Intangible cultural heritage an investigation on Bodrum local foods

Local foods of countries with rich cultural heritage such as Turkey have an important place in the culinary culture. In this research, it is aimed to reveal what the local dishes of Bodrum are and the recipes of these foods. Bodrum has hosted important civilizations since ancient times. While Bodrum has the culture of a maritime city, it met with the Yoruk culture with the arrival of the Turks in the region, and gained cultural richness thanks to the immigrant Turks who came from the nearby islands with the population exchange. The intangible heritage of this rich culture reveals the importance of the study, revealing the local foods and their recipes. On the basis of the research, revealing Bodrum local foods, reaching original recipes, ensuring sustainability, transferring them to future generations are discussed within the scope of culture, cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage. Today, Bodrum is experiencing a cultural conflict with increasing tourism areas, unplanned urbanization and migration. Due to the economic expectations created by the entertainment culture, local foods have begun to be forgotten. The "mixed research model" was used in the study and this model enriched the research in terms of application. The research was designed in two topics. The quantitative topic of the research was designed as an exploratory research and was applied based on the survey model, one of the quantitative research models. In the exploratory research, a questionnaire form was prepared, which included Bodrum local dishes, which was reached as a result of the literature review. By writing 81 food names in the questionnaire, data on the awareness of the dishes were obtained from the people living in Bodrum using the 5-point Likert method. In this context, 54 participants participated in the survey face-to-face, and 40 participants filled out the given survey form. It was evaluated that reaching a sample group of 94 people was sufficient for the quantitative topic of the study, due to the fact that it was in the pandemic period, time constraints, and the study was exploratory. The second topic of the research is qualitative research. In this topic, the "cultural analysis" design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. In this aspect of the research, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 40 participants, who live in Bodrum and are thought to have knowledge about Bodrum local foods, using a semi-structured interview form. During the interviews, data were collected about Bodrum culinary culture and recipes of local foods. In the survey study, the data were interpreted by "frequency analysis", one of the descriptive statistical methods. The interviews were analyzed with the "descriptive analysis" method. At the end of the survey and interviews, it was determined that Bodrum's local foods and culinary culture are still continued in the neighborhoods and villages far from the center, but it has begun to be forgotten due to the increasing effect of tourism, unplanned urbanization, environmental pollution, irregular migration and economic concerns. Despite all these negative effects, it has been evaluated that the people living in Bodrum want to continue their culinary culture, they have sufficient potential for gastronomy tourism, and the establishment of a gastronomy center will be beneficial for this culture to continue. In the light of all these, it is thought that this study will contribute to the tourism of Bodrum region and to the literature of gastronomy in the academic sense.