Imad Alarnab, 45, left his wife and kids behind in Syria to seek asylum in the UK and found himself cooking for up to 400 people at a time at a Calais camp known as The Jungle
Food can bring people comfort in the darkest times, and for Imad Alarnab, that time came when he was stranded as a refugee in Calais for more than two months.
A hotplate had been donated, people collected leftovers from supermarkets and, having been a successful chef back in Damascus â with three restaurants, and a string of cafes and juice bars â Imad did what he does best… he cooked.
Night after night, he cooked.
Imad, 45, would feed as many as 400 people at a time. He says: “It was just something I felt like I needed to do, because you get to make a lot of people happy. Especially at that time, they needed something to be happy about.”