INCLUSION OF LOCAL FOODS AT MENUS OF HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS OPERATING IN ADANA AND MERSİN
Oya Yildirim, Oya Berkay Karaca A. Celil Çakici
DOI: 10.35666/25662880.2015.1.240
UDC: 338.486.3:640.45(560.8)
Abstract: Cuisine culture of a destination has become to be an important element of attraction in tourist travels, especially in recent years. Local foods provide significant advantages for the region in destination marketing activities. Consequently, it is thought to be important for the companies to include local foods in their menus. For this reason, in this research it is aimed to evaluate if hotels and restaurants operating in Adana and Mersin has given local foods a place in their menus. As part of this aim, we had conducted semi-structured interviews with the managers of 82 businesses in total in March 2015. It is ascertained that a considerable number of businesses (%81,7) included local foods in their menus, the mean was calculated as %50. Besides, it was found that the most common meat dishes were; Adana kebab, grilled meatballs, liver kebab, steak tartar a-la-turca, stuffed meatballs, the soups were: thimble, tarhana, analıkızlı, ekĢili köfte. Another outcome was that indigenous drinks such as haĢlama and kaynar were rarely included in the menus. The research ends with the suggestion that the ratio of local foods in menus should be increased.
Key words: Local foods, hotels, restaurants, Adana and Mersin.