The way I cook changed completely after 6 months in a refugee camp kitchen

I grew up in Syria helping my mom make big family meals with fresh herbs and spices. When we fled to Jordan in 2016, the camp kitchen only had basic stuff like rice, canned tomatoes, and salt. It took me almost half a year to figure out how to make those simple ingredients taste decent. I started adding dried mint and cumin from a small shop near the camp, and even just a little bit changed everything. Now back in the US, I still cook that way with just a few cheap ingredients. Has anyone else had their whole cooking style shift because of what you had to work with?

3 comments

3 Comments

lily9712d ago

You see it different than me. For me it's not about being proud of making something out of nothing. It's sad that we had to get so creative just to eat food that didn't taste like cardboard. I get what you're saying about dried herbs being underrated but I don't think we should romanticize having to cook with almost nothing. I'm glad I learned those tricks because they help me now but I still wish I had access to fresh ingredients every time. The challenge part feels more like survival than something to celebrate.

elliot_grant3812d ago

Isn't surviving something worth being proud of though?

matthewh2812d ago

Man that hits hard. I did a summer cooking in a community kitchen with basically nothing but old beans and half-spoiled veggies. It totally rewired how I see food. I started treating everything like a challenge - how do I make canned lentils actually taste good with just salt and oil? Now my pantry is basically 5 ingredients and I still cook like I'm trying to stretch every dollar. Dried herbs are crazy underrated, a little za'atar or sumac can totally save a bland pot of rice.