Memorable Cooking Class Experience in Third-Generation Gastronomy Forms

ABSTRACT

Cooking classes offer a wide range of experiential benefits for individuals as a third-generation gastronomy form. However, despite some research on the cooking class experience, no study has covered the overall memorable cooking class experience. To bridge this gap, this paper aims to explore the components that represent memorable cooking class experiences in a leisure gastronomy context. To address the objective of this study, we adopted a qualitative research approach and interviewed 16 participants. We content-analyzed the gathered data. Our analysis identified five main themes that contribute to memorable cooking class experiences: cooking-companionship, socializing, cooking knowledge, involvement, and sense of taste (tastescape). Moreover, these components were found to contribute to overall participation satisfaction, affective and behavioral outcomes. The research outputs provide a theoretical understanding of a holistic picture of memorable cooking class experiences and meaningful implications for practitioners. This paper is the first to examine the cooking class from the perspective of the memorable experience concept. Therefore, the outputs of this article are believed to contribute to the literature on food-related experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Cooking class
• memorable experience
• gastronomy experience
• Yozgat

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK) with 2209-A [grant number.: 1919B012109236]. We would also like express our gratitude to the participants for giving their invaluable time. Finally, we sincerely thank Yozgat Bozok Universityșs Culinary Department for allowing us to use their kitchen during the cooking class.