Minister Tekin participated in the “MEB 2nd International Gastronomy and Cookery Competition” program:

ISTANBUL (AA) – Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin stated that any steps that will make vocational and technical education attractive and strong as it was in the past are very important. Speaking at the award ceremony of the Turkish World MEB 2nd International Gastronomy and Cookery Competition, which was held at the Presidential State Archives Directorate Ottoman Archives Complex in Kağıthane, with the aim of bringing the rich culinary culture of the Turkish world to young generations, Minister Tekin said that vocational and technical education fulfills a very important mission in terms of both economic and social development of the country.

Stating that vocational and technical education in Türkiye was disrupted with the February 28 process, Tekin said, “We are just trying to overcome the effects of the traumas created by the tutelary practices in general in society, education life and economic life that took place on February 28, 1997.” That’s why any step that will make vocational and technical education attractive and strong as it was in the past is very important to me.

he said. Stating that there are important structures such as schools, families, museums and historical consciousness in the nation-building process of a state, Tekin stated that as the Ministry, they are working to ensure that children and young people have these values. Stating that children and young people should be individuals who are proud of the values of the society they live in, who protect these values and who consider it their duty to pass them on to future generations, Tekin said: As the Ministry of National Education, we are trying to fulfill our responsibilities from here.

This is actually what we want to do with the Türkiye Century Education Model. Our goal is to raise a generation that internalizes the society we live in with all its values, is proud of these values and wants to instill these values to their children and future generations, and strives to ensure that our unity, our state, our social structure and our nation continue with this awareness of unity. This is our duty. One of the issues we attach importance to while doing this is the culture defined as culinary arts.

All stages, from cooking to serving, from table manners to catering, fill an important place in Turkish culture. Referring to the importance of table culture, Tekin continued as follows: Our eating habits and cooking culture, which have come from our thousands of years of society and state structure, are important to us. This was one of the issues we aimed for when we introduced etiquette and courtesy courses in our schools and etiquette courses in our secondary education institutions along with the Türkiye Century Education Model.

Again, we started gastronomy high schools in our seven regions under the auspices of First Lady Emine Erdoğan, in order to both create an inventory of this knowledge and teach preparation methods. The culinary culture and food culture in the region where these schools are located will be taught to our children, and our children will present and serve the artistic dishes they have prepared with this culture they have learned, to the society.

After his speech, Minister Tekin gave awards to the winners in the national and international categories of the competition. In the Turkish final of the competition, Bolu Merkez İzzet Baysal Abant Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School won the first place with its crispy pumpkin, mother’s meatballs and vine leaf dressing, while in the international final, Aydın Kuşadası Güvercinada Tourism Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School won the first place with its stuffed dried eggplant with apricots, tenderloin with bitter sauce on a bed of spinach and caramelized pear tart.

Kağıthane Mayor Mevlüt Öztekin, General Director of Vocational and Technical Education Salih Kaygısuz, teachers and student teams from various countries also participated in the program, where the folk dance team consisting of teachers performed.