A study on the role of gourmets in the development of Turkish cuisine

Turkish cuisine has an important cultural element in cultural studies which evaluated from different perspectives. Socio-cultural structure which has a very rich and diverse as Turkish cuisine, has been the subject of many studies in recent years. In this process, gourmets are culinary expert who share their knowledge and experience in the field of culinary and cuisine culture are located in the gastronomy. Gourmets are having an effective role about food and beverage consumption at present. Especially in this case has attracted the attention of food and beverage industry's, palate fond and curious to explore the different tastes of consumers. Therefore, the purpose of study is gourmets roles in the development of Turkish cuisine and to determine their general qualifications. Considering this purpose, study was contucted under the qualitative research method. In- depth exploratory and semi-structured interviews were conducted, in person, with 20 experts in the field of Turkish cuisine located in İstanbul. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Codes and themes were determined and interpreted the findings. As a result, because of the properties owned by people who are attiributed to gourmet; required to experience, curiosity, food culture and culinary knowledge such as basic qualifications; suggestions, criticisms, and comments pull attention the raising awareness, it was concluded that they take place in culinary development. Keywords: Gastronomy, Turkish Cuisine, Gourmet, Qualitative Research, Content Analysis