SimplyLabyrinthine

Syria became home to the refugees who fled the armies of Ibrahim Basha in 1839 Syria became home to the Circassian refugees in 1860 Syria became home to the Armenian refugees in 1914 Syria became home to the Palestinian refugees in 1948 Syria became home once again to Palestinian refugees in 1967 Syria became home to the refugees from Kuwait in 1990 Syria became home to refugees from Lebanon in 1996 Syria became home to the refugees from Iraq in 2003 Syria became home to the refugees from Lebanon in 2006 It will be written in the history books and generations will remember, that Syria never closed it’s borders for those who fled their homes seeking safety and refuge. Syria has never asked any Arab for a visa to enter it’s lands whether it was a visit or permanent stay. In Syria not a single tent was put up on the borders to accommodate for refugees across the years, houses were opened, streets were vacated and cities were renamed to allow for refugees to feel at home. Let it be written in the history books and let the generations remember, that when a Syrian needed help and refuge; borders were closed and the world looked away.

Why is it that people are willing to spend $20 on a bowl of pasta with sauce that they might actually be able to replicate pretty faithfully at home, yet they balk at the notion of a white-tablecloth Thai restaurant, or a tacos that cost more than $3 each? Even in a city as “cosmopolitan” as New York, restaurant openings like Tamarind Tribeca (Indian) and Lotus of Siam (Thai) always seem to elicit this knee-jerk reaction from some diners who have decided that certain countries produce food that belongs in the “cheap eats” category—and it’s not allowed out. (Side note: How often do magazine lists of “cheap eats” double as rundowns of outer-borough ethnic foods?)Yelp, Chowhound, and other restaurant sites are littered with comments like, “$5 for dumplings?? I’ll go to Flushing, thanks!” or “When I was backpacking in India this dish cost like five cents, only an idiot would pay that much!” Yet you never see complaints about the prices at Western restaurants framed in these terms, because it’s ingrained in people’s heads that these foods are somehow “worth” more. If we’re talking foie gras or chateaubriand, fair enough. But be real: You know damn well that rigatoni sorrentino is no more expensive to produce than a plate of duck laab, so to decry a pricey version as a ripoff is disingenuous. This question of perceived value is becoming increasingly troublesome as more non-native (read: white) chefs take on “ethnic” cuisines, and suddenly it’s okay to charge $14 for shu mai because hey, the chef is ELEVATING the cuisine.