The Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts, Faculty of Tourism, organized a “Gastro Tea Time” event within the scope of World Tea Day on May 21. The event was held at Orhanlı Campus of our university and was open to the participation of all our students, administrative and academic staff and the public.
In the first stage of the event, presentations were made about the emergence and history of tea, legends about tea, important tea-related events, tea brewing methods and tea brewing equipment. The feature of tea, especially in Turkish culture, which shows hospitality, establishes and maintains ties between parts of the society, was emphasized. Tea culture is not only an important part of daily life in Turkey, but is also associated with hospitality and celebration rituals. Following Turkey’s joint application with Azerbaijan, it was informed that tea culture was included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2022 as a symbol of social interaction.
In the second stage of the event, information about Turkish tea was given and brewing methods were practiced to enable the preservation of tea culture as a cultural heritage and its transmission between generations. Thanks to these practices, it was contributed to sustain the genetical diversity of the tea plant in order to ensure food security and to blend it with traditional knowledge. Faculty of Tourism Dean Prof. Dr. Adem BALTACI presented the May harvest fresh tea sprouts (two and a half leaves) of the tea plant known as “Camellia Sinensis” in Latin, brought from Rize, the center of tea in Turkey, to the participants and brewing practices were carried out.
At the last stage of the event, a tea photo contest, a tea taste test contest and a tea knowledge contest were organized in teams of 2 people. Through these competitions, our students and guests had a pleasant time and had the opportunity to test the knowledge they gained during the event.
