I am in Malatya to celebrate the Türkiye Culture Route Festival, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, specifically for the gastronomy leg. The event is held at a different destination every other week, beginning with a tour of the city’s top food spots guided by a chef, along with a group of food writers, food researchers and experts. It is practically a marathon of tasting, quite exhausting, but well worth the effort. This year, 26 cities are participating; each week starts with the discovery of “Taste Spots,” which highlight the main traditional favorites of the locals, while the remainder of the week features a series of exhibitions, concerts and cultural events.
I happen to be on the advisory board, which comprises an outstanding group of chefs, food writers and researchers who specialize in the regional cuisines of Türkiye. As members of the advisory board, we cannot attend every gastronomy tour, but I particularly wanted to visit Malatya. For years, I have been raving about the cuisine of Malatya, claiming it to be one of the best in the country. I have also written extensively about its exceptional flavors, especially its apricots, which are the best in the world.
Now, being back in Malatya is confusing and a bit sad. I cannot recognize anything from the city I knew before, as I haven’t visited since the devastating earthquake in 2023. The affected area was vast — the disaster hit 10 city centers and Malatya was one of the worst-affected cases. Of course, it was not only the urban areas; the countryside was also severely impacted, leaving agriculture and livestock breeding practically paralyzed.
I remember writing about the earthquake from a different angle to highlight this fact, and I even spoke to TRT World on the topic. As I noted then, “Animals don’t clock off. There is a saying in Anatolia: ‘Funerals wait, milk does not.’ Animals need water, fodder and round-the-clock milking.” The earthquake-hit area was a vital livestock breeding region in Türkiye’s economy and regenerating the regional economy depended heavily on sustaining the livelihoods of the countryside.
First city-state
Malatya showcases how the city and the surrounding countryside operate as a whole, representing one of the earliest models of a city-state. The most outstanding historic site in Malatya is the Arslantepe Mound, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021. Excavations at Arslantepe began in the 1930s at Atatürk’s request. Since 1961, the excavations have been conducted by Rome’s La Sapienza University. As it is one of Türkiye’s earliest excavation sites, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara houses numerous artifacts from Arslantepe.
The mound bears traces of many civilizations, ranging from the Late Chalcolithic period — between the fourth and third millennia BCE — to the Hittites, the Romans and the Byzantines. However, the most important aspect of Arslantepe is that it serves as one of the earliest examples of Anatolia’s city-states. A city-state represents the first model of a state in which a central city authority controls agriculture, trade and the regional economy in its immediate vicinity and surrounding area. Malatya carries the legacy of Arslantepe as a city whose regional power is built on agriculture and trade.
It is no coincidence that many statesmen hail from Malatya; the city produced two Turkish presidents, namely İsmet İnönü and Turgut Özal. Major global brands such as Karaca and LC Waikiki also originate from Malatya and still maintain strong ties to the city. It was a true delight to visit them in their countryside homes, sharing tables filled with delicious, homemade traditional dishes and picking fruit, especially apricots, right from the trees.
Phoenix town: A history of regenerated cities
A very interesting fact about Malatya is how the city was ruined several times yet reemerged from its ashes again and again. Close to Arslantepe is Doğanşehir, a name that signifies a “newborn town” or “reemerging city.” The name was given by İsmet İnönü, the second president of Türkiye after Atatürk, the founder of the country. The settlement’s former name was Viranşehir, meaning “Ruined Town” — a name dating back to the Mongol invasion of Anatolia and the wars of Timurlenk (also known as Tamerlane) in the 14th century. The city was practically flattened to the ground and was reborn over time, but the old name remained as a stark reminder of those devastating times. President İnönü, however, as a native of Malatya, wanted to give the place an empowering, positive identity and emphasize its remarkable ability to rise anew as a regenerated settlement.
Listening to this history of regenerated cities, I recalled that my very first visit to Malatya was to Eski Malatya (Old Malatya), which coexisted alongside the new city. Malatya surely stands out for its extraordinary power of regeneration, and today it is once again in a state of reemergence, striving to heal its wounds from the disaster of the 2023 earthquake.
Taste survive
Though today’s Malatya is entirely new to me, bite by bite, I remember its taste. The city is shaped in my mind by its unique dishes, unlike those of any other place. Each bite brings back another memory connected to the city. The most unusual dish is the rolled cherry leaves cooked in a yogurt-based sauce and topped with jammy caramelized onions—it tastes heavenly. All those oven-baked meat stews with eggplant, tomatoes and green peppers are incredibly delicious. Slow-cooked tandoori kebabs become melt-in-your-mouth morsels of delight. And the cherries and apricots are out of this world. All the tasting spots we visited were thriving and standing strong, without a hint of compromised quality.
Malatya is a different city now, but its tastes have remained the same. Most of the traditional places had to start over. The historic market center no longer exists, but the restaurants, eateries and shops found ways to sustain their businesses elsewhere. Remembering the city taste by taste gives hope for the future. We might be devastated by endless disasters and wars, but we can be reborn each time and start again from scratch. As long as we carry the good old traditional tastes into our new lives, everything will be fine. Everything will be wonderful again!
Taste Spots of Malatya
1. Ali Dayı Balık
2. Altın Yunus Emniyet Lokantası
3. Arzu Ata Ekmek
4. Belsos 100. Yıl Kafe Restaurant
5. Bilal Abi Restoran
6. Çamlıca Restoran Malatya Mutfağı
7. Çınar Et & Kavurma Kahvaltı
8. Çiğköfteci Mehmet Usta
9. Çiğköfteci Müslüm Usta
10. Dondurmacı Abdullah Usta
11. Fenomen Ev Yemekleri
12. Gessto Restaurant
13. Gurmehan Restoran
14. Güngör Kebap
15. Hasbihan Et Ve Kahvaltı
16. Kasap Mesut
17. Kirazlı Konakları
18. Koç Et
19. Malatya Kaburga Sofrası Tavacı Şükrü
20. Maldia Restaurant
21. Mdk Tatlı
22. Öz Çakı Kebap Salonu
23. Öz Güngör Kebap
24. Sami Kasap Yöresel
25. Sentro Restaurant
26. Sürgü Ali Dayı Alabalık Restoran
27. Tarihi Hacı Baba Lokantası
28. Tatlıcı Celal Usta
29. Tavacı Seydo
30. Uğra Lokantası
31. Yaprak Döner
