Aronia & Nutrition Students: Nature’s Power in the Kitchen

As the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, we hosted Aylin Kalafatoğlu, founder of the Dr. Aronia brand, one of the pioneers of aronia cultivation in Turkey, and well-known food blogger Gülçin Polat in an event we organized to raise awareness on natural and functional foods.

Kalafatoğlu and Aydın, who came together with our students as part of the event, shared information about the nutritional content of the aronia fruit, its effects on health, and its areas of use. Then, they prepared recipes with aronia together with our students in the department kitchen, providing them with the opportunity to both reinforce theoretical knowledge and gain practical experience.

In this period when interest in functional foods is increasing, the integration of fruits with high antioxidant capacity, such as aronia, into kitchens is of great importance. Thanks to this valuable experience, our students had the chance to both meet a new superfood and observe the reflections of nutritional science in the kitchen in practice.

We would like to thank Aylin Kalafatoğlu and Gülçin Aydın for their contributions.