Syrian Refugees: United Through Cooking
By Jeff Bigler
In 2011 civil war broke out in Syria. As the war raged on, residents of Syrian Arab Republic fled their country in hopes to avoid the perils of war. It is estimated that the number of Syrian refugees seeking asylum has reached nearly 5 million people. After fleeing their home country, these refugees encounter struggles of trying to make it by in refugee camps and yearn for some sort of familiarity. Many of these people have gone through traumatic events to get where they are today and the refugee camps, though they are gratefully for, does little to resemble their formal lives. Refugees went from living in homes back in Syria to living in tents and dirt floors in welcoming countries.
For many westerners, the story of a Syrian refugee is that of one that may not be relatable to those who have not experienced an event such as a civil war in their country. We hear reports on the news about refugees trying to find asylum and the conditions some of these refugee camps are in and we find these images hard to picture. Most of us hear these stories while we are sitting in our homes in the morning watching the Today Show and drinking our Starbucks coffee. The life we experience is vastly different than that of a refugee and is a life that we may never fully grasp at understanding.
The life of a refugee involves living in undesirable conditions and not much in activities to do as they wait in limbo while civil war continues back home. Because these individuals are living as refugees in another country, many have difficulty finding work making it hard to earn an income to by even the most essential of supplies to cook a meal. This makes the act of cooking a meal for a refugee that much more valuable. Being able to make a home cooked meal from your home country not only is a way for these refugees to combat the boredom that surrounds life as a refugee but also is a way for them to stay connected to their roots.
Living as a westerner myself, the life of a refugee is something that I cannot and maybe never will understand. I grew up in the suburbs, went to private school and always had a home cooked meal and roof over my head waiting form me when I got home. For many of us, the simple act of cooking a meal can lose its significance while others would consider it a luxury. I am fortunate enough to be living in a situation where I am able to venture to the grocery store, buy ingredients, and make a home cooked meal any time I want. The task of making a home cooked meal is mostly a mundane task for a lot of westerners. Yet for someone like a refugee, cooking can be something that keeps their culture from their home country alive. We cook meals and may think nothing of it, while the same meal being cooked by someone in an impoverished country might hold much more significant value with the same dish.
Looking more into what life would be like in a more impoverished country, like those of Syrian refugees, I was curious to see what it would be like shopping for ingredients in the Middle East. To do this I took a trip to an ethnic market in Seattle called Goodies Mediterranean Market. The market was small and tucked away of the busy Lake City Way highway, out of sight for many that pass by. While visiting the market was certainly a unique experience, I couldn’t help but wonder how much different this market was from one found in the Middle East. In Seattle, these markets do a good job of keeping different cultures alive in a foreign city. But the experiences of going to a Market like Goodies and a market in Syrian are going to be very different.
In 2013, Seattle Times posted in article on a local restaurant in the Capital Hill neighborhood called Mamnoon. The restaurant owners, Racha and Wassef Haroun, are both originally from Syria before moving to Seattle in the late 80’s. Their goal with Mamnoon is to bring the culture of the Middle East to Seattle through food. After reading the story about Mamnoon, I began to think about how often we take food for granted. A person born and raised in Seattle going to this restaurant and ordering a meal might just think of it as an ordinary Middle Eastern meal. But for people like Racha and Wassef, the food they prepare has so much of their home culture and longingness for where they grew up. I decided to go to Mamnoon for a traditional Syrian meal and see what the atmosphere of the restaurant was like. Once getting there I was able to meet with the owner Racha’s sister Reem. Talking with Reem allowed me to get the perspective of what is going on in Syrian from some with actual firsthand knowledge. Hearing about what is going on in Syria from the news allows you to get a general understanding of what is going on but actually be able to talk with someone like Reem allowed for me to get a much deeper and real understanding. Although Reem spoke on the disappointment she finds with the U.S. handling of Syrian refugees, she also noted how much more accepting she found Seattle to be towards Syrian culture than from other cities in the country. We are surrounded by so many different kinds of cultures in this world. Some of them might be similar while others are vastly different from one another. However, the one thing that all cultures have in common is food. No matter your background, everyone has some ritual with food.
After visiting Mamnoons, I decided to try making a recipe at home that would be familiar to people living in Syria. The recipe I chose to make was Kurdish Hand Pies. These pies came out tasking great and making them was an experience that allowed me to think about how different cultures can come together through cooking. For me, making this recipe was just a fun thing to do on a weekend night, while for someone living in Syria or a refugee camp could find making this recipe as a way to find comfort or nostalgia. Having taken this journey, I feel that I am able to appreciate other cultures on a deeper level as well as appreciate the things in life we may take for granted like cooking.