Erzurum, yemek kültüründe ilerlemeye çalışıyor.

Erzurum, with its winter tourism, historical structures, and vast geographical beauties, has been standing out with the increasing geographical indication certificates in recent years, bringing the city’s name to the forefront in gastronomy as well.

With 6 geographical certified products in 2018, the number in the city increased to 59 with the applications for geographical indication certificates made by the special team established at the Erzurum Commodity Exchange to the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.

Erzurum, being the 3rd city with the most geographical indication registrations in Turkey, is developing projects to industrialize local flavors.

Within the scope of the work carried out by the Erzurum Commodity Exchange, applications were made to the European Commission for the geographical indication registration of pastry, civil cheese, and göğermiş cheese, which were previously registered by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.

In the city where many flavors such as Erzurum pastry, kadayıf dessert, iron dessert, civil and göğermiş cheese, grandmother’s cake, black fatma soup, Erzurum dumplings, mulberry dessert, kıtlama sugar, ayran soup, grape molasses baklava, cheese halva, and cut ash soup are registered, efforts are being made to integrate gastronomy with tourism.

Hakan Oral, President of Erzurum Commodity Exchange, stated that they conducted a study on gastronomy and local flavors potential in 2018 and broke a record in applications.

Oral, emphasizing that the registration process of a product is a long process, explained that various formats are prepared for each registered product such as its historical connection, endemic plant connection, how it is made, and the stages it went through.

Drawing attention to the fact that Erzurum is currently ranked 3rd in registrations in Turkey, Oral continued as follows:

“Erzurum has hosted civilizations from Saltuks, Seljuks, Ottomans, Armenians, and Russians throughout its history. We have nearly 400 local flavors. We have documented that Erzurum is one of the leading gastronomy cities in Turkey. With these registration certificates, we aim to protect both local flavors and our culture, to bring our disappearing products back to light, and to prevent them from disappearing over time. Our work is progressing rapidly. We make about 4-5 applications on average every month. We will reapply for about 40 of our products in the near future.”

“Erzurum is now being talked about in the field of gastronomy”

Oral also stated that the gastronomy potential needs to be branded, saying, “The first sector in our city is agriculture and animal husbandry. Industrial development based on agriculture and animal husbandry is important. We aim to market these industrial products using tourism. We have a few different projects related to this. Erzurum is now being talked about in the field of gastronomy.”

Oral mentioned that gastronomy workshops are held with Atatürk University, and he said that the declaration of the city as the “2025 Tourism Capital” by the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and its selection as the “European Winter Sports Capital” will provide a great advantage in promoting registered products.

3 products in the process of registration with the European Union

Oral stated that the products are of EU standards and that the team established at the stock exchange continues its work.

Oral mentioned that 3 products are in the registration process in the EU, and said, “Our pastry, göğermiş cheese, and civil cheese are in the registration process in the EU, and we have 5 more products to present. We are in the process of working on them. When we get them registered there, they become recognized as products of Erzurum and Turkey around the world.”