Vegan Food

Project Summary

Our school is Kadıköy Abdülhamid Han VET High School, which is located in Efeler district of Aydın. Our school has Food and Beverage Services and Accommodation and Travel Services areas. Due to the fact that our school was newly opened, it has deficiencies as infrastructure, promotion, equipment, workshops etc. Our school continues its way by analyzing the tourism potential and needs of the environment. Our students receive vocational theoretical training in our school for 6 months and begin their internship for next 6 months. At the end of 4 years, the owner of the workplace certificate graduates as an international professional. In this educational journey, we have a staff who are open to learning, expert in their fields, innovative administrators and teachers. Our staff provides training to 200 students.

Our students are family children whose economic status is below the minimum wage. Dispersed families are prone to dropout due to economic difficulties and failure. The best part of our students is that they want this profession voluntarily. With the aim of contributing to international tourism, keeping up with innovations and eliminating prejudices, we decided to research the Vegan Nutrition System, which takes its place among 21st century nutrition trends, with young people who are passionate about this profession.

Veganism is a way of life that opposes the exploitation and use of animals. Vegan diet has increased by 350% in the past 10 years with the effect of religion and lifestyle. 17% of the population of the Netherlands stated that it reduced vegan consumption and 25% of the meat consumption. These statistics are followed by Greece and the United Kingdom as fastest growing countries. It has been determined that 59% of the European population are also doing research on this diet.

However, the food and beverage industry could not complete its preparations. International staff trained as experts in many fields of food and beverage services fall short in Vegan cuisine. Varieties and presentations of plant-based foods need to be increased. Seeing this gap in the industry, we want our students to be informed about vegan nutrition, to learn new products, to overcome their prejudices arising from religion or lifestyle, to experience vegan guest behavior and service and to get a new module.

A boutique restaurant with our partners Finland, Greece, Ireland; Preparation and presentation of soups, main meals, snacks, appetizers, pastries, breakfasts, desserts, yoghurts, cheeses, etc, and preparing a common menu constitute the main basis of our project. An E-learning platform where we can publish our common vegan restaurant menus, recipes and works, which are the products of many cultures prepared, will be created. All the knowledge and experience gained will be brought together into a digital vegan module. Awareness will be raised on a significant shortcoming of our curriculum.

The prejudices of our students who are involved in this experience in vegan nutrition will disappear. Respect for human rights, personal preferences, religions and self-confidence will increase. Their innovative knowledge flow in a little-known diet will increase their belonging to the school, which will bring along success. The increase of their professional knowledge will enable them to love their jobs and become the sought-after employees in the sector. Increasing added values will also increase their employment in direct proportion. Our good cooperation with the industry will turn into perfection. The industry will take its share from this benefit aswell. There will not be any more shortage of international staff. Students who provide internship and employment will transfer the information they have learned from their source and make the hotels, restaurants etc. enterprises preferred. The spirit of entrepreneurship will develop. Guests who are vegan will receive service without prejudice and in accordance with their system.

Our school will contribute highly to the catering curriculum by learning a new nutrition trend from its source. Our digital vegan module, which includes vegan restaurant menus prepared with our partners, will be delivered to all VET High School teachers and students in our country from the e-mail of the MNE, General Directorate of VET. We will open stands in the first and only vegan festival “VegFest” which is made in Turkey's Aydin province Didim district, presenting our project site promotions and intellectual outputs that will meet with visitors. The results and outputs of our project will be shared with E-Learning platform, modules and menus in Aydın, food and beverage establishments, schools providing education in this field, meb managers, institution managers, seminars, promotion and workshops. These works will be carried out in our school and our stakeholder, Aquasis Deluxe Resort & Spa Hotel. A wide audience will be reached all over the world by encouraging the unlimited use of the E-learning platform.

Target Group of the Project:

Coordinator:

• Kadikoy Abdulhamid Han Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi - Turkey

Partners:

• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - Greece
• OLEMISEN BALANSSIA RY - Finland
• MOMENTUM MARKETING SERVICES LIMITED - Ireland