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Snap Judgment
A Recipe for Survival
00:49:27
Coffee is the love language for two Gaza journalists Shrouq and Roshdi. But one morning at breakfast, their little family life is torn apart. Now, Shrouq must navigate a war, motherhood and the disappearing memories of love. And -- the story of a 10-year-old girl with a magnetic smile who makes magic out of breadcrumbs on a rooftop in Gaza and the internet is eating it up.
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- [00:03]
Glenn Washington
Snap Studios. Snap Judgment is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card is everything a credit card should be. It's easy to manage, built to be secure and gives users up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase. The best part about Apple Card is applying is quick and easy. Apply in the Wallet app on iPhone and see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Member FM FDIC terms and more@applecard.com One of the things that surprised me about doing this show and the generosity of people in impossible situations who let us into their lives is learning that there is laughter. Laughter on death row, laughter on the front lines, laughter holding a friend's hand in hospice, laughter. And I've always felt that this laughter, this joy, it feels like an assertion declaring that whatever you take from me, you can even take my life. But you can't take this. This you can't have. What is this? This humanity, this defiance, this spirit, this hope, this is mine. Well, today from KQD's Snap Judgment Studios, we proudly present a story about this. We're calling it a Recipe for Survival. My name is Glenn Washington. May you too always have. And you're listening to Snap Judgment. Today's story takes us to the front lines of a war. In fact, the deadliest war for journalists in modern history. Since October 7, 2023, nearly 100 and fifty journalists have been killed in the most recent Gaza Israel conflict. Still, journalists on the ground continue to work in extreme and sometimes fatal circumstances. And sensitive listeners, please note this is a real story that takes place in a war zone and as such, it contains scenes of violence, death and destruction. But before that, before the most recent iteration of hostilities began, there were two newlywed journalists in Gaza. They had a new apartment with a rooftop garden close to the sea. And they had just welcomed a brand new baby girl into the family. These lovebirds, Shruk and Rushdie, decided to take a vacation. Snapdudgment.
- [04:05]
Shruk
October 6, 2023. Shru, Ayla, her husband Rushdie Siraj and their baby girl Dania are in Mecca. The trip was a birthday present for Rushdie, their first vacation as a family.
- [04:18]
Rushdie
Because I really wanted to go and I really really wanted to go with him.
- [04:25]
Shruk
They booked a room on the 34th floor of a fancy hotel. Floor to ceiling windows, a view of the Great Mosque and the Black Kaaba in the center. Later that day, Shru asked Rushdie if he could bring her a coffee so.
- [04:42]
Rushdie
We can drink together a cup of coffee.
- [04:45]
Shruk
A simple request for Rushdie and Shru, coffee is a love language.
- [04:50]
Rushdie
We both are coffee addictors. And the coffee that he fixes is the best coffee ever. And sometimes he says, like I say I love you when I fix you a coffee.
- [05:03]
Shruk
So he told her, what about calling.
- [05:05]
Rushdie
The reception of the hotel and you know, you can ask who for coffee for both of us. And also sweet.
- [05:12]
Shruk
Shrooq protested a little because room service, it's going to be pricey.
- [05:17]
Rushdie
He said something in Arabic. I'm just trying to put it in English. It is like it is in Arabic. It means like we do savings for this moment. So don't think about money, just order what you want.
- [05:36]
Shruk
This would be the last cup of coffee that they would enjoy together in peace. October 7, Shrukh, Rushdie and Dania were fast asleep high up in that hotel room in Mecca.
- [05:51]
Rushdie
Rushdie wake me up in the morning, I think 7am and he said, we're going back to Gaza. I was like, what is going on to Gaza? What is happening? Your family's okay, My family's okay. And they said, yes, but there will be a massive war in Gaza.
- [06:13]
Shruk
Shrug got out her phone and started scrolling. News reports said Hamas had launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
- [06:28]
Rushdie
We better just run to Gaza. Before they closed the border, both Rushdie.
- [06:33]
Shruk
And Shrug had lived through numerous conflicts and wars.
- [06:37]
Rushdie
We know that when it comes to wars and you are out of Gaza, you die every single minute because you keep scrolling down the news and it breaks you down.
- [06:53]
Shruk
They knew it was coming. Egypt would close its border crossing to Gaza and then it would be nearly impossible for them to get home.
- [07:01]
Rushdie
So we ate our breakfast and was looking for tickets just to leave immediately to Gaza.
- [07:09]
Shruk
As they're booking plane tickets, Rushdie gets a call from a co worker. He says that when Israel started bombing Gaza, he and three other journalists had gone out to film fighting that had broken out at a border crossing. One of them had been shot and killed. Two others were now missing.
- [07:26]
Rushdie
So it was really a shock, like Rushdie collapsed. They are like a family. They are like brothers for us.
- [07:37]
Shruk
Rushdie and Shrukh are journalists. More than a decade ago, Rushdie founded Ayn Media, a well known production company in Gaza.
- [07:47]
Rushdie
So Richdie was unaware what is happening around him. And I tried as much as I can just to focus. I was having Dania at that time and I went to change her diapers. And he brought me coffee from the airport. I didn't drink it and he didn't drink his coffee as well because we are not in the mood. The flight was after midnight.
- [08:19]
Shruk
From Cairo. They jump in a van toward Gaza. It's early morning, still dark, and it feels like they're the only ones going in that direction. But Shrukh and Rushdie are determined to go home.
- [08:33]
Rushdie
If something happened to your family, if one of them got injured or killed, you will never forgive yourself. So when it comes to war, you stay with the family.
- [08:47]
Shruk
They arrive at Rushdie's family's house almost at once. Rushdie picks up a camera and heads out into the street to cover the attacks. He goes alone. They've already lost three colleagues and he doesn't want to lose more. He films paramedics bringing the dead and wounded men, women and children to hospitals. He documents airstrikes. He gets drone footage of bombed out neighborhoods. And during breaks, Rushdie films himself on his phone and posts the videos to Instagram.
- [09:19]
Rushdie
The situation here is very bad. It's miserable. We talk about disaster. There is no water anymore. There is no electricity at all. Even the network and Internet was down. I had that feeling that I'm afraid that he's going outside to do the kafirj. But I wasn't able to say no for him because this is his work and also this is his duty, you know? So it feels like I'm betraying my country when it comes to say no for my husband.
- [09:55]
Shruk
And of course Shrup wants to go out too, to film and document. But they have Dania and she's still breastfeeding. So every day before he leaves, Shrukh makes Rushdie tell her exactly where he's going to be. And she calls him constantly.
- [10:12]
Rushdie
Just to check on you. How are you doing? How are you feeling? This is what we agreed on.
- [10:18]
Shruk
One day, Rushdie's out working for longer than expected. Shrup calls once, twice too many times.
- [10:27]
Rushdie
And I was like ringing and calling and he's not responding. I was like, what happened to him? Like he's responding. But then he returned with all the dust on his clothes. And then I found out that they bombed a place that was close to him and he ran to extract the bodies and the people injured under the ripples. So he left the camera and helped in extracting the bodies and the casualties from under the ripples. So he was not a journalist at that time. I'm always proud of this.
- [11:09]
Shruk
Day 16 Shrukh wakes up to Dania crying.
- [11:13]
Rushdie
She just wanted to keep doing the breastfeeding all the time. And I got annoyed because it hurts when it takes so long of doing the breastfeeding. And I'm tired. So I was talking with her this morning. And then Rushdie wakes up. And Rushdie said, okay, I will take her outside. And you, you sleep, you relax.
- [11:38]
Shruk
After a few hours, Rushdie checks back in with Shru. He needs to get ready to go out and film paramedics for the day.
- [11:45]
Rushdie
And I was like, rushdie, I'm having a bad feelings because every day they are attacking appliances. And I'm having like, I'm having negative energy about this. I was telling him this way and he was like, if I did not, who will do it?
- [12:01]
Shruk
Before he leaves, Rushdie asks his whole family to sit down and eat breakfast together.
- [12:07]
Rushdie
And he insisted on this. And this actually kept him late.
- [12:10]
Shruk
So they all sit down, all nine of them. Shrukh reaches her hand across the table to grab a piece of bread.
- [12:18]
Rushdie
Once I just hold it. We hear a fairy nearby explosion that made the table moving. You know, all of us got terrified because it's very close. And then we decided to run downstairs. Rushdie, like, he was beside me, I was holding his hand, and in the other hand I was holding Dania. And like you can say in a half of a second, he moved and stood in front of me like he gave me a shield.
- [13:02]
Shruk
She doesn't hear the rocket at all.
- [13:07]
Rushdie
At this very moment, everything went into dust. Like I was only seeing dust, only the gray. And then I started to smell the. Smell the. The weapon, the smoke of the weapon. I have Daniel on my, like carrying her. I tried to put my, you know, to feel her. And I felt like she's fine. And I never thought that they are attacking us because I hear nothing. The first thing that I heard a voice of his mom when she said, where's Roshdi? And I started to. I was feeling that there is something heavy on my legs. And then I tried to see what is that heavy thing on my leg. It was Rush day. I grabbed him from his leg and he collapsed like he's not resisting. So we carried him and moved because they are still pumping the area. The house is collapsing. They pumped us. They hit us directly with two rockets. And I was even. Not even able to Understand how we made it alive.
- [14:39]
Shruk
Rushdie's mom, dad, sister, and brother are okay. Dhanya is okay, and so is Shru. But Shru can see that Rushdie's severely injured. His skull is broken.
- [14:57]
Rushdie
We called the appliances several times, and the appliances said, I'm sorry, we cannot come because the area is very dangerous. They are not stopping, attacking the area, so we cannot take the risk and come. So we decided to carry him.
- [15:14]
Shruk
The house is crumbling around them, and they move Rushdie to the street. His breath is labored, wheezing. The emergency workers can't make it, but Shroop knows the hospital is just a few blocks away. Maybe they can carry Rushdie there themselves. So they place him into a blanket. They each grab the edges of the cloth and hoist him up and over the rubble.
- [15:44]
Rushdie
And we carried him, you know, using the blanket. So I tried my best to be focused, like, you know, because otherwise I will not forgive myself if I didn't. If I didn't did so I. I was, you know, comforting myself and saying, totally fine. He will be disabled. Disabled. Thank God. He's. He's gonna be disabled, and he will be alive. Disabled. I will. I love him all the ways, even if he's disabled. I was, you know, convincing myself with this idea, but I never imagined that he will gone.
- [16:23]
Shruk
It takes them 15 minutes to get to the hospital, but it's too late. Rushdie is dead. The same day, Shrut goes back to the house, the house that's just been bombed. She manages to dig through the debris and find a bag. It's actually her daughter's diaper bag. In it are some clothes, diapers, of course, some gold cash, her laptop, their passports. She and Rushdie had wanted to go abroad, to study for PhDs in Europe, maybe to grow the media company. In an instant, Shrug's life has shrunk down to a size she doesn't recognize. She's a widow. Her daughter is fatherless. In the days after Rushdie's killed, she looks down at her phone and thinks.
- [17:34]
Rushdie
Why he's not, you know, calling me, like he always called me all the time, like, how are you doing? How are you feeling? And till now, I can say that I cannot just look at his photos. I don't feel like, let me say I'm ready to see him. No. And also, I believe, like, if I focus, like, looking at his face, I will collapse. And I'm not allowing myself to. To collapse because I believe it's not a suitable time to grieve.
- [18:16]
Shruk
Day 30 shrugs moved in with her sisters. But then her sister's neighborhood is hit by a rocket, so they all have to flee together. An hour south to Rafa.
- [18:41]
Glenn Washington
Without her husband, without a home, where will Shoop go? How will she protect her husband's legacy? Stay tuned. Welcome back to Snap Judgment. Our story today follows real people in wartime and as such, contains violence. When we left, Shoruk's husband had been killed in an airstrike, and she and her daughter fled toward the south.
- [19:29]
Shruk
And it's here for the first time in weeks, Shruk has Internet. She's flooded with messages from sources, clients, contacts. They write how sorry they are about Rushdie. His death has been all over the news. And their messages mourn the apparent end of Ayn Media. In a span of around two weeks, two of their journalists have been killed. They've lost their founder. Surely the company can't go on.
- [20:00]
Rushdie
They are just assuming ending the murder first.
- [20:07]
Shruk
Shru's upset. She writes their clients back. We're still here.
- [20:15]
Rushdie
Because if we did not, who. Who's going to document and recode this history? And you know, it's a duty. Even if we are not doing anything for clients, for business, we have to document it for ourselves, because it is a history.
- [20:33]
Shruk
Since the invasion, Israel has restricted and controlled outside journalists access to Gaza, and 55 reporters wrote an open letter asking to be allowed inside. So the work that Ayn Media is doing in Gaza has never been more important.
- [20:49]
Rushdie
The only thing that I can do is to work and to get busy because I don't have the privilege to grieve.
- [20:57]
Shruk
The company only has one camera. It's too dangerous to get their gear from the office in the north, which is under constant attack by the Israeli army. So they rent gear and start filming. Shrug teaches herself to operate a camera. Sometimes she goes out with another producer.
- [21:19]
Rushdie
The stories that we're trying to cover is the displacement camp, basically, and how every tent has a story inside.
- [21:36]
Shruk
They interview displaced families, families that sleep on the beach in tents, tents that flood when the tide comes in. They document aid workers giving out food and clothing. They try to stay away from red zones and areas where there have been airstrikes.
- [21:56]
Rushdie
You know, we all believe that it's not only the marked areas that is just dangerous. It's everywhere.
- [22:05]
Shruk
February 9th, day 125. This is when I first reached out to Shrug. I found Rushdie's name on a list of the journalists who had been killed in Gaza. I looked him up. The first picture I saw was from Shrug's Instagram. Rushdie was snuggled with Dania in a chair looking down at her. I messaged Shruk on WhatsApp and she started sending me voice memos.
- [22:33]
Rushdie
Today is 131 day of this genocidal war. The war that feels. That feels forever. Yesterday night, myself, my daughter and I, we were able to sleep finally after an epic week of being sick. Anyways, it's very heavy. It's very heavy. Like sometimes I just feel numb regarding everything that is happening and also the pers feeding as well. And I don't want to stop it. I don't want to stop this pers feeding because let me say I. I'm sorry for this. So I don't want to stop this breastfeeding. My daughter now she's one one year and three months and I don't want to stop it. I can stop it, but I don't want to stop it. Breastfeeding is a good thing that keeps both of us close to each other. And also when it comes to breastfeeding for me as Shuruk, I don't know if I ever later will feel this feeling once again. What I mean after Rushdie.
- [24:17]
Shruk
Day 139. Dania's 15 months old. Shrug's living in a small house in Rafah with her family, her sisters and brothers and their families too.
- [24:30]
Rushdie
I sleep in one room along with 12 children and six adults. And those all of them are my relatives. All of them are women. And what I did today that I finally I got shower after almost eight days. Thanks God I was able to to take a shower. Sorry, that's my daughter. She's hugging me. Baby Mama.
- [25:09]
Shruk
One day in Rafa, Shrug decides she's going to make herself a coffee like Rishti used to.
- [25:17]
Rushdie
And once I started to fix myself.
- [25:20]
Shruk
A cup of coffee, she sends me this message as she's walking down the street.
- [25:24]
Rushdie
I remember that I was fine at that moment. But then just something that crossed my my heart at that moment saying that Solo, I'm fixing the coffee. Solo, I'm drinking it Solo. I started to sob.
- [25:46]
Shruk
Her sisters come into the kitchen and they're confused because Shrukh hasn't really cried since Rushdie died. And there she is sobbing over a cup of coffee.
- [26:01]
Rushdie
Since then, my family decided that they're gonna fix me the cup of coffee. So since that moment till now, I'm not fixing a cup of coffee at all. It's only my family. So whenever I want a coffee, I just ask them easily. And sometimes they just fix it and give it to me. I'm not ready for this. And. And I really wonder for how long I going to stand this way.
- [26:30]
Shruk
One morning I wake up to a new voice message on my phone from Shrew. She's moved again. Still in Rafa. She and her sisters found an apartment just for them.
- [26:42]
Rushdie
So the apartment that we moved for, it's. This is Dania. She's making noise. Anyways, I hope that it is a safe place. You try your best to be as safe as you can, but at least we got lucky to find an apartment.
- [27:01]
Shruk
She'll have her own bedroom, so she and Dania will have some privacy. Hey.
- [27:10]
Rushdie
So I'm whispering. I'm sorry because Dania is sleeping and it's 2am now and I cannot sleep. Yesterday they started the invasion of the western part of the rafah city.
- [27:30]
Shruk
Day 213. I get this message from Shruk. Israel has begun the invasion of Rafah, where according to Reuters, over a million Palestinians have fled, including Shrug.
- [27:43]
Rushdie
And you cannot imagine like how or where all of these displaced people were called. And really there's no place. And I cannot sleep because we are quite close to the army soldiers. We can hear the bombings all the time. And just average like. Because I've seen what happened in the past seven months when it comes to the invasion. And what does it mean to have the soldiers quite close to you? Because I'm thinking of where the hell shall I escape along with my daughter and family?
- [28:33]
Shruk
City by city, the places that Shru and Dania can find refuge have disappeared. So I keep checking in to see how they are.
- [28:42]
Rushdie
Hey, dear. Thank you for reaching out. Actually, after the invasion of Rafah, we decided to go to the middle area of the Gaza Strip, to a city.
- [28:51]
Shruk
Called Deir Al Bala. Dania and Shru are now living in a tent.
- [28:56]
Rushdie
We are coping with the current living, with living conditions, but it's all this. There's no place like home. So that's it. So this is life. On the tour.
- [29:12]
Shruk
Shuk's still working, going out every day to film and document Gazan stories. Walking for hours to find Internet to upload footage. While Shruk works, Dania stays with her sisters. They have kids her same age. Actually, Shruk says the one bright spot in all of this is that Dania spends her days playing with her cousins. At night, when Shroup comes home, the sunset calms her down. She spends her evenings with Dania, who's talking now. She just turned two. Sometimes Shruk thinks of going to the sea. She thinks of the time when the beach was free of tents. She thinks of her husband.
- [30:01]
Rushdie
We used to go to the sea. We bring our coffee with us and we just sit. Like most of the time we don't talk, we just sit. A sunset is such an invitation. Like. Like I didn't see you today and I miss you and I wanted to see you today, like and to watch this sunset together so you know, it's a symbol of love. Like I gonna invite you for a coffee in front of the sea. This is my daughter. This is Daniel. She's smiling. We're talking about her father.
- [31:09]
Glenn Washington
Rushdie was the 23rd journalist killed in this war. In November, Shorook was honored in New York by the Committee to Protect Journalists with the 2024 International Press Freedom Award. Shoruk is still living and reporting in Dhirabala. Her daughter Danya is now 2. Since the ceasefire was reached, Shrug thinks about returning home to Gaza City, but has no physical home to return to. The original score for this story was by Renzo Goriot. It was edited by Nancy Lopez and Anna Sussman. It was produced by Ashley Kleek, Regina Berriaco and Shaina Shealy. Now, after the break, we're gonna hear from a kid who's been cooking her way through the war. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Recipe for Survival episode. My name is Glenn Washington, and Snap producer Shana Shealy was home in D.C. doom scrolling on her phone when a video popped up on her Instagram feed from Gaza. And this video was so different from the videos she was used to seeing from the region that she just couldn't stop watching.
- [32:52]
Chef Renad
The video is of a kid standing on a rooftop in Gaza. She's in a T shirt and flared blue jeans, and she's grating pita bread by hand into a bowl full of crumbs. Work, Nafa, she says. Let's get started.
- [33:11]
Glenn Washington
Chef.
- [33:12]
Rushdie
Chef, I'm ready. Chef Renad.
- [33:15]
Chef Renad
Chef Renat. She has wavy brown hair, long bangs tucked behind her ears. Sometimes she wears bandanas. Her smile is so radiant, I can't not smile back at my phone. In this video, Chef instructs her audience step by step, on how to make fake cream water, cornstarch, semolina, milk powder, mix it together. You can hear surveillance drones overhead. All the while, the dish she's making, knafeh, is conventionally made with layers of melty gooey cheese and orange oily pastry threads. But Chef does not have any of those things, so she improvises. At the end of the video, she holds a round Metal tray in front of the camera topped with crispy breadcrumbs, orange from food dye. It's amazing, she says. So delicious. The video on Instagram got 370,000 likes. Chef Renaud's videos were so different from the ones I was used to seeing from Gaza. Her content wasn't about death and destruction. It was about the sweetness of life. I needed to talk to this chef, but I knew it would be tough. For one Chef Renaud is in high demand. And it was days after the January ceasefire announcement. Her family was hosting dozens of displaced people in their apartment. Why would she talk to me? So I actually reached out to Shruk, the award winning war journalist from our last story, for advice. And Shruk was like, oh yeah, I love Chef Renaud. Within minutes I got this message from the chef's older sister.
- [35:17]
Rushdie
By accident. I was calling Shrukh and she told me about this. We love her so much. Renat loves Shiruk so much. And she told me about that. She will record the interview.
- [35:45]
Chef Renad
And now Shrukh is at the chef's apartment with Renaud and her sister and a translator. I'm on speakerphone from my house in dc. Hi, I'm Renab. Hi Renad.
- [36:00]
Rushdie
Guys, we are having Renat and we are having Nurhan at the same time. I'm so lucky to have both of them around me. And each time I'm looking at Renat, I feel hungry. I don't know why. Maybe because she's a chef.
- [36:12]
Chef Renad
Soon Chef Renaud is serving Shruk cheesecake.
- [36:15]
Rushdie
Wow.
- [36:17]
Chef Renad
And then coffee.
- [36:19]
Rushdie
Remember when coffee was banned? And now we have coffee. Yes. This is halaji.
- [36:27]
Chef Renad
And these sweet cheese rolls. Delicious.
- [36:32]
Rushdie
I'm lucky to do this broadcasting. I'm eating lots of like tasty dishes.
- [36:41]
Chef Renad
Eventually Shruk and Chef Renaud sit down together.
- [36:50]
Rushdie
Okay. My name is Renat. I'm from Dar el Bala. I'm 10 years old. The next month I will be 11.
- [36:57]
Chef Renad
And what do you want people to know about you?
- [37:02]
Rushdie
That I love life a lot. And I miss my school, my friends and Gaza. As before the war.
- [37:16]
Chef Renad
10 year old Ranod should be in the sixth grade. But she hasn't been to school in over a year. Since before the war started. And a few months into those empty, unpredictable days, she and her older sister Norhan started making these cooking videos.
- [37:32]
Rushdie
It's me, everyone, it's me, Norhan. This is the person in the shadow.
- [37:37]
Chef Renad
Norhan is 25, a pharmacist.
- [37:40]
Rushdie
But because of the war, I prefer to stay at my home and decide to save my sister mental health by keeping her busy with something she loves. So it was cooking.
- [37:57]
Chef Renad
Norhan is basically Renaud's producer.
- [38:00]
Rushdie
Okay, guys, I am the one who filmed the videos, edited the videos, published the videos.
- [38:06]
Chef Renad
She writes captions for Renat like, can you tell me how many times I said the word fluffy? We make the most delicious bread in the whole world.
- [38:15]
Rushdie
And Rena just eating. She's very good at cooking, but I'm doing all the work. I don't mind be suffering for my little sister. She's my zombie. She's my. Haradi is a cotton candy. Yeah.
- [38:33]
Chef Renad
She says Renaad is her cotton candy. Chef Renaud says her content includes these three main things.
- [38:44]
Rushdie
Three things which are cooking and talking about Gaza and my smile, of course. So people loved my smile and my cooking.
- [38:54]
Chef Renad
She goes for that ASMR thing too. Scraping the top of fried bread.
- [39:03]
Rushdie
I love that sound, that crunchy sound and crispy sound of the.
- [39:07]
Chef Renad
Of the food Shruk is translating for Renat here. She jumps in every so often.
- [39:13]
Rushdie
Always prefer to eat stuff that is just a crispy from outside.
- [39:18]
Chef Renad
Renaud is the kind of chef that tastes as she goes.
- [39:23]
Rushdie
I remember I was cooking a mushroom soup and I forgot myself. I started eating the mushroom even before I cook it. I tried to taste it and then I found myself eating the entire mushroom.
- [39:36]
Chef Renad
She collects recipes online and then uses them for inspiration for her own creations. Most of her recipes are based on what she receives in aid packages, what she calls boxes that fall from the sky. From other countries. There's this video where she makes something called War Sandwich. She sautes crushed garlic with onion, pomegranate syrup and canned olives. She adds chopped meat from a can she got in an aid box. Then she wraps the fried meat in flatbread. And then she douses the entire wrap in a water and flour paste and then coats the entire sandwich in breadcrumbs. Deep fries it makes sure we hear how crunchy it is and then dunks it into tahini sauce. She promises us it's nicer than shawarma or my favorite, the war lollipop. She boils sugar in a big spoon over a gas burner. She says that after it liquefies, she pours it over toothpicks. It cools into these brown, hard globs. Not the most appealing. And she knows it. At the end of the video, she says the shapes are as frightening as bombs. In every one of her videos, Chef Renaud seems so satisfied with her creations, overjoyed at what she's cooked up. But she says that eating food that comes as aid doesn't feel good. She tells us there was this one time she really missed eating cheese. Like she wanted cheese so bad that she and her sister got up really early on a cold, windy morning. And they got seats on a donkey cart and settled in for a four hour journey to get to a market in Khan Yunis.
- [41:47]
Rushdie
I was afraid of not having or getting the cheese because I like I would be very desperate and disappointment for not having it.
- [41:58]
Chef Renad
She said the trip was miserable.
- [42:01]
Rushdie
The donkey was really tired over walking in broken streets and the.
- [42:10]
Chef Renad
And when she got to Khan Younis, she could barely recognize the city. She saw sewage everywhere. The streets were so packed with tents, it was hard to maneuver the donkey cart between them. The cheese she was looking for, it's a special kind of cheddar called Greatest. And she actually found it in the market.
- [42:37]
Rushdie
It was never an easy journey to go and look for cheese around. And I found it. I felt like when I found it, I felt like it's not a cheese, the cheese, it's a treasure that I found. Chef finds a cheese. It feels like a patient finds a medicine. This is according to her net. So she felt very happy.
- [43:16]
Chef Renad
She came home and used the cheese in a noodle recipe with canned mushrooms. Chef seems pretty sure that the real reason people watch her videos is her smile.
- [43:29]
Rushdie
And I think that my smile is the biggest factor for my being famous.
- [43:36]
Chef Renad
It is a very good smile, a constant in her videos. When Chef Renaud's sister Norhan started posting her cooking videos, she got message after message about Renaud's smile. And she kept seeing this word, contagious.
- [43:53]
Rushdie
Contagious. I didn't know the meaning of this word, but when I search about it, it means like when the people see Renat's smile, she also smile. So it was. It is a kind of inviction. Yes.
- [44:14]
Chef Renad
Do you ever feel like it's hard to keep the smile on? All the time.
- [44:22]
Rushdie
For sure. I'm trying to be smiling all the time that I hide behind this smile. A lot of sadness over martyred people and my friends who have passed away during this war and I can't see them anymore. And of course my school has stopped. I always try to smile in order to lighten the suffering inside.
- [44:52]
Chef Renad
Behind her videos, there were times Renaud couldn't smile this past year. Times when she was hungry and had no food. And times when she had food but couldn't bring herself to cook it.
- [45:11]
Rushdie
I felt shy to share anything about Food at a time that my people are still starving.
- [45:18]
Chef Renad
The only thing that gets her posting again is when one of her experiments works. Like when she managed to get fluffy pancakes without eggs or milk.
- [45:33]
Rushdie
To that moment, I felt, this is such an award. Okay, let's guys, let's go to the to proof to see the location of the kitchen. The small kitchen of Renat. Yallah. Yeah, yeah, let's go. Yallah. Yallah. Yeah, let's go.
- [45:50]
Chef Renad
Shruk walks up three flights of stairs with Chef Renaud and Norhan to the rooftop kitchen.
- [45:55]
Rushdie
Wow, it's sunny today. Yeah.
- [45:59]
Chef Renad
They get to the roof, and Renaud sets up.
- [46:04]
Rushdie
So what do we have here? Are you gonna cook something for us?
- [46:14]
Chef Renad
She's making salad. It's the first dish Chef Renaud ever made, one of her favorites.
- [46:19]
Rushdie
So you added the pepper and the salad. Now you're gonna hit it. You're gonna smash it. Yeah. So she is mixing the tomato with the pepper. Try to make it more juicy.
- [46:33]
Chef Renad
She had spices and lemon juice.
- [46:35]
Rushdie
Lots of lemon. Wow. Yeah.
- [46:38]
Chef Renad
And finally she mixes it all together. Shruk leans in for a taste.
- [46:47]
Rushdie
It's very yummy. Spicy. Time to clean this mess. We're gonna miss you, Shiru. We're gonna miss you too, guys. It was a lovely day with you. Yalla is sunset now.
- [47:17]
Chef Renad
Shruk leaves their apartment with a full stomach and heads back home from a day of work, back to her daughter Dania.
- [47:50]
Glenn Washington
You can find Chef Renee Renadfromgaza on YouTube, Instagram, or wherever you get your social media. Many thanks to Chef Renaud and her sister Norhan Attalla and Ansam Ismail Kalub, who helped with this translation. Shahrukh recorded the audio in Gaza. Another special thanks to the Committee to protect journalists for sharing their extensive reporting from the Gaza Strip. The story was edited by Nancy Lopez. It was produced by Shayna Shealy. Now, if you missed even a moment, know that Snap ventures into places others dare not tread. The Snap Judgment podcast awaits your ears each and every week. And Snap recently released the brand new podcast series Fire Escape. Every fire brings Amika Mota closer to reclaiming the world she lost. Fire Escape is available wherever you get your podcast. Snap is on the Instagrammer. KQD in San Francisco is where we hide our secrets. Snap is brought to you by the team that always has. Just one more question, except, of course, for the uber producer, Mr. Mark Ristich. Your Honor, no further questions. Now there's Nancy Lopez, Pat, Mercedes Miller, Anna Sussman, Renzo Goriot, John Facil, Shayna Shealy, Teo Decat, Flo Wiley, Bo Walsh, Marissa Dodge, David Exame, Regina Berriago.
- [49:36]
Rushdie
And.
- [49:36]
Glenn Washington
Know that this is not the news. No way is this news. In fact, you could plant a grove of lodgepole pine, giant sequoia, the eucalyptus coast live oak, and when these mighty trees grow into a forest, when that forest burns, shake your head, secure in the knowledge that each and every tree needs this blaze in order to release their seeds and you would still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is BRX.