With the rise of the industrial food system, our local culinary cultures are rapidly vanishing. In villages, carbonated drinks are now offered instead of churned ayran, and traditional village bread is being replaced by standardized commercial loaves. Homemade jams, pickles, and molasses—symbols of our hospitality—are being erased from our tables under the guise of "hygiene" or "convenience.
The Final Act: A Manifesto for Local Flavor
So, what does all of this have to do with gastronomy and our sense of taste? Everything! As Brillat-Savarin stated, gastronomy is the science of "man’s nourishment in the best possible way." This "best" refers not only to nutritional values but also encompasses flavor, cultural appropriateness, rituals, and memory.
Without food sovereignty, we cannot speak of sustainable gastronomy. This is because:
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Local Culinary Cultures are Vanishing: In rural areas, packaged chicken has replaced farm-raised poultry, and standardized bread has replaced traditional hearth bread. Even our culture of treating guests has shifted toward industrial products.
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Biodiversity is Eroding: Market shelves only display uniform varieties of apples and tomatoes chosen for their long shelf life and transportability. Hundreds of fruit varieties that could once be stored for months have disappeared. In Türkiye, hundreds of fruits, like the Bozdoğan pear, are on the verge of extinction because they do not fit industrial standards.
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Taste and Aroma are Lost: The industrial system prioritizes shelf life and appearance. Flavor and aroma—the soul of food—have been sacrificed for the sake of microbiological safety. We can now find everything in every season, but nothing has any taste.
Conclusion: A Call for the Table of the Future
Food sovereignty is not a luxury; it is a matter of existence. Wars, pandemics, and the climate crisis have shown us that being foreign-dependent for food is a national security issue. However, this issue is not limited to filling our stomachs. It is a struggle to protect our cultural identity, our millennia-old culinary memory, and our gastronomic heritage.
Today’s youth no longer know which fish should be eaten in which season or which month a vegetable is at its tastiest. Because everything is available year-round with an artificial freshness, a disconnection occurs—a break from our history, our geography, and our soil.
What must be done?
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We must support our producers: Farmers who receive the true value of their labor will protect their land. We must encourage the younger generation to pursue agriculture.
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We must strengthen local food systems: We should support short supply chains, urban gardens, and farmers' markets.
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We must strengthen local food systems: We should support short supply chains, urban gardens, and farmers' markets.
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We must view gastronomy as an area of "ethical and ecological responsibility," beyond just the "art of eating well."
Let us remember that plants and animals grown in different geographies are carriers of gastronomic culture as much as they are part of ecology. Establishing a food system where biodiversity is protected and ancient foods are passed on to future generations will satisfy not only our hunger but our souls. The final sanctuary for our sense of taste lies in reclaiming our soil and our seeds.
Assoc. Prof. Murat Doğan
