Inside a Gaza City culinary academy that has been bombed and rebuilt twice during the war, students chop, whisk, and plate dishes with quiet determination, committed to mastering their craft despite the hardships that surround them.At Smile Kitchen Culinary Academy, men and women receive training that brings a semblance of normal life in the otherwise devastated Palestinian territory, as well as valuable skills in an economy battered by years of war.Huda Zamo, 34, told AFP she owned an online clothing business before the war, but decided to launch her own food services after being displaced by the war and seeing people's need for food."When the war came, everything was destroyed. We went through famine and displacement," she said, adding she learned about the academy via Facebook and figured the classes would be good for her to develop her new business.
According to the UN, at least 1.6 million of Gaza's 2.1 million residents are facing high levels of acute food insecurity mainly due to Israeli restrictions on goods entering the territory.Ahmed Abu Taha, the school's director, said keeping the school open in Gaza required a lot of logistics one would not expect elsewhere."Smile Kitchen Academy was established in 2016 and was bombed twice (by Israel) in 2021 and 2023," Abu Taha told AFP.After the latest bombing at the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the academy closed for three years, until it finally reopened earlier this year, with new equipment."There is strong engagement from students in the Gaza Strip under these difficult circumstances," Abu Taha said, adding that some students hope to use their new skillsets in more promising markets."Students also aim to obtain an international certificate from the World Chefs organisation in Paris, which qualifies them to work in tourism establishments outside Gaza."
