After the Earthquakes, Antakya Cooks Again

A shop at the prefab Long Bazaar where a man makes künefe, a populair dessert in Antakya, made from thin, string-like strands of crunchy semolina dough called tel kadayıf combined with Hatay cheese and syrup poured on top. December 2025.
Three years after the earthquake that destroyed nearly 90 percent of Antakya’s buildings and killed at least 20,000 people across the province, the city has been forced to rebuild not only its infrastructure but its food culture. 
  • February 11, 2026

Three years after the earthquake that destroyed nearly 90 percent of Antakya’s buildings and killed at least 20,000 people across the province, the city has been forced to rebuild not only its infrastructure but its food culture. Antakya still eats, still gathers, and still shares, but the geography, routines, and social fabric sustaining those rituals have shifted since the disaster. And with them, the cuisine is changing too.

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