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10 YEARS #2 | Aleppo Sandwich Pt 2 (Update)

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Sep 21, 2020

10 YEARS #2 | Aleppo Sandwich Pt 2 (Update)

In honor of our 10th anniversary we’re re-releasing three all-time favorite episodes, selected by listeners, each with a brand new update. "Searching For The Aleppo Sandwich" is a two part story. Make sure you listen to part one first. And you can read creator and host Dan Pashman's reflections on the past 10 years, and news about what's to come, here. On Saturday night, September 26 at 9pm Eastern / 6pm Pacific, join us for our 10th Anniversary Party on Instagram Live with special guests Carla Hall and Sohla El-Waylly. We're also raising money for Feeding America. Follow Dan on Instagram so you don’t miss the party.

Shadi Martini (top) was born and raised in Aleppo, Syria. He was forced to leave his home city in 2012, but he never forgot his favorite sandwich shop there.

"It's a magnificent sandwich," he says of that sandwich, which is made with sheep brain. But it's not just about the food. "It’s being [in Aleppo], eating it there, and talking to the people that makes it more delicious."

As we learned in part one, that shop in Aleppo that Shadi loves so much is called Serjieh. And it's famous for its delicious sandwiches in a city where there is no shortage of amazing food.

Shadi loved Serjieh partly because of the food and the people. But he also loved that restaurant because it played a role in his own transformation — from a wealthy businessman running a hospital to a guy risking his life to get medical care for demonstrators who’d been beaten by Syria's secret police.

"We established some secret facilities…gave them medical supplies," he recalls. "No one knew about it until 2012, when we were discovered."

But after Shadi fled Aleppo, he wasn't able to contact anyone there. So he doesn't know if Serjieh survived the war.

Today on The Sporkful we'll find out what happened to that beloved restaurant and its owners during the five years of intense fighting in Aleppo. And we'll learn how being forced to leave Aleppo — possibly forever — has changed Shadi's life and that of his family. "I lost everything," he says. "I lost the ability to go back to my home."

At the end of the episode, we have a brand new update about what's happened since we first aired this story in 2017.

Interstitial music in this episode from Black Label Music:

- "Minimaliminal" by Jack Ventimiglia

- "Brain Wreck" by Bijou Basil

- "Private Detective" by Cullen Fitzpatrick

- "Steady" by Cullen Fitzpatrick

- "Feel Real Good" by Will Van De Crommert

- "Midnight Grind" by Cullen Fitzpatrick

- "Narwhal" by Casey Hjelmberg

- "Can't Bring Me Down" by Jack Ventimiglia

Photos courtesy of Dalia Mortada and Shadi Martini.

 

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