The Syrian civil war continues to highlight one of the most tragic dimensions of warfare: using food as a weapon. More than 80 percent of deliveries of food and humanitarian aid to Aleppo were blocked as of the end of September by Syrian forces, a practice that has become part of the tactics used by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime since the inception of the conflict in 2011. The breakdown of the most recent ceasefire there underscores Assad’s commitment to withholding food supplies to harm innocent civilians. Photos from Aleppo document signs in Arabic which state “Kneel or Starve.”
Food may be a weapon of war, but cooking traditional foods may be one of the best ways to fight back, helping to heal and survive. Those who have made the perilous journey away from Syria have also discovered that the very basis of survival — food — can also become a powerful tool to build a new life. The kitchen can help refugees find economic opportunities and freedom. And in resettlement, food becomes a vehicle for what they left behind and what they are entering in their newfound homes in the Europe and beyond.
Chefs in Europe, Canada and the United States are finding ways to use food as a tool of reconciliation. Projects started by local restaurants and civil society organizations are using the kitchen as a place where language is less important than skills that know no borders. A survey of the projects in what some have called “social gastronomy” — the use of food for political action and doing good — is another dimension of food that is becoming a tool of refugee reintegration and inclusion.
Recent surveys of programs that have grown out of the worst refugee crisis since World War II illustrate the salience of food as a tool for building peace. These programs are not limited only to Syrian refugees, but also to Libyans, Yemenis and others who find themselves in new lands without any connection to home except through the immigrant kitchens.
A bold effort to shape the future is now what is needed. And with a global shortage of trained kitchen personnel around the world, the hospitality industry continues to expand. Food and culinary skills are portable, yet powerful tools for creating livelihoods and preserving culture.
Take the case of the programs in Germany. Refugee Canteen, based in Hamburg, is a project that was started last year to train newly-arrived Syrians in culinary skills. The goal is to help people move beyond low-paying jobs in the kitchen to real income-generating positions. A training academy and pop-up restaurants help highlight the skills of these students.
Or consider the situation in Jordan. According to the nongovernmental organization Mercy Corps, one in 13 people in Jordan is a Syrian refugee. The Zaatari Refugee Camp is one of the largest cities in Jordan, with food stores and restaurants. Now plans are underway to begin training young men and women in culinary skills to help them find jobs in the region’s growing hospitality industry. Food now becomes of means to create new social capital and move people to a new life.
In Paris in late June, a Refugee Food Festival connected refugees with local restaurants that opened their kitchens to allow new arrivals to prepare local foods. One Syrian chef who made the trek from Syria to Turkey to Italy to France was amazed to be using his skills so quickly in Paris. Commensality, or coming around the table, is one of the oldest ways to bring people together in a manner that is neither confrontational or threatening. Allowing refugees space to use their existing skills and connect with local communities helps put a human face on the refugee crisis. It may also help to diminish the nativism being peddled by some leaders who prefer to vilify newcomers.
Or consider a project started in 2013: Give Something Back to Berlin. This social platform network brings refugees together with members of communities, using food as a means of integration. Started by a young Swede, it helps bring volunteers together with refugees to provide all kinds of training and new opportunities to live and work. As well as providing a livelihood, the kitchen is a path to social integration.
Turkey, with more than 2.5 million Syrians, is also using food to bring communities together. Syrian entrepreneurs are reopening their bakeries and food stores to service this growing population, while recreating the tastes of home. For example, Salloura, a bakery that the war forced out of Aleppo, is now operating in Istanbul. It continues to remind people of what they left behind by serving daily the growing number of refugees.
These lessons are also felt in the United States. Although we have received far fewer Syrian refugees, food can bridge the divide in many cities unfamiliar with the background of the conflict. Take the case of Mahmoud Al Haza, a Syrian resettled in Memphis, Tennessee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He was operating a restaurant until he was forced to flee his country. Now he is cooking out of his home and will soon be the head chef of his own new restaurant in Memphis, thanks to people in the community who have helped secure space and offered other support.
But the United States can do more for those who have made it to our shores. World Food Day on Oct. 16 should be a call to action. Food can help reduce tensions between newly arrived refugees and Americans wary of the conflict in Syria and encouraged by the rhetoric of political candidates like Donald Trump. Coming together around the table does help build new lives.
Opinion polls in the United States show that working as a chef is considered one of the most trusted professions, since eating food prepared by a stranger requires people to put their lives into someone else’s hands. This may be one of the powerful means of helping people. By patronizing refugee kitchens and using food to spark dialogue, we continue to build our national brand: e pluribus unum. Making of many, one.
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World Food Day Offers a Chance to Welcome Refugees Into Communities originally appeared on usnews.com
