A research on trades and restaurants in Van province

In today's globalized world, the importance of preserving the cultural values of societies and transferring them to future generations is understood. Local culinary culture, local dishes and local gastronomic culture, which includes enterprises offering them, also attracts attention as an important component to protect and maintain in this environment and is seen as an important tool in the development of gastronomy tourism. When it comes to food and beverage business, the first restaurants that come to mind are artisan restaurants that can reflect Turkish culinary culture and history. Since the times when Evliya Çelebi was mentioned in her travels, the artisan restaurants, which are quite common in the commercial life in Istanbul and then spread to all Anatolia, changing and differentiating in the historical process, have continued to exist until today. Curiosity about the current status of artisan restaurants serving both the public and local and foreign tourists as an original and important element of Turkish culinary culture and the existence of its potential mission in terms of gastronomy tourism constitutes the starting point of this thesis. In this context, the thesis aims to examine the culture of artisan restaurant, which has a deep-rooted past in Turkey, together with its historical past and present situation. In addition, an area study was conducted in which artisan restaurants in Van Province were considered in terms of gastronomy. In the thesis, how Van artisan restaurants are food and drink enterprises, who they address, the presence of local gastronomic products and products/dishes registered with the geographical sign of Van in their menus, and the problems of artisan restaurants, their strenghts and weaknesses over other types of restaurants were examined with the eyes of the owners/managers and chefs of the artisan restaurant. It is also intended to obtain information such as location selections, pricing patterns, etc. The study data was collected through face-to-face interviews with the owners/managers and chefs of the artisan restaurant from 20 artisan restaurants in İpekyol and Tuşba counties, which form the center of Van Province between August 2022 and October 2022. The obtained data were subjected to content analysis with MAXQUDA program and the findings were reported. They were also observed at these restaurants. According to the findings obtained from the opinions of the participants, Van artisan restaurants appeal to everyone but have a customer profile consisting of mostly tradesmen, officers, students, tourists and families, it is preferred to be established on busy streets and streets, it is affordable, suitable for health and serves in three kinds of food logic, smiling face and sincerity are the main, they are businesses with a clean and fresh atmosphere. It has been seen that most of the artisan restaurants do not have menu cards, and the dishes are listed under the guidance of the table or service staff. It was determined that the majority of the participants were not knowledgeable about the "geographical indication product". It was determined that the participants usually gave the Keledoş meal and Ayran Aşı soup response as Van geographical indication products. It has been determined that some traditions unique to Turkish cuisine still continue in the artisan restaurants and that there is modernization in some elements. The contributions of the participants to the gastronomy tourism of the artisan restaurants, their problems and their views on the solution also constitute some of the remarkable results of the thesis. It is thought that the results of this thesis, which deals with artisan restaurant and local food culture of Van province, can help to preserve and maintain the gastronomic historical and cultural values of the province, thus contributing to the efforts of the province to create attractiveness in terms of gastronomy tourism.