Attitudes and Practices Towards Vegetarian Foods in Hotels

Abstract

The aim of the research is to examine the attitudes and practices of the staff  responsible for food and beverage departments working in 4 and 5 star hotel businesses to vegetarian food. The area of the study was determined as Ankara province. Semi-structured interview technique was used in the research by using qualitative research methods. At the end of the interviews, 23 participants formed the sample of the research. A content analysis technique was used to analyze the data obtained from the interviews. As a result of the research, it is found that hotel businesses have a positive attitude towards vegetarianism and vegetarian food, and the preparation stages of vegetarian foods are meticulously studied. On the other hand, there are no separate vegetarian menus and no specialist staff for vegetarian food in hotel businesses.In addition, it has been found that some difficulties are experienced when preparing vegetarian foods, and that some participants have missing or incorrect information about vegetarianism. It is thought that the results obtained from the research will provide positive contributions to the literature on vegetarianism and the proposals developed in the research will be beneficial for the applications of catering companies.