Perspectives and expectations of students studying in the field of gastronomy

Today, people eat out for reasons such as increase in income, economy, socialization, experiencing different cultures, and seeking novelty. However, the increase in people's education and culture level also affects their eating behavior and preferences. Therefore, people have come to look for not only a delicious meal, but also examples from world cuisines, different presentations, and dishes prepared with different culinary techniques when eating out. This situation has caused the concept of gastronomy to come to the fore both in Turkey and in the world. Although various studies have been carried out around the world regarding the concept of gastronomy, which was first expressed in the early 1800s, it is seen that the concept of gastronomy has been known in Turkey especially for the last 20 years and has become popular during this time. Gastronomy, which has begun to mean more than meeting the physiological needs of people, has started to come to the fore as a commercial field. Therefore, this change in the understanding of eating out and eating well has led the profession to become an art by getting ahead of the culinary profession. This situation has revealed the need for qualified employees and professionals to meet the different needs of people regarding eating behavior. With the establishment of undergraduate level educational institutions in order to train the qualified kitchen professionals needed, competent kitchen staff began to be trained. In addition to the gastronomy education given in the world, gastronomy education, which started to be given in only one university in 2010 at the undergraduate level related to the field of gastronomy in Turkey, has become a undergraduate level education field given in almost all foundation and state universities in 2022. This situation aroused curiosity about the perspectives of the students studying in the field of gastronomy in Turkey. In addition, it is seen that the quotas in all gastronomy departments in Turkey are full, in other words, the departments related to the gastronomy field in Turkey are the most preferred departments. This situation arouses curiosity about the professional expectations of students studying in the field of gastronomy. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reveal the perspectives of the students studying in the field of gastronomy on the gastronomy profession and their expectations about the profession. The universe of the study is to create students studying gastronomy in Turkey. However, since it was not possible to reach all of these students, sampling was used in the study and the students included in the study were easily determined by sampling. 393 people were included in the scope of the study. Questionnaire technique was used to collect data within the scope of the study. Previous studies were used in the preparation of the questionnaire. The survey was applied as an online survey between January 30, 2021 and April 13, 2022. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows 25.0 and AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) 23.0 program were used to evaluate the obtained data. During the analysis of the data, reliability analysis was performed to test the reliability of the Gastronomy students' perspectives and expectations scales for the angel, Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to test the construct validity, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (DFA) was used to test the construct validity by using the Amos program. After testing the normal distribution of the data, the independent t-test was used to compare two independent groups, and one-way analysis of variance was applied to compare more than two independent groups, and in case of difference, Bonferroni was used to find which two groups the difference originated from. Pearson correlation was applied to test the relationship between the scales. Multiple linear regression was applied in line with the created model. As a result of the study, it has been determined that the students studying in the field of gastronomy see the gastronomy profession as a unique, difficult but good working conditions, respectively, and their expectations from the profession are professional satisfaction and career ability, and being satisfied with wages and social conditions. Another result obtained in the study is that students with different demographic characteristics have different expectations from the profession in terms of their perspectives on the profession. Finally, the relationship between the students' perspectives on the profession and their expectations was examined and the relationship between the students' perspectives on the profession and their expectations from the profession was explained. In the conclusion part, based on the results of the analysis, the current situation regarding the profession and expectations of the students studying in the field of gastronomy were discussed and various suggestions were made in order to meet the expectations of both the sector and the students.