Karatay Mayor Hasan Kılca welcomed gastronomy students from abroad and introduced the city’s 10,000-year-old rich culinary culture and history through an internationally award-winning book.
Karatay Mayor Hasan Kılca hosted foreign students from seven different countries at the municipality as part of the “Thematic Turkish Cuisine Summer School” program organized through the Yunus Emre Institute.
Mayor Hasan Kılca provided the students with information about Konya’s deep-rooted history, cultural richness, and unique culinary heritage. The students expressed their great pleasure in getting to know Turkish cuisine and thanked Mayor Kılca for his warm hospitality.
Reminding that Konya once served as the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk State, Mayor Kılca noted that prominent scholars such as Shams Tabrizi, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Sadrettin Konevi, Ibn Arabi, and Qadi Sirajuddin Urmavi lived in the city. Kılca said, “In the 13th century, Konya was one of the most important cities in the world. Today, we are still a city that lives on with the traces of this profound historical heritage.”
Mayor Kılca stated that archaeological sites in Karatay, such as Boncuklu Höyük and Çatalhöyük, shed light on the history of world gastronomy. He noted that this heritage is explored in detail in the book “Boncuklu Höyük and Çatalhöyük: 10,000 Years of Culinary Culture”, written by Chef Ulaş Tekerkaya with the support of the Karatay Municipality.
Kılca added that the book received the “Gourmand A06 Special Award” at the Gourmand World Awards, one of the most prestigious gastronomy competitions in the world.
Kılca also informed the students about Karatay Municipality’s production efforts involving whole wheat, sourdough, and gluten-free bread, noting that their gluten-free bread production now reaches 20 different provinces.
