A STUDY ON HERBS USED IN FOOD IN RIZE PROVINCE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF GASTRONOMY TOURISM

Özet

Interest in gastronomy tourism in the world is increasing day by day. Increasing tourism activities are triggering and accelerating this process. In this context, when Turkish cuisine is considered, the use of herbs in a rich culinary culture is also quite common. This wealth, which arises from different possibilities of different regions, greatly increases the product diversity in the context of gastronomy tourism of our country. In this study, it is aimed to compile the herb inventory of Rize in the Black Sea region of Turkey and to determine the usage status in the food. In this study, which was conducted as a literature review, herb use of Rize province was investigated and the majority of studies were found to be for medical and food purposes. The number of plants used for food purposes in the region was determined as 66. However, in the majority of studies on the use of herbs for food purposes, it was observed that plants are referred to only by their local names, the Latin names are not mentioned and there is no knowledge of the related herbarium sample. By paying attention to this situation in scientific publications on plants, the Latin name of the plant which is the subject of research and examination is very important in terms of preventing confusion in this regard. From this point of view, studies on the use of herbs in the context of gastronomy tourism have emerged as a result of the necessity of making more scientifically valid definitions of these herbs. Also, for the products made from these herbs to be evaluated by the enterprises serving in the region and presented to the visitors coming to the region, the people of the region and the tourism enterprises in the region should be made aware of this issue. Tourism businesses operating in the region need to be encouraged to use these products and offer them to visitors.