AYLİN ÖNEY TAN
Yörük cuisine in resorts
Many years ago, tourism in Türkiye centered around cultural tours of the country. Tours typically began in Istanbul, exploring key sites on the historic peninsula, particularly the iconic trio of Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Topkapı Palace, before heading eastward to Anatolia, starting in Cappadocia. After visiting the fairy chimneys and several cave churches, tour buses would head westward to Pamukkale, concluding the cultural tour at Ephesus and the House of the Virgin Mary. This was largely the standard until the late Prime Minister Turgut Özal’s tenure in the 1980s. His revolution was generally regarded as the initiation of privatization, but in the tourism world, his time was associated with the start of resorts. He was the one to allocate treasure-owned coastlines to tourism investors to build massive hotels and resorts. His term marked the beginning of resort development along the Mediterranean coast, particularly around the city of Antalya. This is how new properties mushroomed in Belek, Kemer and similar coastlines. The resorts sought to emulate the once-legendary Club Med, particularly in their food and beverage management systems. Each night, there would be another theme, usually featuring diverse cuisines, but the last night would always be dedicated to Turkish cuisine. There would be döner kebab and other open-fire kebab varieties, syrupy Turkish desserts, all accompanied by some dancing, local folklore troupes and above all, lots of belly dancing. Tourists were happy, and this is all that matters.
July 14 2025
