Forming the ideal Kazakh cuisine menu for foreign tourists: local population preferences and perspective gastronomy tourism destinations in Kazakhstan

This study was conducted to identify the places and food and beverages that local people wish to visit and experience for gastronomy tourism in Kazakhstan. It is believed that the study will make significant contributions to determining Kazakhstan’s gastronomy tourism destinations. In this context, research was conducted using the internet survey technique among 421 local people living in Kazakhstan. As a result of the analysis of the obtained data, it was determined that the ideal Kazakh cuisine menu could be created and presented to foreign tourists by local people, such as goose from the cold starter, soup with meat from the soups, «et asu» from the main foods, «baursak» from the hot appetizers, «irimshik» from the desserts and «kumis» from the beverages. When Kazakh cuisine is mentioned, the first food that comes to mind is «et asu», the first drink that comes to mind is «kumus», and the first dessert that comes to mind is «zhent». The geographical region that local people want to visit most for gastronomy tourism in Kazakhstan is the South Kazakhstan Region. In light of these results, useful suggestions were tried to be offered to tourism businesses, food and beverage businesses, chefs, and researchers.