The chefs in the Turkish Michelin Green-Starred restaurants:Challenges and opportunities in sustainable gastronomy

This thesis examines how chefs at Michelin Green Star (MGS)-awarded restaurants in Türkiye interpret and implement sustainability. Although MGS is presented as recognition of sustainable gastronomy, its criteria remain undisclosed. Based on interviews with chefs at all Turkish MGS-awarded restaurants from 2023 to 2025, field observation, and analysis of Michelin's public communications, the study shows that most chefs had not aimed for the MGS award before receiving it and did not fully understand the criteria even afterwards; their sustainability efforts — local sourcing, circular systems, labor ethics, and cultural preservation — often predated it. The central finding, theorized as the Michelin Conflict, is that symbolic validation privileges environmental metrics while sidelining social, cultural, and labor dimensions. Key challenges include limited access to certified ingredients, poor recycling infrastructure, and exploitative labor conditions; opportunities appear in waste-reduction innovations, strengthened local networks, and emergent social claims beyond legal frameworks. The thesis introduces SAGE AURA, a reflexive concept on algorithmic influence in qualitative research. It concludes that sustainable gastronomy resists reduction to checklists or opaque awards and thrives where chefs co-construct meaning with their communities and ecosystems, contributing to debates on sustainability and recognition in global gastronomy.