The Refugee Food Festival is back for a second edition with a launch on Thursday at the Substrat bistro in France’s culinary capital, Lyon. This year the festival – organized by NGO Food Sweet Food in partnership with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency – is holding events in 13 European cities from June 15 to 30. The Lyon venue is the first of 84 restaurants who are welcoming refugee chefs from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Somalia, Syria and Ukraine. The other cities participating are Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Athens, Amsterdam, Florence, Rome, Milan, Bari, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille.
The kick-off event at Substrat featured a menu designed by the restaurant’s chef, Hubert Vergoin, and Syrian chef Mohammad Elkhaldy. Elkhaldy was a professional chef and restaurateur in Damascus, and one of the stars of last year’s festival, when he cooked with French chef Stéphane Jégo at the Left Bank restaurant l’Ami Jean. Since arriving in France, after a harrowing flight from wartorn Syria, he has gone on to cater for several high-profile events, including a catwalk show for the Kenzo fashion house and a reception at Paris City hall attended by the mayor, Anne Hidalgo.
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