İzmir to talk about migrant cuisine in gastronomy festival
İzmir finally has its own international gastronomy festival.
Migration is the theme of the İzmir GastroFest that will be organized in the historic Alsancak train station this Sunday, Oct. 21.
The festival will provide an opportunity to listen to how İzmir’s cuisine has been deeply influenced by migration movements from experts like Nedim Atilla, Vedat Başaran, Ahmet Güzelyağdöken, Haluk Özyavuz and Sara Pardo.
Speakers will talk about the diversifying contribution of Levantine, Cretan, Greek, Safarad and of course the Anatolian culinary culture of İzmir’s cuisine.
Professor Biray Kolluoğlu and Profressor Zafer Yenal will explain how the 1923 population exchanges (between Turkey and Greece) have left their mark in İzmir’s culinary tradition.
Tolgahan Kamiloğlu from İzmir Economy University will talk about “Migrant cuisine in the peninsula.”
Having chosen migration as the main theme, İzmir GastroFest has not forgotten the nearly 140 thousand Syrians who are currently living in the city. Currently, Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million refugees and İzmir is among the cities where there is a significant concentration of refugees.
There is a workshop on Syrian migrant dishes in the program.
The International Solidarity and Integration Association is the organizer of the workshop.
GastroFest will bring experts on wining and dining, academics, famous local and foreign chefs and local producers. The platform also includes institutions like the İzmir Chamber of Commerce (İzto), İzmir Commodity Exchange (İTB) and İzmir University of Economics (IUE).
Contribution to the city’s tourism
This support is crucial for the continuation and sustainability of GastroFest.
Hande Arslanalp, the head of the organizing committee of İzmir Gastrofest, said they are aiming at contributing to the economy and tourism of the city.
At the same time, Arslanalp is one of the names behind the International Gastronomy Tourism Festival that has been taking place for the last four years within the framework of Travel Turkey organized jointly in İzmir by the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB) and İzmir Fair Services (İZFAŞ).
As an experienced tourism professional in the field of gastronomy and having witnessed how gastronomy tourism is becoming a rising trend throughout the world, she rightly thinks a festival like GastroFest will contribute greatly to the city’s tourism diversity.
Festivals promote local dishes
An article penned by Gökçe Özdemir and Senem Erdoğan from Yaşar University also underlines the importance of organizing festivals to promote local dishes. Indeed, local culinary delights from İzmir will be promoted during GastroFest.
The article published last September gives a successful example of gastronomy tourism from İzmir. With dozens of award winning wines, Urla winery, which will also be present at GastroFest has attracted more than 10,000 culinary visitors to its winery and wineyard.
You can reach more details about the festival from the web site www.izmirgastrofest.com.
