Syrian chef serves up slice of home in Greek camp

Chef Talal Rankoussi puts final touch to the prepared meal in Cafe Rits in Ritsona refugee camp, Greece. (AFP)

GREECE: Before braving a “trip of death” to escape Syria, Talal Rankoussi was a chef in a Damascus restaurant considered the largest in the world.
Bawabet Al-Dimashq — Damascus Gate — still holds that distinction in the Guinness Book of Records as it can seat over 6,000 people.
So when 41-year-old Rankoussi was asked by a US benefactor to spice up the meals for several hundred fellow Syrians at the Ritsona camp near Athens, the two-decade culinary veteran did not hesitate.
The father of three, who crossed the Aegean in February in “a trip of death, riding a plastic tire in an ocean under the rain,” says the food handed out in the camp “is undercooked...with no regard to improving the quality.”
Like most refugee camps in Greece, Ritsona receives daily meals from catering companies commissioned by the army.
But in terms of quality and nutritional value, it “just covers survival needs,” says a camp operator who declined to be named.
“Sometimes we have 200 meals left over that nobody wants to eat,” he said.
Then came Carolynn Rockafellow, an American former investment banker who moved to Greece last year after a 30-year career, including two decades at Credit Suisse.
Rockafellow, originally from New York, has taken a personal interest in the well-being of Ritsona’s 700 refugees, nearly half of them children.
With personal funds and donations from friends, Rockafellow has created Cafe Rits, offering alternative cuisine out of one of the camp’s few brick-and-mortar buildings.
“I feel this story is as much about helping the Greeks as it is about helping the refugees,” Rockafellow says over the sound of Rankoussi furiously chopping vegetables.
About 3,000-5,000 euros ($3,200-5,300) a week goes into the Cafe budget.
“Everyday we have distribution of either vegetables, meats or cooked meals. Meat once a week, vegetables twice or three times a week, cooked food twice a week,” says Rankoussi, now keeping a close eye on a bubbling cauldron of onion broth.
Staple Syrian recipes include kibbeh, fattoush salad, maqluba rice, muhammara dip — mostly made with locally sourced ingredients, and all a far cry from what Greek catering services can provide.