. Promoting the listed restaurants year-round creates healthy competition among businesses and helps raise service standards in the food sector, he said.
Ersoy said Michelin-starred chefs are also being brought to different cities as part of the festivals. The chefs visit local suppliers and develop partnerships with women’s cooperatives, he said.
The ministry is encouraging supply and purchasing agreements that continue throughout the year, he said.
"In this way, we aim for gastronomy promotion to benefit the local economy as well," Ersoy said. "We contribute to the economics of the business, we maximize the satisfaction of our citizens and visitors, and we raise standards."
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