Food Stories from Syria 1
The Food Programme
BBC
4.4 • 977 Ratings
🗓️ 27 September 2015
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The continuing conflict in Syria has caused millions of people to flee the country. Images of men, women and children living in camps, walking vast distances and even risking perilous journeys by boat or stowed away on trucks have been shown around the world. Life in many regions for those who remain is also in turmoil. While seeking safety, many also face a challenge to survive. Dan Saladino asks how those from Syria - the world's biggest producer of both internally displaced people and refugees - manage to eat and feed their families and the cost and long-term effects of both the conflict and displacement.
Syria has an ancient food culture and was once a bread basket for the Middle East but conflict has damaged agriculture and food supplies to many areas. The World Food Programme explain how they manage to transport food through territory occupied by so-called 'Islamic State' and also how they feed the thousands in refugee camps in bordering countries like Jordan.
Dan hears from one refugee who paid traffickers to get him to Europe after he was threatened by IS and the Assad regime. He explains how he survived and ate when on an extended and dangerous journey. Now in the UK he shows Dan what he buys to cook and eat. Ingredients for Syrian dishes can be hard to come by or out of budget so he shows how he's adjusting to make it work.
From daily bread to the loss of an ancient food culture, hear how the the conflict and displacement of Syrians means for the long-term rebuilding of infrastucture and tradition in the place they call home.
Music used in programme: Qoum Ya Nadim by Zein Al Jundi
Presented by Dan Saladino Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello I'm Sheila Dylan and welcome to this BBC download of the Food Program. |
| 0:06.0 | For information on the BBC's terms and conditions of use, visit |
| 0:09.6 | www. |
| 0:10.9 | BBC.co. UK slash Radio 4. www The Every war, every conflict has a food story to tell, and Syria's has one of the most urgent. In recent days, food or lack of it has been |
| 0:46.3 | recognized by Europe's leaders as a major problem facing the people escaping the killings |
| 0:52.0 | and chaos. |
| 0:52.8 | Until the war ends Syria will go on exporting violence and refugees. |
| 1:08.0 | Its shock waves have rocked Syria's neighbours. |
| 1:11.0 | Now they're reaching Europe. |
| 1:13.0 | In this programme, we're hearing a |
| 1:15.0 | programme. |
| 1:17.0 | In this programme, we'll be hearing a range of voices from the Syrian conflict |
| 1:25.0 | offering different perspectives all through food stories. We'll look behind the |
| 1:30.0 | EU's pledge of 1 billion euros for food assistance and hear from the aid workers on the ground. |
| 1:37.0 | ISIS controls what moves through their areas and charges astronomical taxes on anybody that does want to move commodities through and the most vulnerable families of course can't get access to those food items because they just cost too much |
| 1:50.4 | There's a story of survival from a Syrian refugee whose journey took him onto dangerous boats and lorries and days in remote forest. |
| 1:59.0 | Sometimes smugglers just bring us some food. |
| 2:04.0 | Sometimes it wasn't enough. |
| 2:05.0 | Often hungry. |
| 2:07.0 | Yeah. |
| 2:08.0 | And we'll hear how, despite the conflict, for the millions of Syrians displaced around the world, the rhythms and |
| 2:14.4 | flavors of food from home matter more than we might imagine. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

