Exiled Syrian TV chef Malakeh Jazmati makes first trip home since Assad fell
Deciding to return to Syria was easy. But with children at school in Germany, and Syria in ruins, nothing else is straightforward for the restaurateur
–
Landing in Damascus at the beginning of Ramadan for the first time since she fled for her life in 2012, celebrity chef Malakeh Jazmati felt a range of intense emotions. “I could see my 37-year-old face in the mirror, but inside I immediately felt like the 24-year-old girl I was when I left,” she said. “I then felt such sadness, thinking of all the years I lost away from my country.”
In Germany, where she’s lived since 2016, Jazmati is well-known. She owns a celebrated eponymous restaurant in Berlin, has published a book, and once cooked for former chancellor Angela Merkel. Of the 14 million people who fled Syria during the country’s brutal civil war, more than a million like Jazmati now live in Germany.
When the news broke in late November 2024 that rebel forces had ousted the dictator Bashar al-Assad, bringing a shock conclusion to the 13-year conflict, millions of Syrian refugees could consider returning home for the first time in more than a decade, and some German federal states even began offering cash incentives for them to do so.
For Jazmati, it wasn’t a complicated decision. Despite her phenomenal success, she had never stopped longing for her homeland. She knew “immediately, without hesitation” that she wanted to move back to Syria. She also knew that when she returned, her priority would be to help the country’s more than one million orphaned children, who she believes are key to helping the country heal from dictatorship. “We lived for so long under an oppressive regime that we haven’t learned the art of dialogue,” she said, adding that she wants to help Syrian children learn how to dream of the future. “I’m asking them simple questions such as ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ so they can start thinking independently,” she said.
Jazmati decided she would visit for Syria’s first Ramadan in peacetime while she planned her relocation. The logistics of coordinating the campaign, however, were not simple, even with a whole team assisting her. Contacting orphanages proved difficult as many are in regions that are unsafe to enter. She and her team finally settled on an itinerary taking in Damascus, Homs, Idlib, Aleppo and Raqqa, cooking for up to 500 children each day. Through social media, she raised €40,000 to fund the project.
Syria is taking its first steps towards democracy, with interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa recently signing a temporary constitution. But in the first days of Ramadan, a wave of sectarian killings demonstrated how rocky the road ahead will be.
“I believe the vast majority of people want to live peacefully, but the country is not fully safe yet,” said Jazmati. “I hope everyone responsible for these [recent] crimes is brought to justice by the government, and not through mob vengeance.”
Growing up in Damascus, Jazmati recalls learning to cook with her mother and grandmother, although she never intended to be a chef, and went on to study political science and literature at Damascus University. In 2010 she joined the protests that broke out against the Assad regime but fled to Jordan with her family two years later. There she met her now-husband, who is also Syrian, and began working in emergency aid at Zaatari, the world’s largest camp for Syrian refugees.
By chance, while there she met a TV producer who was making a programme about the camp, and he suggested she host her own show as she was “photogenic and quick-witted”. He proposed a cooking format, with Jazmati hosting alongside a chef, but she offered to do the cooking herself to save money.
“I used food to combat my feelings of displacement and show people that a new beginning is possible in exile,” she said. The format involved sharing meals and discussions with people from different walks of life and was broadcast throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
However, although her star was rising, her husband — a computer scientist — struggled to find work in Jordan, so in 2015 he travelled by boat to Germany and claimed asylum. Jazmati flew to join him the following year. She soon began cooking for others in her refugee accommodation, going on to set up a small catering company.
Local media picked up on the story of the exiled Syrian TV chef and she was invited to cater at events including the Berlinale film festival and Bild newspaper’s Bild100 event celebrating the country’s 100 most prominent people — including then-chancellor Merkel. This was followed by a cookbook deal and, finally, her own restaurant in Berlin’s Schöneberg district. It serves dishes from all over Syria and the walls are festooned with photographs of heroes of the Syrian revolution. “Every dish has a story behind it and I want people who visit the restaurant to learn about my culture,” said Jazmati.
She also gave birth to two children, now eight and two, while working gruelling 14-hour days running the business. “I think a lot of us Syrians have this same energy, to create something,” she said.
Jazmati admits the situation facing those returning is tougher than she expected. “There is joy, but also a sense of fear — a fear of the new,” she said. On top of the return of violence, the country is littered with active landmines, which have already killed more than 200 returning Syrians.
Creating a workable plan to return is also not easy. Although her children speak Arabic at home, they cannot read and write it to the level they would need to attend school in Syria; Jazmati says many of her friends and family are facing the same issue.
When she finally landed back in Damascus, Jazmati was unprepared for the level of destruction. “Everyone knows from social media pictures that Syria is destroyed, but it really is destroyed,” she said. The sadness she felt at her own lost years was swiftly put in perspective. “Other people lost everything,” she said, “their homes, their families, their limbs, their lives.”
Visiting the Damascus suburb of Al-Hajar al-Aswad, a former rebel stronghold that was once “full of life”, was particularly distressing. “People are living in destroyed homes with no roofs, no electricity, no water, no sewage system — nothing,” she said. “They would be better off living in tents.” Luckily her own house is still standing, giving her a base to work from.
Jazmati is waiting to see if it will be possible to find a suitable school for her children in Syria, so they can finally return to the country they have so far only known through their parents’ photographs and stories. But she believes they will always keep a connection with Berlin, and not just because they have German citizenship. “I think my children are really lucky to have dual belonging,” she said. “They feel at home in Berlin; they speak the language.” Her husband, who now works alongside her in the restaurant business, is also considering how he may be able to return.
Despite the challenges, she hopes those who have been overseas can use their skills to help their homeland.
“I would compare Syria right now to a small child who is still learning to walk — sometimes it will stumble and need a hand to hold,” she said. “And that hand can come from other Syrians, who have spent time living abroad and no longer have the imprint of the dictatorship on them. We have a lot of responsibility ahead of us.”
Jazmati has no plans to close her restaurant in Berlin, and not just because it is her main income source. “I want everything I have built to stay standing there, as a cultural symbol of Damascus,” she said. “It’s a success story of one woman who emigrated and managed to thrive in Berlin.”
Malakeh Jazmati will be continuing her work with Syrian orphans after Ramadan ends. You can donate here.
Topics
Get the Hyphen weekly
Subscribe to Hyphen’s weekly round-up for insightful reportage, commentary and the latest arts and lifestyle coverage, from across the UK and Europe
This form may not be visible due to adblockers, or JavaScript not being enabled.