- Title: PALESTINIANS-SYRIA/CHEF After fleeing Syria's war, chef becomes a star in Gaza
- Date: 15th June 2015
- Summary: GAZA CITY, GAZA (JUNE 15, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF 'SYRIANA RESTAURANT' SHAWARMA BEING GRILLED SYRIAN CHEF, WAREEF HAMEEDO, MAKING SHAWARMA ROLL CARVED WATERMELON READING (Arabic) 'SYRIA' HAMEEDO SHARPENING KNIVES CLOSE OF SHAWARMA BEING CUT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN CHEF IN GAZA, WAREEF HAMEEDO, SAYING: "I used to have a restaurant in a shopping mall (in Syria) where
- Embargoed: 30th June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Gaza
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA4ADAN69U2K2G4T2IFFTFJKX2X
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: It is a safe bet that no one who has made it as a celebrity chef has followed the same path as Wareef Hameedo.
Three years ago, the 34-year-old was running a small restaurant in a mall in the Syrian city of Aleppo when it was heavily bombed in the war. Members of his family fled to southeast Turkey and he followed shortly afterwards.
In Turkey, he decided he would be better off in Egypt. So he sailed to Port Said and ended up working as a chef at corporate banquets in Cairo. Struggling to make ends meet, he faced a decision: risk a journey to Europe or try his luck elsewhere.
Against the odds, he chose Gaza.
"I used to have a restaurant in a shopping mall (in Syria) where there are a lot of cafes and other restaurants. But when the situation became very dangerous and mortars hit our neighborhood it was hard to work and the situation became tough. So I was forced to leave everything," he said.
"When we were in Egypt and when the situation became tough we, Syrians, had two choices whether to board the death boats to Europe, with an uncertain future, or go to Gaza as advised by some Palestinian friends," added the fair-haired Syrian.
So in May 2013, he was smuggled through one of the tunnels linking Sinai with the Palestinian territory and joined 1.8 million Gazans trying to make a living amid an economy on the brink of collapse and unemployment nearing 50 percent.
With a degree in mechanical engineering, Hameedo's technical skills might have been useful. But he was determined to make it as a chef, and step by step he managed to pursue the dream, despite the fact that Gaza was consumed by war between Israel and the militant group Hamas barely a year after he got there.
As well as meeting his wife -- a Palestinian journalist who interviewed him about Syrian refugees -- he eventually opened his own restaurant with a partner, calling it "Syriana" or Our Syria, a small place in one of Gaza's best neighbourhoods.
Syrian food is renowned in the Arab world and Hameedo found an eager clientele.
"They love our kibbeh, the kibbeh of Aleppo that I have in my menu. They like the barbecue that I make in the restaurant," he said, in reference to Syria's national dish of minced beef or lamb and burghul wheat, served baked or fried.
Fans began asking him to make other Syrian meals that they had heard about in movies or on TV.
As his fame spread, a local television station asked Hameedo to make a cookery show. Starting next week, a 30-programme series will be broadcast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
"We are done filming and editing the sound. We have filmed for more than 40 days for the television show which will be titled 'Chef Wareef' and shown on a Palestinian TV Station," the chef said.
Hameedo is smiling now, but the future is uncertain. His passport has expired and there is no Syrian embassy in Gaza to renew it. Unless he gets a new document, he will struggle to see his family in Turkey. Other Syrians who came to Gaza have either taken asylum in Sweden or remain unemployed on the streets.
But his culinary enthusiasm is undimmed and he already has plans to open another "Syriana" in southern Gaza, or eventually back in Syria. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None