Evaluation of Ottoman cuisine culture in terms of gastronomy tourism: City of Istanbul case

Ottoman culinary culture is one of the most important culinary cultures of the world. The Ottoman Empire, which has a multicultural structure, reflected this richness to its culinary culture. The flavors that developed in the Ottoman cuisine played an important role in the diversification and shaping of the 21st century Turkish culinary culture. The study starts with a literature review about gastronomy and gastronomy tourism. In the further process of this study, which tries to reveal the standards of restaurants serving Ottoman cuisine in Istanbul, semi-structured interview method was first used to collect data, and interviews were conducted with the operators and their employees who agreed to support the study. In the next stage, the data obtained through observation were used to reveal the differences and similarities between the businesses that serve Ottoman cuisine. In order to verify the findings obtained with the data obtained through the two methods mentioned, the data obtained from the interview with the restaurant operator, who is considered to be an expert on the characteristics of the restaurants serving Ottoman cuisine, who acts as a consultant for the TV series about the Ottoman period and who also supports the study, used to make comparisons to clarify the standards. Under the title of conclusions and recommendations, suggestions were presented based on the evaluation of the findings obtained from this study, which aimed to set the standards for restaurants serving with the concept of Ottoman cuisine in Istanbul, and it was aimed to contribute to the researchers who are interested in the concept of Ottoman cuisine culture to businesses, business managers and employees.