Change of Cooking Profession

 

The Change of the Cooking Profession in Türkiye from a Husband to a Lonely Man

Osman GULDEMIR

Erhan AKARÇAY

 

Sociology of occupations  

Professional generation Regimental and trained cooks are seen as one of the rare partnerships between Cookery. Apart from all these, although it is known that the culinary profession is organized by many associations and federations in Turkey, it is seen that this organization cannot create a satisfactory change in the working conditions of the profession. 

 

The aim of this study is to deal with the historical and sociological change of the culinary profession in Turkey. From a perspective that can be evaluated within the sociology of occupations, the changing status of the profession and its differing perception today are at the center of the research. There is a transition process going on from “big masters”, defined as traditional and regimented masters, to schooled, educated cooks. 

 

The data of this study are based on semi-structured interviews with nine regimental cooks from Mengen and nine semi-structured interviews with new generation cooks defined as educated and schooled. While sarcastic cooks are closed to change and new culinary trends, it is sociologically important that schooled cooks have the potential to transform the global and local duality into an opportunity. There is no significant difference between the two generations of cooks in terms of approach to Turkish cuisine. Both generations of cooks are responsible for the fact that women remain in the background in the culinary profession in the public sphere and this is justified by gender patterns.

 

This article is based on the VIII. It is a rewritten version of the unpublished paper presented at the National Sociology Congress. 

 

LOGIN 

Occupations are generally considered within capitalist, industrial organizational structures. Occupation is a concept that has gained meaning with the emergence of capitalism and the working understanding of modern society. For this reason, as Eren (2016, p. 100) states, job definitions are made through the commodity produced in the commodity production process of capitalism and the relation established by the producer with the commodity. While some of the jobs considered as craftsmanship in pre-capitalist societies, in other words, in pre-industrial society, were adapted to the new social conditions created by the industrial society, some of them managed to survive as crafts in the industrial society. 

 

In the industrial society, jobs that require skills and expertise are handled separately and professional occupations are evaluated from this perspective. The first representative of the sociology of profession(s) was Everett Hughes, who was under the intellectual influence of Robert Park, one of the important representatives of the Chicago School. Hughes named the sociology of the profession in his thesis focusing on real estate brokers, which are low-status professions (Ritzer, 1972, pp. 221-222). Sociology of occupations can be distinguished from sub-disciplines such as sociology of industry, sociology of organization, class studies, and stratification discussions in a separate category, with some features such as focusing on the profession itself and revealing its status. 

 

The sociology of occupations and occupations can be considered as one of the neglected fields in Turkey. 

While there are examples handled from a Marxist point of view such as working class discussions and worker's alienation, studies handled within the framework of division of labor with a functionalist interpretation; It is seen that there are relatively few studies focusing on the work itself or on the people who do the work. This article focuses on the professional practice of cooking as a job or profession. 

 

It is possible to think of cooking as a craft (Sennett, 2009; Yenal & Kubiena, 2016, p. 64). While Halıcı defines the cook as "a person who has made cooking a profession" in the Annotated Dictionary of Food and Culinary Terms (2012, p. 27), the following is quoted by Tez (2012, p. 101) from his book Gifts of Comus (1739): Modern cooking is a kind of chemistry. Today's cook must analyze food, discover how to digest it, its nutritional properties, and what food to cook with. This requires a thorough scientific study”. 

 

According to another point of view (Fine, 1996, p. 13), cooks or restaurant workers [at different levels] attach importance to the sensory quality of their products, similar to the aesthetic (photographer or interior designer) understanding in fine arts. Again, according to Fine (1996, p. 13), the preparation of a meal activates four senses: sight, smell, touch and taste. Perhaps for this reason, the culinary profession is seen as equivalent to "gastronomy and culinary arts" today and is placed within this field. Long before ancient Greece, in Mesopotamia, “creative creativity in the kitchen required great talent, so hunger was a highly demanded specialist class who learned their business by apprenticeship” (Civitello, 2019, p. 14); 

 

Cooking as a domestic craft had no status in the public sphere in Ancient Greece (Sennett, 2009, p. 37). However, as an extension of the specialization and division of labor in modern society, cooking has become a profession that has begun to be realized in the public sphere, rather than being a job done only by women at home. Today, as one of the most important components of the service sector, cookery can gain meaning in the axis of service, labor and workforce discussions. Because, in the example given by Braverman (2008, p. 330) while explaining the relationship of services with labor and production, “cooking, preparing, collecting, serving, crockery and utensils etc. in the restaurant. the labor expended in washing produces tangible production, much like the labor employed in many manufacturing processes”.

  

In the definition of full cookery in the history of Turkish culinary, it is emphasized that cooks are "not only those who cook, but also those who are inspired by various arts and perform an art" and that "education is important in the culinary profession and it is necessary to pass through the filter of the masters of the profession" (Güldemir, 2018, p. 756). ). Although cooking is essentially defined as the art of cooking, not only in Turkey but also in almost all societies , cooking is seen as the work performed by women and men, respectively, inside and outside the home. For this reason, when it comes to domestic practices, while still being valued within the scope of the social role of women, the culinary profession is clearly carried out by men in the public sphere. 

  

Profession and Professional Occupation  

Although there are words that are used interchangeably in English by mixing the two words occupation and profession, in Turkey, profession is defined with a single word, professional or not. This confusion, which Pavalko defines as “occupation-profession continuum” (1971, p. 15), can actually be decomposed. 

 

The fundamental question to be asked is: To what extent can a particular business activity be a profession? First, to define someone's work as a field of expertise often means to associate it with higher prestige and prestige; the latter usually refers to a full-time job in the field of specialization (Pavalko, 1971, p. 16). For example, everyone can play football, but professional football players perform this job as a specialty in exchange for money. Anyone, especially women, can cook, but when men cook outside as their specialty, they are described as "cooks" or "chefs" and earn money in return.  

 

In modern society or industrial society, a professionalization process has been effective in professions; This professionalization process coincides with Weber's bureaucratization process. The increase in professional occupations within the industry can be considered as one of the factors in the separation of ownership and control processes. 

 

In addition, professional professionalization and the development of technique caused changes in the structure of knowledge in society (Elliot, 1972, p. 2). There is no ownership and control of the means of production in professions in which technical knowledge gains value as professional professions, such as engineering and management. 

 

On the contrary, it has been seen that production and managerial responsibility increase without having them. Therefore, it is assumed that there is a hierarchical relationship in fine detail between the concepts that can be expressed as profession and field of expertise. Prominent criteria such as theoretical knowledge and technical knowledge in the professional profession or field of expertise contribute to the status of the profession. Some professions such as doctor, lawyer, engineering require specialist knowledge in this sense. The most important criterion of professionalism is the emphasis on education and knowledge, which is one of the important requirements of modern society in a profession. 

 

This education and knowledge generally corresponds to university education and academic knowledge. The high social status of such professions becomes meaningful when it is mostly associated with the duration of education. Education, stratification in sociology, status is an important variable in classroom studies. Thus, professions are classified according to education and knowledge, which are one of the important criteria of modern society.  

 

In half of the individuals interviewed within the scope of this study, there are differences between cooking as a craft and cooking as a profession, both in terms of professional practice and those who perform the profession. First of all, historically, cooking has been defined as a craft, as in many manual occupations. Especially in terms of previous generations, those who do not have a vocational school, generally "cannot read" or "can't read" are given to a master, trained, cooked, and it is in the category of a profession that the master "give hands". 

 

For this reason, the fact that cookery, which is tried to be placed in the vocational education formation with the spread of modern education, takes place in apprenticeship education indicates this.Those who still have a journeyman's certificate and have paid a premium for five years can work with the title of "master cook" if they fulfill the necessary procedures, and then can train apprentices and journeymen as "master instructors" when they meet the conditions declared by the Ministry of National Education (MEB, 2008). ; MEB, 2018; MEB, 2019a). Today, with its complex structure, the culinary profession is included in the professional profession category. Because the reputation of the profession is higher than expected (Sunar & Kaya, 2015) – 60th in Turkey – shows that the cookery profession has started to fall into the professional professions category.  

 

Today, cookery has become based on knowledge as well as manual labor and skill, as in other similar professions. In this context, theoretical and technical knowledge, similar to professional professions, has become the desired features together with the skills required by the profession. The most striking indicator of this is the transfer of the profession to the departments of "gastronomy and culinary arts" under an academic formation. The expectation of today's social conditions from cooks is not only dexterity and taste, as in traditional cooks, but also the existence of knowledge that will require expertise in many fields that can be diversified such as nutritional knowledge, food safety knowledge, knowledge of different world cuisines, and environmental sensitivity. 

 

For this reason, the rapid opening of four-year gastronomy and culinary arts undergraduate programs in addition to the associate degree programs of vocational high schools and colleges in the last 10 years shows the increasing importance of knowledge in this field. In the 2019 preference lists of the Higher Education Institution, 187 Cookery Programs and one Open Education Cookery Program code; There are 141 Gastronomy and Culinary Arts and 15 Gastronomy department codes (YPA, 2019). Apart from this, there is at least one Vocational and Technical Anatolian Vocational High Schools at the high school level in almost every province. 

 

In these high schools, there are areas where culinary education is given in at least one branch such as kitchen and food and beverage services (MEB, 2019b). In addition, businesses that offer certified training from hobby courses opened by private investors to professional cookery courses are also becoming widespread (Güldemir, 2018, p. 775). 

 

Cooking is one of the professions that has existed since the first periods of history. One of the important elements in the profession is the existence of a hierarchical structure, similar to the military organization. Auguste Escoffier, considered the founder of modern gastronomy, created the culinary hierarchy for the organization of large banquets (Mhyrvold, 

 

Young & Bilet, 2011, p. 20). Escoffier's kitchen chain points to a military structure in the bottom-up chain of command (Civitello, 2007, p. 285). The hierarchical structure in modern gastronomy brings to mind the class and layered structure of modern society, and Max Weber's schema in bureaucratic organizations. Because the organization in the kitchen is similar to the rational mind and hierarchical structure of military structures. While explaining the characteristics of bureaucracy, Weber (2004, p. 290) mentions a well-defined subordinate-superior relationship that enables junior officials to be supervised by high officials according to the principles of hierarchy of duties and gradual levels of authority. 

 

Here, in the hierarchical relationship in the kitchen, an absolute subordinate-superior relationship and the existence of a mechanism that can control the top chef's dishwasher at the lowest level are inevitable in the modern kitchen. However, it is seen that the authoritarian personalities of the cooks, who are defined as the traditional "big master" in the two cook typologies within the framework of the research, are one of the important elements in ensuring absolute control in the kitchen.  

 

Method 

In this study, which aims to deal with the historical and sociological change of the cookery profession in Turkey, the interview technique was used by adopting the qualitative research method. The data of the study is based on the semi-structured interviews with 9 cheesy chefs (A), whose characteristics are listed in Table 1, and 9 semi-structured interviews with the new generation chefs (L) who are educated and schooled. Thus, it is possible to compare two different groups of cooks. The common feature of the mock cooks in the first group is that they are from Bolu Mengen. 

 

The common feature of the cooks in the second group is that they are composed of graduates of Mengen Anatolian Cookery Vocational High School, which was established in 1985 as Turkey's first culinary vocational high school. The interviews were held on different dates between April 2014 and May 2019. Voice recordings were taken with the consent of the cooks, on the condition that names are not mentioned in the interviews, and then the recordings were deciphered. 

 

The transcripts at hand were coded by the researchers and the findings obtained within the scope of the research were “Choice of Cooking as a Profession”, “Cooking as a Professional Practice”, “Cookery as a Culture or 'Invention of Tradition”, “Professional Reputation”, “Education” and “Household”. It was reported under the themes of Cooking and Looking at Women: 'I Don't Bring Work Home!'”. 

 

Results  

In general, it is seen that there is fragmentation in the organization of cooks in Turkey. There are hundreds of cooks' associations, ten cooks' federations and one confederation in Turkey. It can be said that the inability of the cooks to form their own professional associations is due to the fact that the professional hierarchy is not limited only in the kitchen, but also exists outside the kitchen. It is seen that the hierarchical structure in the kitchen causes a wide range of problems from the social security of the cooks to the working hours and wages to be unsolved. 

 

For cooks, the wages of the lowest-level dishwasher and commissary are at the minimum wage. According to the data obtained from the individuals interviewed, it has been determined that as of 2019 figures, head chefs / kitchen coordinators can receive a salary of up to 50,000 TL. Such an income imbalance can be considered as one of the most important reasons for the fragmented structure. Non-union is especially effective for kitchen staff working at lower levels, working insecurely and with low wages, and working long hours without additional pay. 

 

Therefore, from the point of view of professional practices, chef, kitchen coordinator, which is the highest position in the culinary profession, is practically managing the entire business process of a large kitchen; therefore, since his work is mostly in the managerial category, it becomes difficult for him to feel partnership with those who are lower in the kitchen hierarchy.  

 

Choosing Cooking as a Profession 

Ronald M. Pavalko (1971, pp. 44-51) emphasizes that career choices can be made according to certain criteria. Vocational choices, rational decision-making, random approaches and occupational selection criteria, where socio-cultural parameters can be limiting, can be effective in the individual's career choices. In addition to these, factors such as social class background, rural-urban settlement, race and gender can also be determinative in career choices (Pavalko, 1971, p. 51). It is seen that all three criteria can be decisive in the professional selection of the interviewed cooks in the group of those who graduated from Culinary High School. 

 

However, the limiting effect of socio-cultural parameters is evident in the first group, the ironic cooks. Most of the time, without the consent of the individual, professional knowledge is transferred to the next generation due to paternal lineage. For this reason, the profession of grandfather, father, uncle, uncle may be sufficient for the child to enter the profession naturally without his consent. Because it is thought that cooking, as a "good and fruitful profession", offers the opportunity to work everywhere (Polat, 2019, p. 91). However, even while enrolling in Culinary High School, there are also examples where the father went to the school without the consent of the child. Occupational socialization stands out as the most powerful factor for people born in Mengen to prefer the culinary profession.

  

In the narrative of master L-1, it is emphasized that his great-grandfather was a palace cook:  

“My great grandfather was a cook in the Ottoman Palace. He is about a hundred years older than me. I also did a little research on it. He was also born in 1874. He was a cook in the palace.”  

 

Master L-2 similarly states that he was intertwined with the culinary profession as of his birth: 

“Our uncle, my uncle's sons, my uncles are all cooks. There is something like that, after I graduated from primary school, we didn't have any other professional life, we were always cooks in white uniforms and white clothes… That's why we do it with love.”  

 

Atypical examples include the L-3 master. When she enrolled in a culinary high school, her family opposed the idea of ​​"reading cooking" because she combined cooking with patriarchal patterns:  

 

“Because there was such a thing as the cook is the woman, the woman in the kitchen, and I got some reactions from my close relatives, my aunts, uncles and aunts. You will get up from Balıkesir and go to Mengen, you will study at school, you will become a cook. Is it read to be a cook? For them, you will be a lawyer, a teacher, a doctor, you will be a doctor. Of course, years later, they all realized that they were wrong.”  

A-1, one of the regimented masters, also states that he is one of those who continue his father's profession:  

 

“We started with my father saying, 'Take two paths, either you will work with me or you will start another job to have a job outside'. Coincidentally, we started as a continuation of the father's profession.” 

 

Master A-9, on the other hand , starts working at the age of eleven by saying, “… as the old saying goes, “his meat is like your bone is mine…” . Therefore, in some of the regimented and schooled cooks, there is a participation without the need for rational choices within the practices or school of the profession, without much questioning, since it is mostly their father, family or relative profession. 

 

Cooking as a Professional Practice  

The professional practices and working conditions of cooks are almost on par with any blue collar job. The working environment and conditions have more unsuitable conditions than many industrial production places. Temperature, humidity, work intensity, working hours, etc. When viewed from an angle, it is seen that it has a structure that requires "heavy" labor. Often the workload can be incomparably greater than other blue-collar jobs. 

 

When it comes to occupational stressors related to the culinary profession, excessive workload, underestimation, and communication problems are the most common ones, while physical violence and violent threats may also be valid in some cases (Gibbons & Gibbons, 2007, p. 36). Master A-1 declares that he worked during his apprenticeship even without receiving any money: 

 

“I actually worked between 1960 and 1990. This was my previous apprenticeship. I worked without money for eight months or a year. At that time, our masters were not recruited after they did nothing. When you start doing something, then they are recruited.” 

 

 A-2, one of the sarcastic masters, emphasizes that in the past, there were situations in the kitchens, up to physical violence, and today it cannot even be brought to mind: 

“And now there is no old thing, so there is no apprenticeship now, for example, we used to be beaten here until we learned this profession, for example, our father used to say, 'I am your flesh and bone,' when our father handed it over to the master, for example, but now there is no such situation, if only there was such a situation. When you tell the apprentice, he either tries to beat you or quits the job, so now there is no thing, there is no work, now it's all time, let's go at the beginning of the month, so in this thing." 

 

While there is a relative improvement in the working hours of the cooks, it can be said that the working hours differ according to the kitchen hierarchy. While the working hours of the chiefs can be limited to 8 hours like a similar managerial employee, the working hours of the lower level employees can vary between 12-16 hours. L-4 Master describes the situation as follows: 

 

“Of course, it has changed in a positive way compared to the past. Because the opening of the shop starts with breakfast at eight in the morning, you go and start the preparation at seven. I remember when it came out at 12 at night. But now it's not like that, now it's 8 hours, usually for chefs, this changes sometimes, even though mine doesn't, but I try to make eight hours myself as much as possible.” 

 

Master L-5, on the other hand, expresses the inconsistency of working days and hours in the culinary profession: 

 

“You will work 12-14-16 hours a day, your holiday is not clear, you are not at home on New Year's Eve most of the time. Your holiday is not certain, when you are going to take a holiday, you cannot make any social plans according to the situation, you work hard hours, you work in a humid, wet atmosphere in a hot atmosphere of 40-50 degrees Celsius, you work in a narrow area, you work in a place where living conditions are not so comfortable as here. ”  

 

Master A-3 states the following about how the past working hours were decisive in determining the limits of the working hours of the master as the sole authority in the master-apprentice relationship:   

 

“We didn't have time, the clock thing then. You started the work, the work is finished, after that, when you ask the master, can we go, can we go, you can go, that is, you can come back to work early in the morning. This is how we grew up.” 

 

In Fine's ethnographic study (1996, p. 63) on restaurant workers, he stated that working hours vary, and that no matter what level they work in restaurants, cooks have expectations about when the work will start and end, and that there is a need for temporal codes, just like the school bell or the break whistle in the factory. what they heard; Otherwise, they emphasize that they are disappointed. Another important factor in terms of professional practices is the obligation of the general public to work during holiday periods, weekends and special days. This is an inverting reality in cooks' socialization, family relationships and communications. For this reason, there is a temporally different occupational functioning.  

 

The analogy of "microwave cooks" by Musa Dağdeviren (2006, p. 118) points to the "standardization" emphasized by Akarçay (2016) and the professional mechanization of the cook as a craft and thus alienation from the food he prepares. Today, cookery exhibits a dual structure. Those who continue traditional cooking as artisans and those who cook as an ordinary, mechanical job in standardization and alienation. 

 

The standardization created by technology can affect the practices of the culinary profession. As in the example of the microwave oven, industrial kitchen solutions weaken the craft aspect of the profession and cause it to become standardized by preventing the cook from taking initiative. Master L-5 relates this situation to the qualifications of today's cooks want to be. He states that even mashed potatoes are prepared and served quickly from ready-powder packages in many businesses, and that there are more cooks who are far from preparing real products. 

 

“…I think he sees cooking as a profession. Maybe he sees doing this job and this profession, which can be reduced to cooking, as what form and what kind of cooking. I think he is looking to see whether he will be the cook of a giant catering company, a five-star hotel cook, or a smaller-star hotel cook, or a restaurant cook.”  

 

With a similar mindset, the sarcastic Master A-4 emphasizes that they do everything themselves, and today, ready-made products simplify the profession: 

 

“Professionally, a lot is ready now. At that time we were producing ourselves. We even made the smoked ones ourselves, for example, in hotels. Now everything is ready. It seems to us that it has become a little simpler now.” 

 

Master A-5 also states that they made everything from jams, pickles to canned food in the past, and that they also attach great importance to cleanliness in the kitchen. Just as one should be very careful in prayer, he advises to be ethical, fair, meticulous and neat in the culinary profession. Master A-8, on the other hand, states that they paid attention to taste rather than visuality in the past, and now visuality is very much in the foreground:  

 

“… At that time, cooking and taste were important, visuality was not so much. For example … it could be 1977. Taste was very important to us. Now, as far as I can see, taste is not given much importance to visuality, here it is all visuality. But is it going backwards? It's not going back…” 

 

It is seen that industrial developments have an effect on the professional practices of cookery. In this context, it turns out that from the time when all the practices of the profession were done with a labor-like labor process from start to finish, many processes have now turned into a work-labor structure in which many processes are done with industrial solutions, technological opportunities and a technician-like labor process. Cooking practice has changed in this sense from the past to the present. 

 

Cookery as a Culture or “Invention of Tradition” 

Mengen is known as the "land of cooks". One of the important reasons for this is Eric J. Hobsbawm's (1995) feature of being the country that trained the cooks of the Ottoman Palace cuisine, which can be explained with the conceptualization of the invention of tradition. As Arif Bilgin (1998, p. 46) revealed in his study, the activities and fame of the chefs from Bolu in the Ottoman palace kitchen continued to increase with the dismissal of the chefs from Nevşehir as of 1826. 

 

Therefore, the invention of tradition allows the cooks of Mengen to own a common historical past, albeit imaginary, with different narratives. A-4 says that the chef from Master Mengen was perceived as a good cook in the past and that they were preferred by the bosses. Master L-6 narrates the narrative he heard from his elders as follows: 

 

“There is a need for a cook in the palace, chefs come from the regions, then of course there is a head of tasting there, meals are made there now, the cook there does something like setting and then it is appreciated. After being liked, he continues as the cook of the palace. As he gets older, he is taking a cook from his own village and saying something like that, a chef from this region is starting to grow. When we say to the sons of the sultan in various jobs, the system begins to develop in this way. 

 

This is what I learned. I'm going back to the very long time of Fatih Sultan Mehmet.” 

 

Master A-6 builds on the tradition by voicing a similar legend: 

"Soil. First of all, land. Now I will go to many places, to the kitchen of the Ottoman palace, to Mehmet the Conqueror... Yakup Ağa, the dishwasher working in Fatih Sultan Mehmet's soup kitchen, did not have a surname back then. Yakup Ağa's master, Yakup Ağa, does not only wash dishes, but also works as a cook's assistant. Then there is the sting. He is in the eyes of his master. Then he takes his master Yakup Ağa with him as a cook, not a kitchen, but as an assistant cook. 

 

Of course, masters retire from these works after a certain period of time. His master is disturbed, he retires. And the sultan's aide asks, who should we do as the chief, master, he says. Yakup Agha says. He had two assistants before him, and Yakup Ağa is a young generation. Yakup Agha says. They call Yakup Ağa, they dress him, they bring him down to the kitchen, your new chef Yakup Ağa. Of course, two assistant cooks break down. Because they had expectations too. But it's a matter of assignment. 

 

Cooking has been a tradition for over 550 years, from there to the present. As I said soil, it's a tradition for over 550 years. From Yakup Ağa to Mengen. What is Yakup Agha doing? He comes to Mengen, distributes cooks to another sultan's house, his aide-de-camp, an officer's house. He comes to Mengen, takes Ahmet Abi's son, raises him as a cook, and gives him to someone else's house as a cook. And it has spread from generation to generation, and it comes to the present day as a father's profession. A tradition for over 550 years.” 

 

L-4 Master, on the other hand, must have done a conscious reading and research on the subject, as he conveys more reasonable information: 

“As far as I know a certain part of the palace cuisine, at that time Nevşehir, I guess, then the people of Mengen started to cook. Then, as I said, they are their relatives, you know, because we accepted this as a profession, they multiplied in the palace because he was his relative, he was his relative, and one day the greatest cooks of the palace became Mengen. And then when the hotels started, they went there and brought their own relatives and continued this tradition. But as I said, I think that the times when cooking was not accepted as a profession at that time still continues because we accepted it even at that time.” 

 

As stated by master L-4, the adoption of cooking as a profession in reality may have been provided by the Mengen people. In this case, the fact that cookery was adopted as a profession when it was not accepted as a profession was effective in the invention of the tradition as the "land of cooks" of the people of Mengen. In addition, it is an important factor in the transfer of citizenship and kinship patterns and cooking as a profession passed down from father to son for generations. Master A-7 said, “Our entire family is cooks. 

 

I mean, my father, my grandfathers are the cooks to me. After me, there is only one son of my brother, he became a cook…” He expresses the transfer of the subject. So much so that in certain businesses, the fact that only the citizens of Mengen and their relatives were in the kitchen staff came to the fore in gaining bargaining power with the businesses. The L-5 Master emphasizes the acculturation of the profession: 

 

“Cooking has become a culture here. It has really become a culture, that is, when two people come together, if two people are already cooks, the thing to talk about is cooking.”  

 

Master L-2, on the other hand, reveals the story of the cooks from Mengen reaching the palace with another narrative:  

“Now in these imperial times, this was the transition zone. They used this area as a road. When they stayed in this region, meals were prepared from game animals to the sultans, and to the military team who went to war there, and the meals were highly appreciated. 

 

Then he is invited to the palace, and meals are made in the palace. Then, part by part, everyone starts to like it. Of course, the food they cook is our people of this region. Part by part, they begin to settle in the palace kitchens. After that, of course, he is calling his uncle's son, he is calling his uncle's son, and that population is growing. This is how the culinary profession develops in Mengen.”   

 

While conveying his professional adventure, Master A-3 also emphasizes Mengen: 

 

“In the beginning, my uncle was the head chef at Yıldız Technical School, I started my apprenticeship with him. Later, at Bebek Municipality Casino, Bebek Hotel, Hisar Hotel, … We were together with the master, he is from Mengen. Then, after 68 , we were together again with Master … in Anadolu Club. All from Mengen. That is, until 76... As I said, Mengen made a name from our grandfathers, from the palace kitchens. This has been carried all the way to our days, it is still being carried, as cooks from Mengen. This is how cookery developed in Mengen. Inherited from ancestors, tradition. God bless, we ate their bread, and we still do. We have worked devotedly ourselves, and those who come after us remember us right now. People who really love their profession do the cooking in Mengen.” 

 

Master A-4 also states that he started cooking as his father's profession and that he had no other opportunity at that time. She says that after primary school, she went to work with her brother in Istanbul at the age of 14. Master A-8 said, “… Chefs with vise are obedient, their hearts are pure, so they don't beat, break, steal, I haven't seen them. I worked with 60 men for approximately 2223 years…” he summarizes the general characteristics of the cooks from Mengen. 

 

Master A-9 expresses his loyalty to Mengen with these words: 

“… come and go, so we were eagerly waiting for the festival to come. Now, a lot of teams come from all over Turkey. In 2004, when associations with our friends increased in Ankara, we could also have events in Mengen, but I mean from Mengen… What if in the past, founding an association was like betrayal to Mengen, Mengen We would say that there is no association other than that.” 

 

Although both the regimented and trained cooks are not recorded from generation to generation through oral transmissions (Bilgin, 1998), it is seen that a connection with a past that goes back to the palace kitchen until the reign of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. Hobsbawm's concept of 'invented tradition' encompasses 'traditions that have been constructed and formally institutionalized, as well as 'traditions' that have emerged in an impossibly short and identifiable period of time—perhaps a few years—and have become highly established. ” (Hobsbawm, 2013, p. 2). 

 

It is possible to define the professional dominance of the chefs from the palace kitchens in the kitchens of the past, from the palace kitchen to today, as an 'invented tradition', which has been transferred from generation to generation in a narrative way that cannot be easily traced , and has been built to a certain extent. Just as Hobsbawm (2013, p. 2) uses when explaining the concept of invented tradition, it is 'overtly' or 'tacit' accepted, 'showing a ritual or symbolic feature', 'relying on certain values ​​and values ​​based on repetitions, assuming a natural continuity with the past. The identification of 'cooking' with Mengen, in the sense of a set of practices that try to instill behavioral norms, can be traced in the narratives of sarcastic and educated cooks. 

 

Professional Reputation  

In Turkey, especially in recent years, significant changes have been observed in the social status of the cookery profession with the influence of the media. A number of developments such as the opening of restaurant chains by international famous chefs, the large investments of international capital and even domestic capital in restaurant management, the increase in food-oriented television programs, the rise in popularity of direct cooking programs of famous chefs, the opening of food channels are important in increasing the professional reputation and social status of cooks. played a role. Master L-4 explains that professional reputation is increasing today: 

 

“…the cooks used to enter the hotel through the back door, now they go through the front door, or you get a reputation at meetings somewhere…”  

 

Master L-7 similarly expresses the rise of the reputation of the culinary profession from past to present: 

“In the past, the chief cook would not come out of the kitchen. I mean, we weren't social, they weren't. Sociability emerged in our generation, you see. Now, people are making programs for television channels, visiting restaurants. The main cartel is on the channels now. It wasn't like that in the past, you used to sit in the kitchen, make your dinner, go. No one would see you. I mean, it's not like I'm going to the table and meeting. Now, for example, if I have time, if available, I go and sit with a guest, have a drink, chat. So we got this chance. 

 

It didn't exist before. I mean, where is my dear head chef going out, sitting at the customer's table, chatting etc." 

 

Alaylı Usta explains that A-2's professional reputation is possible by doing the right things and staying away from dishonesty: 

 

“We can't do anything wrong. So we try not to make mistakes as much as possible. When we commit fraud, our job, our profession, has no meaning anyway.” 

 

Master A-6 states that the professional reputation has weakened from year to year and the level has decreased: 

 

“This can also be, of course, there are our chef friends in the whole industry, there are ladies among them, everyone, but everyone says, 'I'll be the chef, I'll be the chef, I'll be the chef'... Of course you will be the chef. Chief is not easy. But do you know why this is caused? This has come to light in the last four years. If being a chef will really save you a lot of money, be a chef. But don't be to be a chef. Become a chef at the forefront of your profession. In these last four years, the profession has started to hit rock bottom. Because at work, let me get a couple of liras more money, but our friends, who made their profession as a kitchen chef for two or three liras, unfortunately started to hit the bottom of our profession, it has become very serious in the last four or five years…” 

 

It turns out that professional reputation is perceived differently between regimented and educated chefs. In this sense, there is a difference between being a master and being a chef. Because in chief, managerial skills come to the fore. In mastery, the value of knowledge of 'mastery' is incomparable with chiefdom. Today's interpretation of chiefdom is that managerial skills come to the fore rather than 'mastery' knowledge. In this context, it provides evidence of a change in the professional practices of the cookery profession and shows that it has transformed from a craftsman to a technician, in other words, from kitchen work to a practice that requires focusing on office work. 

 

Education  

Most of the Culinary High School graduates start their professional careers at the age of 15-16 with compulsory internships. After starting their culinary career, they prefer professional life instead of taking university exams and getting an associate degree or undergraduate education. Not all graduates with chieftainship goals continue to post-secondary education. In addition, it is observed that the tendency to study nutrition teaching, cooking associate degrees, and recently gastronomy and culinary arts has become stronger. In addition, there are examples of entrepreneurship in the food and beverage sector (imported food products supply enterprises, food enterprises).

  

L-8 Usta states that his high school vocational education is useful in the sector, but the real education in the form of "desired behavior change" occurs in the sector. The sarcastic master A-2 describes the process from childhood to mastery as a rigorous education and emphasizes that he is a man in this way: 

 

“At that time, we were very angry with our masters, so we did things under a lot of pressure, for example, we could not find a face from our father, we could not find a face from the master, he would say, you will have to learn this job, so either you will learn or you will become a man or a shepherd. So we have come to these days by undergoing a very rigorous training.” 

 

In addition, Master A-2 states that he learned the details and intricacies of the profession with difficulty, and that the interns who come to him today are very lucky. 

 

“…because we suffered so much, we always learned from a distance, for example, no one would show us, the masters would not show us all the head work and show the tricks… We show them without breaking them and they try to learn, but the old staff do not want to learn, the mentality of the men is a bit broken says: - if you teach me this, it will be on me He always says that you can make me do this, we were dying to learn like this, so that we can learn something from the master, that way... 

 

No. they would hold us back, so that's how we would do it. For example, he made a dessert, for example, he wouldn't show how many eggs he broke, we would do it when the master's work was done. 

 

For example, we would say clean here, did you clean it, how many eggs did you break into that dessert, for example, we would combine it, we would get something from it, so we learned how much flour he put in, how much he did. The present ones never run away.” 

 

Master A-4 states that in the past, when they saw their elders in the kitchen, they took the main stance, that they grew up in a multi-disciplinary environment, but that is not the case now, and that the perception of discipline among school chefs is very different. 

 

Master A-5, on the other hand, describes his life in the kitchen with the analogy of education: 

“…I was born in Mengen, grew up in Mengen, studied in Mengen. There was no school in our time. There was a high school education and training in an education and training with a master-apprentice relationship. So family, the more the master is a teacher, the better by mocking you... I started my career as a student. It's called assistant cook…” 

 

Master A-6 states that he respects the current education, but there is a quality in the profession thanks to the sarcasm in the past: 

 

“I wish that period of sarcasm would continue, I have endless respect for education, I wish that period of sarcasm would continue... Why am I saying this? Because our profession was of very high quality back then. Of course, let's not characterize this education as education, we also have very qualified masters who are trained. But because of some recklessness, I don't want to comment too much on this issue in order to come to the fore and be the chief, because this place makes us sad.” 

 

Master A-9 states that although he is not a school graduate, he continues to attend various courses and states that he attended an English course especially in the 80s and that he saw a lot of benefit in his life: 

 

“We never went with the thought of going to an English course without anyone encouraging us, so that we could come to a good place in our profession in our later career, but in the following years we realized that we had done a very good thing without realizing it, we went to the course.” 

 

L-5 and L-8 Masters also underline the importance of foreign language education in the culinary profession. 

 

Domestic Cooking and Women's Perspective: “I Don't Take Homework!”  

The kitchen is one of the most basic spaces of the invisible labor of women in the home. Paradoxically, cooking is one of the most ordinary, simplest, most underrated, but on the other hand, most necessary jobs in the world (De Certau, Giard & Mayol, 2009, p. 189). Women often determine their own power in the kitchen (Akgökçe, 2006; Yavuz, 2009). The kitchen is important both historically (Akgökçe, 2006) and today as a space where women from different social classes (Yavuz, 2009) individually draw their boundaries and perhaps show their power against men in a single area. 

 

Kitchen work, which is one of the domestic labors of women, is mostly unpaid, worthless and is considered as one of the ordinary, daily routine women's work. According to Keysan (2013, p. 20), “the identity of woman-kitchen imprisons women in the only area where they are believed to be competent, home and kitchen”. However, cooking, which is seen as a woman's work in the home, in most places where you eat out, is done by men as a high-status cook.   

 

The views of professional cooks and chefs about cooking as domestic labor reinforce traditional patriarchal patterns. Cooking in the private area is seen as fun with children, as a leisure time activity in the form of a game, or as a "performance" when a special guest arrives. Master L-5 reports that he only cooks at home in private settings: 

 

“If the guest has something special to eat at home, I enter. Other than that, my wife does. My wife cooks the daily meal, sometimes I do too, but usually she is.” 

 

In addition, Master L-5 emphasizes the role of women in family life: 

 

“...when you look physically, the lifting power of a woman and a man is not necessarily the same; In my opinion, plus, since the woman in Turkey still plays the role of the person who runs the house after establishing the family, it is good to do it this way…”  

 

Similarly, L-8 Master reports that the frequency of cooking at home is low: 

 

“I never cook at home. It's either classic, but I can't lie, of course, it's a lie to say I'll never do it. Not that much. When more guests and my friends, my chef friends come, of course, I do it in the sense of helping my wife. Normally I don't."   

 

Master L-9 describes cooking at home as a recreational activity: 

 

“When I stay with my daughter, we can cook very comfortably when we go to the kitchen together, then I have no desire to cook at home. I say so. But if my daughter encourages me, she and I have a great time in the kitchen.”   

 

On the other hand, it can be emphasized that the woman/mother is a natural cook as an extension of the socialization of men and women within the framework of gender. Moreover, the distinction between cooking as a profession practiced in the public sphere and domestic labor is also understood from the discourse of Master L-8:  

 

“Actually, all of our mothers are cooks. You can't be a housewife if you don't know how to cook.  Of course, there are more details like this, but of course. That was the general opinion. That's why girls learn to cook from their mothers as they grow up. Now, of course, it doesn't happen that way anymore. There is Uncle Google on the Internet, you click there. Or you call and you get your meal. I don't know how to put it this way, but I mean, it's a job, it's a job, I don't want to come home after doing it all day. Personally, I wouldn't want to do it."  

 

Today, women are more visible in professional kitchens than in the past. It is obvious that female students lead the way in the number of students studying in the departments of cooking, gastronomy and culinary arts. However, when we look at the professional business life, it is seen that the positions of women are not similar. It is a fact that in a professional field, men skillfully distance themselves from kitchen work as an unpaid, underappreciated labor in the domestic field (Harris & Giuffre, 2015, p. 190). 

 

However, as in the definition of “pink ghetto” quoted by Harris & Giuffre from Moskin (2015, p. 190), women are limited to their duties in pastry and salad stations. As a result, professional chefs still avoid sharing the advantages of the profession for men and social status with women. 

 

Conclusion and Recommendations 

As a result, cookery in Turkey gains professional reputation. Even if we do not have the opportunity to compare the reputation of the cook, which is ranked 60th in the research of Sunar & Kaya, the representations in the media in Turkey in recent years make us feel that the chef position has risen. Necdet Tosuns, Ümit Usta's, who were trained by the great master, that is, apprenticeship, and took a place in our memory as a representation; It can be said that there are some similarities with those who are educated today and who create an image from Biscolata advertisements to the Unemployed Men, but they differ highly. 

 

Both groups think that the woman should be in the private area and the man should be in the kitchen in the public area. Although the rapid increase in the number of catering establishments in Turkey reveals the need for the culinary profession, it should be considered as an important problem that the average wages of cooks have enormous differences in hierarchical scale (lower limit and upper limit). 

 

Because the weight of working conditions and the necessity of working long hours create an appearance that is contrary to the image of culinary art in the popular perception of the profession. The fact that cooking, which can be defined as a labor-intensive job, has a popular use as "gastronomy and culinary arts" also shows the contradictory position and status of the profession. 

 

From a perspective that can be evaluated within the sociology of occupations, the changing status of the profession and its differing perception today are at the center of this study. The culinary profession has been showing an upward trend in terms of professional reputation recently. It is undeniable that gastronomy and culinary education became widespread in universities and private institutions and the profession became popular with the contribution of the food media. There is a transition process going on from “big masters”, defined as traditional and regimented masters, to schooled, educated cooks. 

 

Findings obtained within the scope of the research “Choosing Cooking as a Profession”, “Cooking as a Professional Practice”, “Cookery as a Culture or 'Invention of Tradition'”, “Professional Reputation”, “Education” and “Domestic Cooking and A View of Women” : 'I don't bring work home!'”. It is understood that all of the educated and sarcastic cooks are satisfied with their profession, even if they have chosen the profession consciously or unconsciously. 

 

During the execution of the profession, they experienced difficulties, especially in the past, up to physical and psychological violence; they state that the working conditions are generally opposite compared to other sectors. They also emphasize that in the past they prepared many products from pickles and sauces themselves, and today they have become cooks using ready-made products with the term "microwave cookery". The ancestors and relatives of most of the cooks interviewed had cooks as well, so it is understood that the tradition continues. 

 

High school graduate cooks report that the professional reputation of cooks has increased from the past to the present, and that, on the contrary, sarcastic cooks have decreased. This contradiction arises from the fact that the interviewed cooks looked at the issue from different perspectives. All of the educated and sarcastic cooks especially emphasize that this profession is acquired within the real sector. Similarly, all of the cooks state that they cook/can cook only on special occasions or as a recreational activity in their family life, which can be summarized with the phrase "I don't take work home". 

 

Cookery instructors and business employees can benefit from the statements, comparisons and evaluations included in the study. Instructors can quote from the article in their material content. Chefs and chef candidates can consider it as a self-guided guide in their career plans. In the ongoing processes, the change in the profession can be revealed in depth by conducting more interviews and focus group interviews with different education levels and different age groups. In addition, a Turkish culinary corpus and museum can be created with these interview records and documents such as photographs, awards and clippings.  

 

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