ZAATARI. Food and Stories

Karen Fisher, who is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, is an embedded researcher at the camp, and has many friends there. Zaatari: Food and Stories is a beautiful historical record of the food and culture of a people dealt so hard a blow, yet who remain amazingly hopeful. The stories they tell are both heartbreaking and heartening. I've really never seen anything quite like this book. And of course the Syrian cuisine---considered by so many to be the most accomplished in the Arab World---is stunningly good.

The project is fully supported by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, who have offered to write the foreword, and provide support via a celebrity ambassador, as well as their millions-strong social-media channels. Embassies from various countries have supported the making of this book financially, as well.

Karen herself is quite a dynamo, and managed to get a very respected LA-based international food photographer to shoot the recipe shots. All the cooking was done by the women and men of Zaatari. The styling was done professionally in Amman (as well as at the camp), where Karen lives much of the year, commuting to Zaatari as she needs to. She is Muslim (and actually Canadian, from Newfoundland), and truly devoted to the welfare of the residents of the camp. 100% of her proceeds after expenses will go directly to the people of Zaatari.