The homogenization and heterogenization of food in food and beverage establishments

The primary purpose of this study is to reveal homogeneity and heterogeneity points of dishes served at food and beverage establishments in different destinations of Turkey. In line with this purpose, primarily identifying factors of restaurants and dishes served at restaurants were discussed in tangible and intangible elements. In the next phase, in order to understand the production process of local, national and global dishes (predominantly local dishes), of which were served at restaurants have been investigated reciprocally and in-depth. The main stages of preparation process of dishes in restaurants were determined as supply, storage, preparation, consumption and disposal. Within the context, by adapting qualitative methods, emic and ethical approaches from an ethnographic perspective utilized, during the field research. Seven different destinations and 53 restaurants in these destinations were determined with purposeful sampling method by using importance criteria. Interviews and observations were performed in 35 of these places and only observations were made in 18 of them. Furthermore, photographs taken during the field research and the documents obtained from the restaurants management were used to support the findings. According to the results of the study, while the destinations and restaurants are becoming similar in terms of the presentation of national and global dishes, whereas heterogeneity was achieved by local and unique dishes. When the production process of the dishes was examined, it was found that food and beverage establishments were highly similitude in supply, storage, consumption, and disposal stages. On the other hand, the preparation and cooking stage were found to be the main heterogeneity stage where uniqueness was achieved in the dishes served.