“ARTICHOKE” RECIPES BY IUE CHEFS
Artichoke, turned into an international flavor one more time in the hands of young chefs of Izmir Economics. Young chefs added new flavors to traditional artichoke recipes at the 3rd Urla International Artichoke Festival. 25 famous chefs from 10 different cities re-interpreted artichoke at this year’s festival. Ekrem Demirtaş, President of IUE Board of Trustees, visited the future chefs at their booth. President Demirtaş purchased products from students and tasted their innovative version of artichoke dishes. Demirtaş also thanked the world famous chefs for their contribution to the festival and presented them plaques.
President Ekrem Demirtaş stated that they were educating future Michelin starred chefs that would promote Turkish cuisine worldwide. “Gastronomy doesn’t come into minds in Turkish tourism. All foreigners visiting our country are fascinated with our cuisine. Aegean region is an important gastronomy destination with its four seasons, fruitful products, and multi-cultural structure. Our students at Department of Culinary Arts and Management learn the niceties of world cuisine from world famous chefs and Turkish chefs. They are coming up with different flavors using their creativity as seen here. We all see how successfully they put what they learn at school into practice at the booths here. Guests were served very delicious recipes at the festival,” said President Ekrem Demirtaş.
‘3 year-long labor’
President Demirtaş, who reported that IUE Department of Culinary Arts and Management had been working hard in Urla to help transfer local tastes from generation to generation, stated that artichoke has been promoted all around Turkey with a university supported festival for 3 years, and that the major contributor of the festival was Urla Mayor Sibel Uyar, being in the first place, and the entire people of the city, suppliers, and shopkeepers. President Demirtaş, presented certificates of appreciation plaques to Chefs Tolga Kamiloğlu, Michel Portos, Eugenie Guillermin Lyon, and Yassin Khalal, who shared their special artichoke recipes with the guests at the festival.