Syrian chef serves up slice of home in Greek camp

Before braving a "trip of death" to escape Syria, Talal Rankoussi was a chef in a Damascus restaurant considered the largest in the world.

Bawabet Al Dimashq - Damascus Gate - still holds that distinction in the Guinness Book of Records as it can seat over 6,000 people.

So when 41-year-old Talal was asked by a US benefactor to spice up the meals for several hundred fellow Syrians at the Ritsona camp near Athens, the two-decade culinary veteran did not hesitate.

The father of three, who crossed the Aegean Sea in February in "a trip of death, riding a plastic tire in an ocean under the rain," says the food handed out in the camp "is undercooked... with no regard to improving the quality."

Like most refugee camps in Greece, Ritsona receives daily meals from catering companies commissioned by the army.

But in terms of quality and nutritional value, it ...