Hello, I'm Omer Faruk Sedal. I am a 3rd year student at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts and I live in Istanbul. At the moment, I do not have a permanent place and job, but we have a compulsory summer internship ahead of us. So for now, I am focused on my internship. When I was working before, I worked in all parts of the kitchen except the patisserie section. For this reason, I cannot say that I am more interested in any field related to gastronomy. I am interested in and love all areas of my department. In the future, I want to improve myself and become an instructor chef.
Previously, I attended a conference held at Istanbul Gelişim University. It was through this conference that I met with Gelişim University. I heard the name of the school here for the first time and started to do some research. As I researched, I saw Gastronomy and Culinary Arts and Cookery programs. Before, I had a little interest in this area and kitchen. So I started researching more. When I looked at the Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Departments in Turkey in general, I saw that Istanbul Gelisim University was better than many schools in terms of academic staff and opportunities. Kitchens, international programs, instructor chefs and other facilities were very good. When I saw all this, my enthusiasm increased. Although I graduated from high school digitally, I made a sudden decision and took the oral exam to study gastronomy. As a result of all this, I am here now, I am very happy. I love my school, my department and my teachers.
3. You will do an internship abroad this summer. What advice can you give to your friends who want to do an internship abroad?
First of all, foreign language is a very important factor in our sector, so I suggest that they give priority to foreign language studies. Since I did not prioritize studying a foreign language at the time, I had great difficulties in this regard and I continue to do so. In my opinion, the gastronomy department sees great value abroad. Our country was not on the Michelin Guide route, but Istanbul will now be taken into consideration. That's why I feel very lucky to be doing an internship at a Michelin-starred restaurant. I would recommend my friends who want to do this profession and who want to improve themselves in this profession to see different cuisines in a different country. Let them try their luck constantly by preparing their CVs and applying to businesses.
Never give up.
"Those who don't pay the price for success now will pay for a lifetime of failure."
4. You passed your senior year this year. Do you have industry experience, how did you spend your student years? Can you tell us about your next goals and plans?
My student period was a little bad in 1st and 2nd grade. I took 1.5 years of distance education during the pandemic so I feel a little unlucky. But I didn't waste my time. During the pandemic period, I started to work as a busboy in the kitchen of a restaurant to both see the industry and improve myself while taking practical lessons remotely. I worked there for about 1 year and improved myself. After the school opened, I worked in different restaurants on a daily basis. Since our culinary lessons were intense in the 3rd grade, this session was very productive. I always spent time in the kitchen at school. In the last year, I plan to spend it working because we have less practical lessons.
My future plans include working and living abroad. I have a project I'm working on, a project on menu and consulting service and I'm interested in it. Apart from these, there are also a few job offers I have received, I am considering evaluating them. I want to devote the next 5-10 years to improving myself. After I return to my country, I aim to pursue an academic career and change something in the sector. Currently, there are gastronomy departments and cooking programs in many cities, and most of them are unfortunately managed by people who are not experts in their field, I would like to change this a little.
We thank our student Ömer Faruk Sedal and wish him continued success.
