Abstract
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the formation, transformation, and contemporary development of the public catering system in the Fergana Valley during the years of independence, taking into account its historical foundations and socio-economic changes. Particular attention is paid to the region’s national culinary traditions, food products, traditional preparation methods, and the activities of public catering establishments. The study examines the transition from a centrally planned system to a market-oriented economy, including changes in ownership, privatization, the emergence and expansion of private entrepreneurship, modernization, diversification of services, changing consumer demand, foreign economic and cultural relations, tourism development, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recovery. The research employs historical, comparative-historical, chronological-descriptive, historiographical, and content analysis methods and is based on archival documents, statistical materials, normative-legal acts, scholarly publications, conference proceedings, official government decisions, and relevant Scopus-indexed studies. The findings demonstrate that the transformation of public catering was a multidimensional historical process involving changes in ownership and organizational structures, modernization of enterprises, diversification of services, technological innovations, and changing consumer needs. The study also considers the prospective adaptation of social supermarkets (SSMs) and food banks to the socio-economic and institutional conditions of Uzbekistan as potential mechanisms for reducing food waste, strengthening food security, and supporting socially vulnerable groups. Overall, the transformation of public catering in the Fergana Valley reflects the interconnected effects of economic reforms, institutional changes, technological innovations, tourism development, foreign relations, and evolving social and consumer needs during the post-independence period.