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Website Article: United Nations, Refugees | Where are the world’s sixty-five million displayed people?
Website Article: UN Refugee Agency, Food Festival Gives French Schoolchildren a Taste of Refugee Life | These refugee chefs took over the cafeteria at this school.
Magazine Article: INFOhio, EBSCOhost Explora, Highlights, February 1, 2018, Sharing Hope with Refugees | This eight-year old girl wrote a book to help refugees. May need password.
Read the script:
IN GERMANY'S NEIGHBORING COUNTRY, FRANCE, A CATERING COMPANY IS GIVING REFUGEE CHEFS A SPOT IN THE KITCHEN. A REFUGEE IS SOMEONE WHO'S LEFT THEIR HOME COUNTRY BECAUSE OF WAR, A NATURAL DISASTER, OR PERSECUTION. REPORTER JIM BITTERMAN FOUND THAT AROUND THE DINNER TABLE, THESE PROBLEMS CAN FADE AWAY. TAKE A LOOK.
JIM: THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS WHEN SYRIAN REFUGEE MOHAMMAD EL KHALDY DID NOT KNOW WHERE HIS NEXT MEAL WAS COMING FROM. BUT AFTER FLEEING THE CONFLICT IN HIS HOMELAND TO EGYPT, CROSSING THE MEDITERRANEAN TO ITALY, AND EVENTUALLY MAKING HIS WAY TO FRANCE, THE WELL-KNOWN TELEVISION CHEF IS FINALLY BACK DOING WHAT HE LOVES MOST, PREPARING MEALS FOR OTHERS. KHALDY AND HIS KITCHEN PARTNER, NABIL ATTAR, WHO ALSO FLED FROM SYRIA, ARE PART OF A FLOURISHING DRIVE BY FRENCH FOOD ENTREPRENEURS TO EMPLOY REFUGEES WHO HAVE WORKED IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY. A WAY TO WIN OVER PREJUDICE IS PERHAPS ONE BITE AT A TIME.
MOHAMMED: THEY TRY THE FOOD, THEY TRY THE CULTURE. YOU NOT MAKE YOUR CULTURE AND HABITS AND ALL THE SENSITIVE FROM YOUR COUNTRY AND PUT IT IN THE FOOD, AND HE WILL UNDERSTAND YOU.
JIM: IT'S NO SECRET THAT HERE AS ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE AS REFUGEES HAVE FLOODED IN OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, THEY HAVEN'T EXACTLY BEEN GREETED WITH OPEN ARMS. STILL, IN A FOOD-CONSCIOUS COUNTRY LIKE FRANCE, TALENT IN THE KITCHEN COUNTS FOR A LOT, AND SOME BELIEVE COULD EVEN CUT THROUGH SOME INTOLERANCE.
AT LEAST THAT'S THE THINKING BEHIND AN EVEN MORE AMBITIOUS PROJECT HERE, THE KITCHENS OF A CATERING COMPANY CALLED MIGRATORY COOKS. ON ANY GIVEN DAY, YOU MIGHT FIND REFUGEE CHEFS FROM IRAN, NEPAL, ETHIOPIA OR SYRIA, SAUCING AND SLICING AND OTHERWISE FINE TUNING THEIR NATIVE DISHES.
AND THAT'S PART OF THE IDEA, TO ENCOURAGE AUTHENTIC REPRODUCTIONS OF WHAT THE REFUGEES USED TO COOK UP IN THEIR HOMELANDS, RATHER THAN FUSE THEIR DISHES WITH FRENCH CUISINE. ONE OF THE CREATORS OF MIGRATORY COOKS, ALSO POINTS OUT THAT THIS IS NOT SOME KIND OF CHARITY PROJECT. IT IS, HE EMPHASIZES, A CATERING BUSINESS INTENDED TO MAKE MONEY.
- WE'RE A COMPANY AND WE'RE TRYING TO BUILD A BRAND AROUND FRENCH FOOD THAT WILL EMPOWER REFUGEES, AND TO SHOW THAT THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO BRING TO THE FRENCH SOCIETY.
JIM: THE YOUNG COMPANY IT SEEMS HAS FOUND A WAY OF, AT THE SAME TIME, DOING GOOD AND DOING WELL. OR IN THIS CASE, EATING WELL. BECAUSE TWO YEARS AFTER IT WAS FOUNDED, MIGRATORY COOKS HAS A FULL AGENDA OF CATERING EVENTS. THE ASYLUM-SEEKING CHEFS SOMETIMES GOING ALONG TO PREPARE AND EXPLAIN THEIR DISHES TO CURIOUS CUSTOMERS.
LOUIS: MANY PEOPLE WERE SURPRISED. THEY ASKED WHERE ARE THE REFUGEES, BECAUSE WHAT THEY HAD IN MIND WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE COLLEGE-ANGLE OR ON THE ROAD, OR LIVING UNDER THE SUBWAY, AND THEY REALIZED THAT THEY WERE LIKE US.
JIM: THESE REFUGEES, AT LEAST, HAVE MANAGED TO PUT THEIR INSECURE DAYS BEHIND THEM