Lunchtime on a weekday at Alagami restaurant, in Berlin\u2019s Neuk\u00f6lln district, is busy as usual. Waiters buzz around serving plastic plates brimming with orange-tinted saffron chicken pilaf, tabbouleh and hummus, and tall glasses of labnah yoghurt drink. Outside, a hijab-clad little girl zips past on her e-skateboard. The only difference between Alagami and the many other Lebanese and Syrian restaurants here is that all the employees are recent Syrian refugees.<\/p>\n

While the influx of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and north Africa into Germany has slowed, from almost 750,000 in 2016 to 37,000 in January and February this year (Berlin took in 1,733 of them), food has become an important way for refugees to connect with their host Berliners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is fertile ground for refugee food projects \u2013 a different sort of Arab spring, perhaps\u201d said J\u00f6rn Kabisch, a Berlin-based food and culture writer. He took a cooking class with a group called \u00dcber den Tellerrand (Beyond the Plate) whose mantra is to use \u201cfood as a means for cultural exchange\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group offers collaborative cooking sessions with \u201ca strong focus on integration, getting to know the individual behind the term \u2018refugee\u2019 and facilitating sustainable friendships,\u201d said Lotta H\u00e4fele, a project coordinator.<\/p>\n

Kabisch added: \u201cIt was more like a get-together. Five refugees from all over the world doing their version of something with eggs: egg curry, Syrian shakshuka and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berlin now hosts several refugee cooking projects. Anna Gyulai Gaal, a Hungarian journalist, hosts dinners for up to 10, cooked by Syrian refugee women in her small Neuk\u00f6lln apartment. Gaal started the dinners when she realised that refugee shelters didn\u2019t have kitchens and that the women missed being able to cook. She is in the process of registering Refugee Dinners as a charity.<\/p>\n

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View Original Article ><\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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