Kayseri Novotel's Chef, Mesut Bingöl, talks about his cooking career and the palate of Kayseri Novotel guests. Kayseri Novotel’s Chef, Mesut Bingöl says his occupation, which he now passionately practises, is his father’s heirloom. Bingöl states that his father always told him that this profession has a future, and if got the chance to improve himself, he would become a skilled cook. He added, “Time has proved my father right, and as I improved myself I made fast progress.” Cooking has become more popular recently but it wasn’t as popular before. Why did you choose this profession? In fact, cooking has always been a popular line of business throughout history, but it has started to gain value in the recent years. The main reason behind this is the change in consumption habits in our country; changes in living conditions lead people to out of home consumption rather than staying at home. Increasing demand and a developing competition environment forced businesses to renew themselves continuously. During this process, kitchen chefs have had the biggest responsibility; they have had to constantly produce new products and sell them. The kitchen schools which were opened in recent years and the increasing demand for the relevant departments at the universities helped a better-educated cook generation arise. That being said, as popular TV shows, contests and gastronomy programs reach many people via visual media, the popularity of the cooking profession has escalated. Actually it is my father, who is a former cook, who motivated me to choose this profession. He always told me that this profession has a future and if I improve myself I could become a skilled cook. Time has proved my father right, and I made progress as I improved myself. Do you think that an individual’s eating habits go hand to hand with his/her ability to cook? How did you discover your talent? First of all, you need to have taste buds to cook well and this shows that there is a parallelism between an individual’s eating habits and his/her cooking talent. But we cannot say that everybody who has good taste is good at cooking. Being a good cook requires talent and education. If you don’t have talent, it cannot go further than a hobby for you. Before I started professional cooking, I tried different occupations, I used to voluntarily prepare dishes for my colleagues in the workplace I worked in and it gave me courage to carry my cooking hobby to a professional level when the dishes I prepared were praised. Why do you think a hotel kitchen is important? It’s not stretching the truth to say that the kitchen is the heart of a hotel. Nowadays, eating is more than just a physical need; a disfavored dinner or a breakfast may cause your guests not to prefer your hotel for the next visit. We are working for the opposite; we have many guests who prefer staying at our hotel just to taste our dishes. You work in an industry which serves people from all over the world. Is there a kitchen in which you are an expert? I think that I have a command of every kitchen, as we offer service with an international menu. But I am in love with the Ottoman kitchen. The Ottoman kitchen is a comprehensive one and it offers multiple choices. If a chef has a complete command of the Ottoman kitchen, it means he/she is familiar with all kitchens. Do you think that Novotel guests have a peculiar taste? As you may guess, our guests who come to Kayseri Novotel for the first time prefer to experience regional tastes. Kayseri meat pasty, pastrami, soujouk and meat dishes are at the top of these tastes. On the other hand, our local guests want to try different tastes. We certainly aim to meet those expectations of our guests when preparing our menu. How do you think research & development and innovation work in the food industry? Are there any new tastes that you have discovered? In the food industry, research & development and innovation means searching constantly, and I read new books and magazines about gastronomy and follow TV programmes as much as I can. At the same time, I follow international fairs and try to discover all the innovations not only in terms of taste but also presentation. With meat marination in particular, I try new options and try to create new tastes using spices or vegetables which are unknown or of little use. I also love fusion food and gathering different kitchens.