The use of local food as a touristic product in the contex of gastronomy tourism in Kastamonu

As a phenomenon importance of gastronomy continues to increase in Turkey and in the world across all types of tourism. In this type of tourism that Turkey has a rich cuisine takes its place among the leading countries of the world. The civilizations that the Anatolian geography, which has fertile lands, have hosted for thousands of years have enabled the creation of innumerable flavors in each region. Nowadays, these delicacies have become more preferred as regional dishes and have become the most important products that tourists come to in the future. The increasing prevalence of local food in gastronomic tourism brings with it the question of how these dishes can be presented as successful tourist products. From this point of view, it is aimed to investigate and reveal how gastronomic tourism can make use of local dishes as touristic products. In line with this aim, a qualitative research has been carried out in the Kastamonu region, which is extremely rich in terms of regional dishes. 25 people were included in the sample of this research conducted for Kastamonu tourism professionals. As a result of the research, the findings show that local foods in Kastamonu can be utilized as touristic products and how the elements of creating touristic products should be.