Soilless Farming Begins at BAU Gastronomy

Students and academics of the Bahçeşehir University Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Program have begun growing seasonal vegetables and plants as part of the soilless farming initiative they launched on the rooftop terrace of a campus building, inspired by the idea of sustainable agriculture. The students will use the produce grown in the soilless farming area in the dishes they prepare in their department's kitchen.

Students and academics of the Bahçeşehir University Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts are growing seasonal vegetables and plants as part of the soilless farming initiative they launched on the rooftop terrace of a campus building, inspired by the idea of sustainable agriculture.

The opening of the BAU Agriculture Garden, established as part of the project in which food waste is used as fertilizer and which is guided by the awareness of "from soil to kitchen, from kitchen to nature", was attended by BAU Chair of the Board of Trustees Enver Yücel, academics, students and agriculture volunteers.

"WE WILL LEAD IN GASTRO-DIPLOMACY"

Drawing attention to the importance of agriculture in his speech at the event and explaining that he has visited his hometown of Giresun for many years to make observations, Yücel said: "As a child of Anatolia, I also plant fruits and vegetables in my hometown and share them with everyone. I want this tradition of ours to continue as it did in the past. Cooking and spreading food culture are founded on agriculture. Together, we follow developments in agriculture in Türkiye and around the world. At our University, rather than being merely a department that cooks, gastronomy takes a broader view and also works in the field of sustainable agriculture. We always talk about Turkish Cuisine, Turkish Culture and Turkish Civilization, but we should also want our country to gain something from them. Today, wherever we go in the world, it is very possible and very powerful to go there with Turkish Cuisine. The gastronomy department of Bahçeşehir University will not only train good and excellent chefs but also people who practice diplomacy. We will lead in gastro-diplomacy."

"WE AIM TO EDUCATE INNOVATIVE YOUNG PEOPLE"

BAU President Prof. Dr. Şirin Karadeniz stated that the pandemic period was not easy for the gastronomy sector and agriculture, and that they had reconsidered their education during this process, saying: "From an educational perspective, just as gastronomy is not separate from agriculture, agriculture is not separate from artificial intelligence, and artificial intelligence is not separate from law, we aim to see all of these from a 360-degree perspective and bring together different working groups on this subject. That is why we see agriculture not as a field standing alone in a vertical compartment, but as a field that touches all other fields, intersects them horizontally and reveals its projections together with all of them, because this is what we need."

"WE WILL RAISE STUDENTS WHO LOVE THEIR ENVIRONMENT"

Dean of Applied Sciences Dr. Dilistan Shipman, who pioneered the idea of the BAU Agriculture Project, noted that in an increasingly urbanized world there is no room left for soil, trees or anything else, and said: "They say, 'Generation Z doesn't understand soil and doesn't care about plants.' How could they, when they never see soil? At the BAU Agriculture Garden, we grow plants seasonally in greenhouses, in small soil plots and without soil. We make our own fertilizers from food waste. The students will tend the plants, harvest them and understand how laborious a time a sprig of parsley goes through to grow. They won't keep cutting it and throwing it away. In this way, we will raise students who can empathize, who are sensitive to other people and to everything, and who love their environment."

Following the opening speeches, the participants visited the BAU Agriculture Garden. BAU faculty member and Agricultural Engineer (MSc) Kevser Üner Öztürk informed the participants about how plants are grown in the BAU Agriculture Garden.