Erhan Akarçay is Assistant professor of sociology at Anadolu University, Turkey. His work focuses on sociology of food, consumption of food, gastronomy and food culture. He teaches courses on Sociology of food and nutrition ; Food, cuisine and class and Sociology of consumption. His current research project is on Cooks and Chefs in Turkey.
Erhan Akarçay recent book Beslencenin Sosyolojisi (Sociology of Foodatainment, 2016) focuses on Eating out as a popular leisure activity in Istanbul. While choice of location has reflected social, cultural and life style preferences, certain trends could also be observed as the prevailing tendencies over time. Beyond friendship networks, advice on where to eat has been mostly the domain of newspaper articles often written by experts with cultural capital, in recent years through social media, a democratizing trends in eating out advice has been observed. Similar to their Western counterparts, younger, social media savvy foodies have been posting through social media information about what to eat in Istanbul. In constant competition to discover the undiscovered, the social media foodies have been exploring the city and providing a wealth of information about previously unknown locations, tastes, chefs, street foods and markets.
Through social media, Eating out has turned into a form of “foodatainment” and pleasure rather than a daily routine. By examining a sample of Foodies’ blogs focusing on eating out in Istanbul, Erhan Akarçay, classifies eating out advice, emerging patterns of popular locations and eating establishments.
_________
Ph.D in Sociology, Anadolu University
Recent academic publications:
- Akarçay, E. Beslencenin Sosyolojisi: Orta Sınıfların Yeme, İçme ve Eğlence Örüntüleri Sociology of Foodatainment: Eating, Drinking and Entertainment Patterns of Middle Class, Ankara: Phoenix Yayınları, 2016 (Book)
- Akarçay, E. “Aşçıların Dünyası: Daha lezzetli (mi?) daha organik (mi?) daha kârlı (mı?)”/”The World of Cooks: More Delicious (?) more organic (?) more profitable (?)“, Toplum ve Bilim, No: 138-139, pp. 169-178, 2016
- Akarçay, E. “Yeme Pratikleri Üzerinden (Yeni?) Orta Sınıf(lar)ı Anlamaya Çalışmak”/”Attempting to Understand (New?) Middle Class(es) Through Consumption“, Sosyoloji Konferansları (Istanbul Journal of Sociological Studies), No: 54 (2016-2).
