Türkiye launches gastronomy high school project in Erzurum

ERZURUM

This photo shows the restored building housing Erzurum’s Ülker gastronomy high school in the Yakutiye district. (AA Photo)

Türkiye is launching a nationwide gastronomy high school project in the eastern province of Erzurum, where a newly opened vocational school aims to train future chefs and preserve the country’s diverse culinary heritage.

The project, led by the Education Ministry, will establish specialized gastronomy high schools in seven provinces representing different culinary traditions across the country’s seven geographical regions. It seeks to develop skilled professionals while passing traditional Turkish cooking techniques and regional food cultures on to future generations.

Under the initiative, each school will focus on the culinary heritage of its region. Erzurum will specialize in meat and dairy products, while Istanbul will offer training in Ottoman palace cuisine, confectionery, sherbet-making and traditional sweets. Gaziantep will focus on baklava craftsmanship and southeastern Anatolian cuisine, while Konya will emphasize baking and Seljuk-era Anatolian culinary traditions. The school in Izmir will specialize in Aegean cuisine and baking, while Hatay will focus on Mediterranean culinary arts and desserts. In Trabzon, students will study Black Sea regional cuisine and baking.

The Erzurum Ülker Gastronomy Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School will operate from a restored building in the Yakutiye district, redesigned specifically for culinary education. Its facilities will include specialized workshops for dairy production, meat cutting and cooking, allowing students to combine classroom instruction with hands-on training.

The school will offer a five-year curriculum, including a preparatory year for English. In addition to Turkish and international cuisines, students will receive instruction in food hygiene, food safety and culinary arts.

Erzurum, known for its distinctive meat- and dairy-based dishes, is included on Türkiye’s national list for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which recognizes cities for their creative and cultural assets. The new school is expected to help strengthen the province’s gastronomic profile, promote its regionally distinctive products and raise awareness of foods that have received geographical indication status, a designation protecting products associated with a particular place and production tradition.

The ministry plans to expand the specialized education model across the seven provinces to create a new generation of culinary professionals equipped with both technical skills and knowledge of Türkiye’s regional food heritage.