Gastronomy tourism festival kicks off in western Turkey

By Arif Yavuz

AFYONKARAHISAR, Turkey (AA) - The 3rd Gastro-Afyon Tourism and Flavor Festival to showcase regional delicacies kicked off in Turkey's western Afyonkarahisar province on Thursday.

Afyonkarahisar has been home to many civilizations, and has a huge potential for gastronomy tourism, which enabled it to enter UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in 2019.

The four-day festival, which started with a concert, includes various activities such as cooking shows and contests, tour of Afyon Museum of Geographical Indications, photography exhibition, and traditional cuisine workshops.

The festival has been organized in association with the local government, the Turkish Cooks Federation and Afyonkarahisar Professional Cooks Association.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mayor Mehmet Zeybek recalled that Afyonkarahisar was declared a gastronomy city on Oct. 31, 2019.

"Afyonkarahisar has nearly 600 local delicacies. Nearly 30 of them were registered with geographical indication (GI) certificate, and 35 of them are waiting to be registered," he said. "We aim to be the province with the highest number of registered delicacies in Turkey."

He said a special gastronomy unit has been established in the Governor's Office to promote local flavors.

The guests and participants were offered roast beef, Ashure dessert, cauldron dishes and foods exhibited by various companies.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara