Food Stories from Syria 2
The Food Programme
BBC
4.4 • 977 Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2016
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, as aid convoys carrying food into Syria have been under attack, Dan Saladino revisits the conflict. A year ago, he reported on how displaced Syrians managed to eat and survive in conflict and its impact on the country's ancient food culture. In this episode he investigates how food is being used as a weapon - and target - of war.
He hears from the World Food Programme about new efforts they've been making to reach over 4 million people with food aid, many of whom live in besieged and isolated areas, with staff risking their lives to do so. Bakeries have reportedly been targeted in bombing raids and traders have been profiteering by controlling the availability of food, creating a wartime economy. Yet despite the attacks and broken ceasefires, efforts are already being made to create new food businesses for when peace returns. Work to train up beekeepers and tomato growers is already taking place to sustain a post-conflict Syria.
Here in the UK, Dan meets some of those whom the Government pledged to resettle from camps outside Syria. In Mansfield, Nottinghamshire he shares lunch with two families for whom Eid is a very different and emotional experience. We also hear from American-Syrian journalist Dalia Mortada who has charted the Syrian diaspora to see how this age-old food culture is being shared and celebrated around the world.
Presented by Dan Saladino Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading this special podcast of BBC Radio 4's The Food Program. |
| 0:04.4 | I'm Dan Saladino and this is an extended edition of Food Stories from Syria Part 2 |
| 0:10.6 | with some added material and extra stories. Do let us know what you think on |
| 0:15.8 | Twitter we are at BBC Food Prog and please leave us a review on iTunes. It'll help |
| 0:21.8 | others to find us. Now the program. |
| 0:29.0 | This week we're looking at the food dimension of a truly shocking event. |
| 0:34.4 | An air strike on an aid convoyed |
| 0:36.7 | into the Syrian city of Aleppo that is reportedly killed at least 12 civilians. |
| 0:40.9 | This is understood to be the moment the convoy was attacked. |
| 0:44.8 | Enough food and medical supplies for 78,000 people destroyed. |
| 0:49.3 | The United Nations has been forced to suspend aid convoys as a result of this outrage. |
| 0:56.0 | We're going to explore the Syrian crisis through a collection of food stories, |
| 1:01.0 | not only to better understand the aid mission that came under attack but also |
| 1:05.5 | provide an insight into the wider impact of a conflict that's increasingly difficult to |
| 1:11.0 | comprehend. No one I know can relate. difficult to |
| 1:15.0 | story to comprehend. No one I know can relate to stories of bombings and violence and who controls what town. |
| 1:21.0 | But what people do understand are the mundane acts of living, |
| 1:25.8 | the daily acts of eating, cooking, of going shopping. |
| 1:30.1 | It's that sometimes unremarkable act of putting food on a table we're focusing on in this |
| 1:36.1 | our second collection of food stories from Syria. Snapshots, we hope, will offer a different |
| 1:42.3 | perspective to the wall and we start with a man |
| 1:45.3 | who has to think about the big picture when it comes to Syria and food. |
... |
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