are you watching al jazeera and these are the top stories, the sour, more than 600 people have been killed across to kia and syria after a magnitude 7.8. earthquake struck. the shallow tremor was centered in bizarre, shook in south east and took here where trimmer lasted a minute, causing hundreds of buildings to collapse, rescue efforts for survivors or ongoing, and to kia more than 280 people a did. it happened just after 4 in the morning. local time, the death toll and syria is now upwards of $370.00 hospitals. there are struggling to look after the injured cypress and lebanon, also felt the quake blue i couldn't accept the reality. am i actually going to go on the rubber boats and cross the edge in with 60 people to seek asylum in europe? i don't care the color of his skin. i don't care your ethnicity, please cook my food. but at least respect my roots to come here, navigating bureaucracy, racism language barriers to boas, and stigmas, and then rebuild your life. is myself a success? ah, the protesting i was arrested and tortured. i travelled across the agency through the cali camp and on to the u. k, we my to be on so on say, easy, i am hassan. i got a filmmaker, photographer, and refugee from syria b o, i must, the hon. a restaurant out on trevena. and actually i don't want to know how many mishal installs a restaurant hats. i want to know how to treat most of the diversity in the workforce. i want to shake up unfair social hierarchies and elevate women. ah, i've witnessed all the extremes of humanity, the worst and serious prisons and the best in the people i worked with as a hospital cleaner during the current of our spend on. ah, just as has i'm using this camera, i use food as a storytelling to, to foster quality and combative justice. ah, and the whole point of having an all female cafe was it should be like an oil says food is not just about what to eat is about nourishment and healing your soul. i'm excited to speak with has an lot. i chose how to cultivate community and make this whole affair place to live in. join us in studio, be unscripted. ah so hustled. tell me, i will to start off with the syrian story 1st. what politicized you? i am. i wasn't always political because it wasn't an option, you know, and her growing up attorney, i didn't have a voice because he half to go by what they tell you to do. now, when the arab spring started in into his ear and naturally found itself in syria, i was living a very comfortable life. but i could not condone what the syrian regime was doing and dealing with protesters. so 10 years ago when these schools and dora scribbled, people wandered down full of the regime on the walls of their school. there was an uprising, people started protesting, i got involved and my role was small. i was protesting, but i was also trying to document protests to show the world was happening in my own country. i got arrested in protests and i got treated very badly. so i, i, i was tortured, i was and then i was released. i was sacked as a teacher and then i was arrested again and i just kind of feel safe anymore. there was no way in life that i would have left damascus. i was having an incredible time . and i had never thought that i would ever be a refugee because before that we've had lebanese refugees. we've had iraqi refugees, we've had palestinian refugees. i never thought that would be 11 day. but then you're faced with this decision. you either leave or you die. now i have a question for you. you have ph. d in law, but then you turned to be a cook. and since coming to london, you've been using your platform to pass some other voices. i'm so interested in telling me i think i was always driven that this need to be useful to play a role to play a part in my father was autonomy. you know, you are very privileged to buy, but you must leave a legacy. you must do something and when the day is ending, you must feel that i did something for someone. no, my father, very sophie philosophy. the only kind of you know, that was part of my dna and i felt it. and when i was doing law, and a lot of people who are watching the south asian will understand this, you below, you'll be doctor that as like you hear this your whole life. i thought, you know, this will please my parents will make my new strange husband because out of range marriage. so i was trying to impress him as well. i thought, yeah, great. you know, i study law and i won't think i'm so smart and then all love me that gonna work out that way because i realized that i was sole solis, rootless hollow in this country. i felt bereft. and i remember my 1st winter in cambridge touching the bark of this very bare roar tree. and i thought this was me. i will never have a spring. the tree will never have a spring. i had to cook to survive to live. i know that sounds that extreme, but i didn't feel i could live. i felt so cut off. i couldn't really go home because they're so much shame to leave a message and go back. i knew the only way i could go home was to cook. but you know, talking of johnny's, i know so many stories of people making these journeys across. but i have to say, and i'm very ashamed, ms. first, i'm actually met someone who has made this journey. how is it? so to give it a context, when i last syria, i did not want to come to you. if there is this misconception in america, in europe, that's arab men or muslim men are told from the cradle, go to europe, go to the west, and it's not true. even when i left, i stayed in the regions, but wherever i went, there was an expire date on my id. and that always made me so anxious. because i knew that there was no way that i could go back home. but i cannot settle somewhere where there is an expired it and my id, and i want to find i am in pursuit of a new home. so he was 2015, or it was the peak of the refugee crisis in europe. and my cousin had fled, also he fed persecution and damascus, and my best friend also fled. so he made a decision to travel together. and we found ourselves in is mir and turkey. and i couldn't accept the reality. there was this denial 3 doing the whole time like am i actually going to go on a rubber boats and crossed the edge, ian with 60 people to seek asylum in europe. when i was a teenager listening to m and m, i never expected that this would have been like literally because this is what you see in films. this is not going to happen to me. and then so we went on a boat or the smugglers lie to us as they do to every one. and our boat sank because there was 63 people, including children and women. and we got picked up by the turkish coast guards, which were sent back. and till we tried the next day, so we made it to greece, and then we tracks are all my like every one who was with us wanted to go to germany or, or sweden, which is an eat bag, then was easier. but then i wanted to come to britain, so i, i got to cali is a small town in northern france. and then after 2 months of trying, i finally made it here in september 2015. so yeah, it was a crazy attorney. incredible death. yes. i'm going to move away from the journey a bit and i want to talk about food because i'm from damascus and damage seems fluid is incredible. yes. i've even had a pizza restaurant and you are a cook. so or how do you use your food? as a storytelling mechanism, it's very, very important for me that you acknowledge the honor that is due to my food. because what has happened a lot in the west is that ethnic food, culture and food separated. i don't care the color of your skin, i don't care at the city, please cook my food, but at least respect my roots. and the problem is that a lot of people see ethnic food as cheap and cheerful in all this is like. so one of the things that i was very against is that you know, you break bread on my table, sit down, listen to my stories. i want to tell you about the women in my family graveyard. the ones who taught baez's dishes, i have the right to be respected. food is part of our dna. you and i both understand that you know that, but that marriages, food is there. and i, you know, i studied law. i did a ph. d. i don't know how there are people in families who say, oh, you know, look at her, you know, not using her law degree. i use it every day. i use the skills of advocacy to use through food as my conversation. food as my bridge had been me on my horse nation, and you and i came to this country for different reasons. i came here as a new bride, full of hope and of excitement, but suitcase is full of true thought that my mother had collected for years. all my beautiful handmade in a so can clothes and jewelry had come here to start a new life. so our journey is different, but you know, it, it didn't take me long to understand that you know what i left. i needed to find a way to tell the story. so that someone who look like me, someone who looks like you, you know, they have a story. i don't separate us from our food, our stories, and then call us names and put labels on us. this is the one thing about labels that, you know, people use the lowest category and they describe the outsider. oh, i want you to explain to me how this is a problem and what you think is demonizing when you did it labeled people em. when i did my journey, i filmed it, and the reason why i found it is because i read articles in british tabloids this describing us as cockroaches and invaders and coming here to steal jobs. so that is very humane, dehumanizing and is very problematic and pot the reason why i felt my journey, and i, it was, it was made into a film which millions of people watched it as because i want it. so tell the story . i want people to work on my footsteps. the difference between a migrant and refugee is purely a choice. you know, when you are a refugee, you are forced to flee, or before you are persecuted for your sexual orientation for your political views, for your religion. when you are migrant, you were not force. you made a decision to leave for reasons to study. her family unification. but a life an asylum seeker is someone who is applying for refugee status to become a refugee. now, the last 4 years have taught me that there is such hierarchy in the refugee world itself because i'll tell you about britain as an example. us syrian refugees are on top of that hierarchy. you know, we are seen as the most acceptable ones and are 2 reasons in my opinion. a because most of us are white passing, and b at britain is less implicit in syria than it is enough. castanan her rock before the pandemic. if you are a british citizen and want and you who wants to fly, i've gone on. you are warned against old times of travels have gone, is done. however, if the safe enough to deport our guns back to, i'm going to start. so i try a lot to speak loud these hierarchies, you know, because i do not want to be treated better than someone else just because i, i don't know, i am a bit familiar than he is on this thing. you're absolutely right. this little of britain doesn't have the best you know, the history of leaving any place without sewing the seeds of death. but your, it's interesting what you're saying about the, you know, the hierarchy. but it is so sad because you know, i felt different, you know, and i didn't fall into any of these categories. and this is why i have an old wiper and you know, kitchen. these are the men who started life as nannies. but i am very proud, i have a, you know, a kitchen and all female kitchen. and the average age of women is cook and cooking in my kitchen is 50 the all migrants. because be, we claim back this up. you don't ask me what i have the right to be sure. i have the right to be sure, and i will feed to the best any comments on my table? asthma, you and i have gained attention because we were both in a documentary people know about us from social media and stuff. but i'm always aware that this reinforces the rhetoric that good immigrant rhetoric. the problem with the good immigrants rhetoric is that we focus on individual cases, but we forget the bigger cause. so the bigger picture. so if i clean a hospital, then i get attention. if a migrant in france climbs on a building and rescues a kid from the balcony, he gets attention. so it almost, it makes us feel like we will only accept you if you go above and beyond to help. while in my opinion, to come here navigating bureaucracy, racism language barriers to bowers and stigmas, and then rebuild your life from scratch is by itself a success. so we shouldn't be juggling who is good and who is bad only because they got some attention that i, that i think that this is, is a huge problem because i think we are all paying the price for a very, very diverse, if extremely xenophobic and racist briggs, it our campaign and that literally released the genie from the bottle of racism. and the fact that you know, you sure stories in, on, as, as a close to where i lived, where people had bought graffiti on the polish center. it really nasty graffiti against the polls. who flew at the r a f in the 2nd world war. you know, people's memories are incredibly shot. incredibly short people from, you know, south asia fought in the 1st world war. and the 2nd world war. you know, you still have bookers, you know, from the people who are part of the british army. yet this halting of, you know, everybody was put, you know, in the same bracket and the hatred and islam a phobia that was really deeply troubling. we were actually giving our food during the breaks the debate after the breaks that we had a supper club. you know, series of supper clubs. bear, you know, we had ira you because in polish cuisine we, we had, you know, irish british was in because we are all together there be celebrated the fact that, especially in london, this is a city of migrants. but when you look around, shared in these beautiful buildings, these are modern. but the base of these buildings is the blood of by people. the wealth of this country was built on colonialism on exploitation on slavery. this is something that has not taught in schools. yeah. and no one understands when they look at me, they see a brown accented. you know, muslim asked me why, i'm sure i will ask you what you are doing for 200 years in my country. you know, you know, yeah, you know what i do when i feel home sick when i miss syria i go to the british museum. 6 because there's this entire section full of syrian artifacts. so i don't think that, you know, it's not as simple for me. it is about the fact that in schools there is absolutely no not taught any colonial history, you know, talking about the empire. and so we are, you know, in this situation. anyway, let's get some questions from our audience. i am. so my question was to ask, how did you move from your from room subbing keeping you from room to 18 restaurant and beginning spreading your social message on the massive platform that you have. now? i'm very lucky. i think that you know, i feel very blessed. i know that this is not something that can happen to everybody . it was never planned. i didn't want to open a restaurant. i didn't have the money to open a restaurant. and also, you know, i never saw anybody who looked like me who sounded like me in food media in the press anywhere. so, you know, i never even thought it was possible that i could have become a restaurant or, but you know, i was lucky, i got brakes, you know, from people a lot of people help me. but the biggest thing that i stand on the shoulders of my team, the women who were the non nannies, who came in and worked with me in my kitchen in my home and have serve people in my own house today are still in my restaurant there. there, chefs, goat, they have been there with me throughout. yes, i am the face that people see of dodging express what i am standing on the shoulder of giants, my team. and this is so important, collaborate, you know, both networks and you know? yes, my network is all female, but build that both. even with men like minded people, are power comes as a collective. we will never speed if you're alone. and this is why story, you know, i reached out and i embraced other people and that's how i got what i have. so let's, let's hear the 2nd question. i found you a little for about how does this misconception that o refugees and migrants want to come to america, the u. k. and i just wanted to ask you, what you think this misconception comes from oxy, both to the present. it doesn't come from nowhere. obviously the media plays a massive role in this tabloids who are always running articles about my gross and refugees and often highlights like, i mean exaggerating the issue. so i'll give you an example. less than one percent of the refugees around the world are in britain. still a cover page to cover page after cover page, talking about refugees and addressing it as this is massive issue as politician the media who are exaggerating the issue. and that's why people have this misconception . while if you ask me if our countries were not so troubled by wars and famines and crises, i would have loved to stay in serial. and i miss my food to i'll also think that there's these other people who don't have votes, they're the people who cannot actually hit back in some ways. they cannot dispute facts. you put this label micro and send refugees that are very disparate group. and not they don't to speak the same language. so a problem is that, you know, they cannot unify and then they cannot actually fight back. and so it's such an easy target. you hit the weakest because they cannot come back with a story that that bid their side of the story be never sure that till people are hot and i've gotten world history is always written by the victor. and this is again, a reflection of that, that what is happening in this conversation is the powerful, are telling you the story. and those who do not have power right now cannot actually tell their story. and this is so important that the give the space for them to tell their story. exactly. let's take another question. must be somebody from the bar. i've heard a lot of stories about police people migrating to europe and the us from the similar manners portrayed by her son and also by other people in his documentary, with a movie generally based on economic integrity piece rather than political and 70. just looking at news and looking at the general media, we can see that political migrants and, but it's a refugee for often seen in a more positive life than the coming migrants. so what's your opinion on this dichotomy? yes, i do agree with you that it can make migrants are often demonizing the media and the focus is always on the political refugees. and i think it's unfair and i think it shouldn't be that way. i think anyone who's trying to live a better life somewhere else should not be demonized for it and. and who decides whether you should be accepted in your new society or not, or whether you should be given another chance or not. and it's so it's very easy for sometimes, for people in the west to say, well, why you've come here while not understanding the conditions in the migrants home country, how long does it take? it's a queue outside of bakery to get bread, or how long does it take to walk and get fresh water and not understanding how hard it is to get a job. it is frustrating that sometimes people are judgmental of economic migrants, but it can be combated by speaking out about it speaking out against it and addressing the issue. well, thank you very much for that and let's move on to the next question, please. i was really interested in with asthma was saying about the tendency of new cases. i see. well, the west, i suppose, to separate food out from the stories of culture in many ways actually the same as what her son was saying about the british museum. you know, we take the artifacts and we put them into boxes and we look at them, we think how lovely, but they've got nothing to do with, with the people from whose culture they come. and i'm just wondering if you could talk a little more as more about ways in which your food activism, i suppose, serves to make those link stronger again and visible. thank you very much of. this is what i want to dedicate the rest of my life to. i want people to understand that, you know, there are stories with every dish of stories with every human being. and, you know, i've, i began by entire min of food business. if you can call it a business, i called the social enterprise from my home around my dining table. i served people personally, i cleaned their tables and i, i presented each dish and i talked about the symbolism of each dish. why it was so important for me. what was so significant about the ingredients, the names, but i also wanted to acknowledge, which is now very, you know, it has led to a lot of division in india. the fact that indian food was actually, you know, a amalgamation of lots of people. you know, the portugese got potatoes, the british got cali flaw. and you know, a lot of the things that we take for granted is indian, even some size, not indian. you know, it was got in by, you know, people who came to court in delhi, you know, they, they arrived and presented them some of us. so this lack of acknowledgment of the contributions of others. i also died describe this because a lot of indians themselves don't understand that. you know, this is not this to me. and then a 4th year when it comes to food, people are building walls around food. i present you food as i present them meandering river. you know, it will get there, it's flows, it has shades, it has light and dark. it has both. and, you know, conversations about food will allow you to have conversations about more difficult things. and this is what i tried to do. let me use food as a conversation, but it is really about activism because i, this is not where i want to make my money, and this is not what i want to impress you. i don't want to have this blurry. i want you to understand me better. that's my meaning. thank you everybody for asking all these questions or very, very interesting. ah, a lot of white feminists don't get me. i can be deeply rooted in all the positive things about my culture. i can still raise my voice against patriarchy as a refugee. i was always at the receiving end of the monitor in war or advocacy. we should be doing the work. you know, i don't want someone to advocate on my behalf. i want advocates on myself or for me, the tools give me the training and i can do it. if a man chef had touched a female outside the kitchen, he would be in jail, somehow, in hospitality. we have protected these men who are violent at bully. ah ah formed opinion for right extreme isn't he's real and need to be faculty as soon as possible. frank assessments, there was a joke about him from government started. it's not infrared, nor does it go inside story on al jazeera february on, i just need a rhino in tigers, in the whole host, to the brink of extinction. $11.00, he's discovered how they're 14 happy turned around a year on, from russia's evasion of ukraine. elgin 0 looks that impact on us where events might lead from here. rigorous debate, unflinching question. up front muslim until cut through the headline to challenge conventional wisdom. nigerians vote in what's likely to be the most closely contested election in the country's history from those that wielded to those who confronted people. and paula investigate the youth and abuse of power around the world. february on al jazeera. ah ah hello the whole rahman you're watching all their life. what headquarters here in the also coming up in the next 60 minutes more than 600.