Green kitchen applications: The case of Gaziantep

The rapid consumption of many resources by human beings in the world and the environmental problems that occur deeply affect the tourism sector, which is in constant interaction with the environment. The preference of tourists for unspoiled nature has led the tourism industry to be sensitive to the environment and to make necessary environmental practices. The empirical application area of this study, in which the green kitchen practices of tourism businesses in Gaziantep are investigated within the scope of environmental awareness, covers 3,4 and 5 star hotel businesses and restaurants of food and beverage businesses. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to evaluate the perspectives of business employees on green kitchen applications and to determine what the applications are in this context. The questionnaire developed for this purpose was applied to 194 kitchen workers of hotels and food and beverage businesses in Gaziantep between July and August 2022, based on the convenience sampling method. As a result of the empirical analysis, the scale developed on the evaluation of green kitchen and green kitchen practices by hotel and food and beverage businesses employees has 14 propositions and "applications to prevent waste in the kitchen, use of energy-efficient tools in the kitchen, preference of environmentally friendly products, environmentally friendly practices of enterprises, waste in the kitchen." It has been determined that it consists of 5 dimensions: management and recycling. After the normal distribution was determined, difference analyzes and correlation analysis were applied. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that the evaluations of the hotel and food and brage employees about green kitchen and green kitchen applications are generally positive, but the green kitchen applications of the enterprises are insufficient. Finally, various suggestions were presented according to the findings obtained from the research. According to the results of the research, it is suggested that training should be given to food and beverage and hotel businesses on issues such as waste management, food waste, energy saving, and that business managers should conduct studies covering green kitchen. Keywords: Environmental Awareness, Green Kitchen, Gaziantep