Evaluation of Participants’ Gains and the Organizational Competence of Cooking Competitions

Cooking competitions organized by institutions and organizations have an important place in gastronomic activities. Cooking competitions provide the creation of unique flavors in terms of gastronomy and the emergence of young talent. At the same time, gastronomy students are able to express themselves, hear their names among others in the field, and communicate with people in the gastronomic sphere. In this respect, cooking competitions are important tools that contribute to participation in many ways. When the literature is examined, it is seen that there is a significant lack of exploration of this issue. The aim of this work is to show the benefits that the cooking competitions have for the participants and the organizational competence of the cooking competitions. For this purpose, this paper seeks to answer the questions “What do the participants of cooking competitions gain?” and “What are the organizational competencies of the cooking competitions?” Qualitative research methods were used in the study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants participating in the contest through a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was performed with the data obtained at the end of the interviews. As a result of the study, it was observed that the participants experienced gains in terms of creativity and motivation as well as social, cultural, and career aspects. The competition also turned out to positively contribute to the competitors’ careers. The participants also stated that the organizational competence was sufficient.