THE HOTEL CHEFS PERCEPTION ON TRADITIONAL KITCHEN CULTURE AND GASTRONATIONALISM

Gastronationalism is a phenomenon that supports the preservation of traditional culinary cultures of societies, revealing the level of awareness and awareness about the national cuisine of the people and preserving these values. Through to the preservation of the culinary culture, which is a reflection of the social structure, the sustainability of these values will be ensured and accurately transferred to future generations. In this context, gastronationalistic identities of the chefs are important for the development of culinary culture. In this direction, a questionnaire has been applied to hotel chefs in January and February 2019 by sampling method. As a result of the study, it has been found out that the traditional perception of culinary culture of the chefs affects the perception levels of gastronationalism and that they have enough theoretical knowledge about local and Turkish dishes.In order to make gastronationalism more effective and sustainable, it is important that chefs working in tourism businesses put the authentic features of the local cuisine to the forefront further and the chefs are encouraged and supported in terms of researching the local cuisine.


INTRODUCTION
Recently, culinary culture has been a tool for a society to convey its cultural assets and elements to other societies (Şahin, 2017b). The food is a social symbol (Beşirli, 2010) caused it to be regarded as a political device that identifies, constitutes and disrupts identities, brings together or separates nations, societies and people (Minasse, 2020;Yıldırım, 2019). Gastronationalism is an important step in the export process of culinary culture. It also contributes to the planning of activities that will enable this culture to be kept alive and transferred to the next generations.
The phenomenon of nationalism is formed by the combination of common values, belief, tradition, and culture (Aksakal, 2015). In the studies conducted, it has been revealed that the unique culinary cultures of the destinations contribute to the success of these regions as an element of attraction (Henderson, 2009;Fox, 2007;Ignatov & Smith, 2006). Local products develop and strengthen the tourism product (Boyne, Hall & Williams, 2003).
In addition, the kitchen identity possessed is important in terms of maintaining traditionalness and originality (Çalışkan, Sabbağ&Dedeoğlu, 2019;Ishak, Zahari& Othman, 2013), and it is identified with the regional identity (Guerrero et al., 2009).
Based on the studies exemplified above, the relationship between traditional culinary culture and gastronomicism has been tried to be addressed systematically and the answers of the following questions have been sought; ▪ How do chefs perceive the concept of gastromilitating?
▪ Does the traditional approach have an impact on gastronomicism?
It should be noted that the culinary culture has an active role in contributing to the formation and sustainability of the national identity and reminding the individuals of that society who they are. Therefore, the importance of culinary culture in the construction of gastronomic identity should not be overlooked.

Traditional Culinary Culture and Its Importance
Nutrition is necessary for the continuity of vital activities. While humans initially formed their life just as hunter-gatherers, after the settled life, culinary cultures emerged depending on the development levels of societies and environmental conditions (Özbek, 2013).
Culinary culture includes food and beverages grown in accordance with the climate and geographical conditions, the dishes prepared with these products and the way they are served (Kızılırmak, Albayrak &Küçükali, 2014).
Owned culinary culture is effective on the lifestyles of societies (Güler, 2010) and thanks to local cuisines, destinations are separated from other regions with their culture and identity (Cömert, 2014).
Considering from another perspective, consuming local dishes also offers the opportunity to experience local culture (Lee, 2014). Because traditional kitchens add a unique value to the tourism misuse taking place in that destination (Güneş, Ülker & Karakoç, 2008).
Traditional dishes (Eren, 2019), which are considered as one of the most important attraction elements of a destination, also contribute to the recognition and marketing of the culinary cultures of the countries (Örgün&Keskin, 2010) as the basis of the common identity and the basis of gaining rebellion (Bessière, 1998).

The Concept of Gastronationalism
The concept of nationalism is a way of thinking and lifestyle where cultural mind is the basis, that is, a common set of historical experiences, traditions, beliefs and thoughts (Macit, 2011). As a collective heritage, the kitchen is the most important symbol of nationalism and a source of pride and an effective tool for economic and social development (Ramshaw, 2015).
Looking at the present day, it can be said that, modern states gained a unique structure through their national cuisine (Higman, 2012) and it has become possible both to increase the recognition of countries and to draw more tourists to that destination thanks to making the national features of the food consumed in destinations more prominent and the development of national brands and methods of labeling (Ranta, 2015).
Nowadays, as the world is becoming more global, the line between national and international, domestic and foreign, local and global is getting blurred (Luca &Jakesevic, 2017). The definition of gastronationalism, which is influenced by the ideology of nationalism that emerged in the 18th century (Fırat, 2014), is that a nation acts with nationalistic emotions while making, presenting or marketing its own dishes (Desoucey, 2010).
Gastronationalism is the adoption, preservation and promotion of foods specific to the nation from the past to the present, based on the geographical conditions and ethnic backgrounds of a nation (Şahin, 2017b). The cuisine of a public is connected with their own culture (Çakmak&Sarıışık, 2019).
As culinary cultures often conflict in relation to each other, it is difficult to focus on one product (Tettner and Kalyoncu, 2016). However, when we go deeper, the effects of food consumed in the local and global spheres are marked by dialectical analysis thanks to the understanding of nationalism (Ranta, 2015).
Gastronationalism establishes a connection between nationalism and food and contributes to the formation of gastronomic identity (Şahin, 2017b). The concept of gastronationalism, which is composed of the combination of gastronomic identity and national identity, generally focuses on preserving the claim of a particular kind of food or beverage, the authenticity of a nation's taste and flavors or culinary experiences, as well as presenting them to global markets within the framework of national etiquette (Luca &Jakesevic, 2017).

2.3
Traditional Culinary Culture and Gastronationalism The cultural structure, geographical characteristics and history of the societies in the world affect their own culinary culture and diet (Serçeoğlu, 2014). Nowadays, apart from their nutritional properties, food becomes a means of culture and communication, and traditionally prepared foods play an important role in the relations between countries (Tettner&Kalyoncu, 2016).
The cuisine of each nation has its own characteristics (Karaca&Altun, 2017). The choice, use of food, the number of meals per day, the method of eating and the formation of time are related to the culture of each nation and its own culture (Fieldhouse, 1996).
Turkish cuisine, which ranks third in the world after Chinese and French cuisine (Kut, 2002) is influenced by the cultural characteristics of Turkish civilizations that lasted for centuries (Büyüktuncer&Yücecan, 2009) and has created a culinary culture with their own cooking and storage techniques (Güler, 2010).
The Turks have access to many products from different continents and countries and spread to the vast geographies and interact with different cultures (Mızrak&Aydoğdu, 2018), has caused both the enrichment of Turkish cuisine and eating and drinking habits go through some stages of change (Kızıldemir, Öztürk&Sarıışık, 2014).
Turkish cuisine, one of the countries with te richest cuisine in the world, has interacted with many cultures in the world due to its geography and nomadic culture (Talas, 2005).
Food, which is an integral part of culture (Beşirli, 2010), is accepted as a physiological need, but it is an extension of societies' eating and drinking habits and value judgments (Köşker, Ercan&Albuz, 2018). Learning, knowing, experiencing the food culture of a destination and seeing the culture in which these foods develop have an important role in keeping the traditional culinary culture alive. In this context, the preservation of culinary culture as a heritage can be achieved through gastronationalism.

Purpose and importance of the research
Whether the chefs working in the hotel kitchens are gastronationalists is important for the sustainability of the traditional culinary culture, preserving the food culture and adopting their own food culture and heritage.
In this context, it has been aimed to determine the perception levels of the chefs working in hotel kitchens about traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism and to determine whether the traditional culinary culture perception of the chefs affect gastronationalism perception levels. Based on these objectives, the following hypotheses have been formed; H1: There is a significant relationship between the traditional cuisine culture of the chefs and their perception of gastronationalism.
H2: The traditional perception of culinary culture affects the perception levels of gastronationalism.

Population and sample
The population of the research consists of chefs working in five-star city hotel establishments operating in Bursa. The Culture and Tourism Ministry (2019) has determined that there are 9 five-star hotel establishments in Bursa based on the list of "Facilities with Tourism Operation Certificate".
In order to find the number of chefs working in the hotels, the average number of chefs has been obtained in consultation with the authorities of the hotel establishments and the arithmetic average of the results has been obtained and the average number of chefs (n = 160) has been reached.
Sampling has not been made in terms of representing the population and attempts have been made to reach out all the chefs. 148 of the 160 questionnaires that formed the universe of the study have been returned. Six questionnaires containing incomplete markings that might affect the results of the research have been excluded from the survey and 142 questionnaires have been analyzed.

Data collection and analysis
In the study, the scale used by Şahin (2017a) in his master thesis was used. In the first part of the questionnaire, there are questions about the demographic characteristics of the chefs and evaluations about the culinary culture.
In the second part, the questions on the chefs' assessments about the traditional culinary culture approach and in the third part the questions about the level of knowledge about gastronationalism are provided. Five-point Likert scale has been used for the answers of the scale statement that form the questionnaire. Accordingly, "1-strongly disagree, 2disagree, 3-neither agree nor disagree 4-agree, 5strongly agree" responses have been used.
Data analysis consists of several stages. Firstly, it has been checked whether extreme values and incorrect data have been entered. Since the correlation and regression analyzes have been based on the normal distribution approach, the skewness and kurtosis coefficients of the scales used in the study have been examined. George & Mallery (2003) note that when skewness and kurtosis values are between -2 and +2, the distribution can be considered normal. As a result of the analysis, it is observed that the kurtosis and skewness values of the statements in the scales are between -2 and +2. Therefore, there have been no problems with the normal distribution of data. Therefore, parametric tests have been used in the analysis of the data.
After the relevant controls have been completed, explanatory factor analysis has been applied to examine the traditional perception of the cuisine and gastronationalism of the chefs and to determine the dimensions of these variables.
In the evaluation of the data, frequency analysis and arithmetic means have been examined and Correlation and Regression Analysis was done. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale for traditional culinary culture is 0.879 and the Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the scale for gastronationalism has been found to be 0.868. These values show that the scales are reliable (Kayış, 2010).

Findings on demographic characteristics
The findings regarding the demographic characteristics of the hotel chefs participating in the survey are provided in Table 1 According to the marital status variable, 44.4% are single and 55.6% are married. 16.9% of the chefs are secondary school graduates, 48.6% are high school graduates and 34.5% are university graduates. 29.6% of the chefs have a total working period of 1-5 years in the tourism sector, 26.1% have 6-10 years, 16.9% have 11-15 years, 12.7% have 16-20 years and 14.8% have 20 years and more. 69.7% of these chefs have been working in their workplace for 1-5 years, 20.4% for 6-10 years and 9.9% for more than 11 years. It is observed that 48.6% of the dishes specific to Turkish cuisine are sufficient in the production process. In addition, 52.8% of the chefs have a good level of theoretical knowledge about local dishes.

Findings on participants' views on traditional culinary culture
In Table 3, the arithmetic means and standard deviation values of the responses of the chefs who participated in the research regarding their views on traditional culinary culture are given. Table 3 shows the distribution of chefs' views on traditional cuisine. According to the table, it is observed that the statement "I am not satisfied with the alienation of food names specific to our country,"has the highest average ( X = 4.27). The second highest statement ( X = 4,12) is "I learn local gastronomy when I visit a place".
The answers of users in the response "I care about having tourists adopt the Turkish culinary culture," is ( X = 4,10). On average, the lowest participation rate ( X = 3.48) has been found to be for the statement "I prefer to use geographically marked products".
The second lowest average ( X = 3.67) is the statement "I prefer to make authentic foods prepared with local recipes". The average of the answers given to the statement "The food I make evokes tradition" is ( X = 3,72).  Table 4 provides the arithmetic mean and standard deviation values of the responses of the chefs participating in the research regarding their views on gastronationalism. Gastronationalism is the tendency to use regional food and drinks in the kitchen.

Findings regarding participants' views on gastronationalism
,98657 3,82 Gastronationalism refers to the preservation of national culinary culture and heritage. ,88303 4,17 Gastronationalism refers to the preservation of regional culinary culture and heritage.
,99225 4,03 Gastronationalism expresses social culture. ,90881 4,13 Source: proper elaboration. Table 4 shows the distribution of the opinions of the chefs on gastronationalism. According to the table, it is observed that the statement "Gastronationalism refers to the preservation of national culinary culture and heritage" has the highest average ( X = 4.17). The second highest statement ( X = 4,13) is "Gastronationalism expresses social culture". It is observed that the statement with the lowest participation rate ( X = 3.82) is "Gastronationalism is the tendency to use regional food and drinks in the kitchen".

Explanatory factor analysis
Explanatory factor analysis has been conducted on the data of the participants' views on traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism. KMO and Bartlett's tests have been performed to test the suitability for factor analysis. As a result of the tests, the KMO value on the thoughts of participant on the traditional culinary culture has been obtained as .856 and Bartlett's test X 2 value has been obtained 617.255 (p< .000) and the KMO value on the thoughts of participant on gastronationalism has been obtained as .856 and Bartlett's test x2 value has been obtained 357.948 (p< .000). Field (2000) has statement that should be the lower limit of 0.50 value in the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test and that the data set for KMO ≤ 0.50 can not be factorized. All these results indicate that the data is suitable for factor analysis (Kalaycı, 2008).
As a result of the analysis, it has observed that the opinions of the participants about traditional culinary culture had a two-dimensional structure. These expressions account for 60,260% of the total variance. The dimensions that emerged as a result of exploratory factor analysis have been named as "having the traditional culinary culture adopted" and "adopting traditional culinary culture". The factor loadings of the sub-dimensions of the participants' views on traditional culinary culture are between .834 and .519.
The expressions of the participants' views on gastronationalism have been collected under a single factor with a total variance of 65.829% as a result of factor analysis (Table 6). This dimension has been called "perception of gastronationalism". The overall reliability of the scale has been acceptable as Alpha = 0.868.

Correlations between traditional culinary culture sub-dimensions and gastronationalism
In the literature, there are studies examining the relationships between traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism. Quan & Wang (2004) stated that local foods are part of the culture and identity of a destination, Güneş et al. (2008) evaluated traditional culinary culture in terms of sustainable tourism and stated that one of the important ways of transferring local dishes to future generations can be realized by adopting and protecting these values. Strugar (2014) emphasized that traditional cuisine and culinary culture is no longer seen as a tool to bring a cultural identity to a destination, but it is also used as an important incentive tool in understanding different cultures and increasing intercultural harmony. Bezirgan and Koç (2014) concluded that local cuisine positively affected the sense of belonging in the destinations. With these researches, the relationship between variables has been revealed.
The correlation between the adoption of traditional culinary culture, which is the sub-dimensions of traditional culinary culture, and the ownership of traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism has been investigated by correlation analysis.
The findings obtained from the analysis are summarized in Table 7. In the research, when we look at the correlation analysis to determine whether there is a significant relationship between adopting traditional culinary culture, which is the sub-dimensions of traditional culinary culture, and whether there is a significant relationship between ownership and ownership of traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism (r = 0667; p>, 001) and traditional dishes.
There is a positive and significant relationship between culinary culture and gastronationalism ( r =, 561; p>, 001). Therefore "H1: The hypothesis, "There is a significant relationship between the traditional culinary culture of the chefs and their perception of gastronationalism" has been accepted.

Regression analysis: findings on the regression relationship between the sub-dimensions of traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism
Regression analysis has been performed to determine the effect of traditional culinary culture subdimensions on gastronationalism and the results have been presented in Table 8.

Perception of Gastronationalism Statements
Factor Load

Gastronationalism
Gastronationalism is the tendency to use national foods and beverages in the kitchen.
, 765 ,585 3,291 65,829 ,868 Gastronationalism is the tendency to use regional food and drinks in the kitchen.
, 793 ,629 Gastronationalism refers to the preservation of national culinary culture and heritage.
, 840 ,705 Gastronationalism refers to the preservation of regional culinary culture and heritage.
,817 ,668 Gastronationalism expresses social culture. When the results of multiple linear regression analysis are examined, it is seen that the model is significant (F = 63,691; p <0.05). T statistics indicating the significance of regression coefficients are significant for having the traditional culinary culture adopted (t = 6,597; p <0,05) and adopting traditional culinary culture (t = 5,605; p <0,05). According to the results of multiple linear regressionanalysis "H2: "The traditional perception of culinary culture of the chefs affects the perception levels of gastronationalism" hypothesis is accepted. Source: proper elaboration.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
It is important for a nation to act with nationalistic feelings while making its own meals and to accept and preserve traditional culinary culture as a cultural heritage.
In this context, this study has aimed to determine the perception levels of the chefs working in hotel kitchens about traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism and to determine whether the traditional culinary culture perception of the chefs affect gastronationalism perception levels.
When the demographic characteristics of the participants have been examined, it has been found that the majority of the chefs participated in the survey is male (79.6%), the age distribution is generally between 26-35 (39.4%) and 55.6% are married. When the educational level has been examined, the majority of the participants are high school graduates (48.6%). It has been found that the income level of the chefs ranged between TRY 2.501-3.500 (37.3%) and the majority of them had total working period of 1-5 years in the sector (29.6%).
More than half of the chefs participating in the study have stated that they have sufficient theoretical knowledge about Turkish cuisine, 48.6% have stated that they have competence in the production of Turkishspecific dishes and 52.8% stated that their theoretical knowledge about local dishes has been sufficient. In contrast to these findings, Arman (2011) has stated that there are many local dishes unknown to the chefs in Turkish cuisine and that the chefs do not have sufficient knowledge about local dishes. In their study, Özdemir et al. (2015) have found that chefs' lack of knowledge about local foods is negatively associated with their purchase intention.
When the correlation analysis between traditional culinary culture and gastronationalism has been examined in the chefs working in hotels, the relationship has been calculated to be positive and significant.
Therefore, the hypothesis "H1: There is a significant relationship between the traditional culinary culture of the chefs and their perception of gastronationalism" has been accepted. Chefs do not perceive traditional culinary culture not only as the use of food, but also embrace and absorb this cultural value by paying attention to the meanings it raises, cooking, consuming and means for the people of the region. In this context, they deepen pleasure and experience and add meaning while consuming local foods.
Culinary culture and local food contribute to the authentic nature of destinations as part of cultural heritage. It can be stated that chefs have an important role in the promotion and adoption of these values.
Using these values in the tourism sector will be effective in ensuring their continuity and transferring them from generation to generation, and will ensure the preservation of local traditions, customs and culture. It will also allow the society to become conscious about protecting its cultural heritage.
In support of this result, Karaosmanoğlu (2017) has stated that food and culinary culture are a means of communication and play an important role as a factor that produces and reinforces the identity of nations.
Ichhijo (2019) has pointed out that the role of food in societies can be improved and Mincyte (2011) stated that international markets are being reached thanks to technological developments, national foods and local foods, and that the formation of gastronationalism can be spread in this way. Fox (2007) emphasized that gastronomic identity should be shaped according to local gastronomy of regions. Bessiere (1998) and Cusack (2000) emphasized that traditional food is an important part of cultural identity. Ferguson (2010), on the other hand, has emphasized the importance of gastronationalism in the globalizing world.
As a result of the regression analysis, it has been found that traditional culinary culture has an effect on gastronationalism. In this context, "H2: "The traditional perception of culinary culture of the chefs affects the perception levels of gastronationalism" hypothesis is accepted. Caldwell (2002) has examined whether nationalist emotions affect the choice of food in Russia, as a result of which he stated that they discriminate the products as "ours" and "not ours", which result with a classification in terms of taste, quality and health.
The use of gastronomy in the tourism sector can provide competitive advantage to destinations. Attaching importance to the geographical marking of local foods and products in this regard will be a significant step. It will be appropriate to raise awareness among the people of the region through various trainings and projects and to introduce this potential with multidisciplinary activities (festivals, competitions, nature sports, etc.).
It is important that the chefs in the hotel kitchens do not change the characteristics of the local foods prepared especially for the purpose of keeping the culinary culture alive and they are presenting their presentations while preserving their real shape. It is necessary to offer rational solution suggestions by giving more place to the local foods in the hotel menus, making them a tourism product without allowing the elements of the culinary culture to degenerate.
Ways to offer this opportunity to the visitor who wants to buy the ingredients of the food cooked in restaurants and hotels should be explored.
As a result of the findings obtained from the study, in order to make gastronationalism effective and more sustainable, it is important to emphasize the authentic features of local cuisine by the chefs working in tourism establishments and to encourage and support the chefs in the research of local cuisines.
In this way, it will be possible to achieve positive gains on the local economy and local employment and to protect the Turkish cuisine by protecting local products.
In addition, it is thought that the use of different sample and different data collection methods in the future researches and the repetition of the study in different destinations will be supportive of the research.