Syrian refugees grapple with dietary needs and high food prices

As Syrian refugee families settle into new lives in Nova Scotia, they are grappling with how to fulfil traditional dietary requirements while facinghigh Canadian food prices on limited budgets.

As a trained pharmacist, Marwan Al Ali knows the benefits of a balanced diet, particularly for his four children. But he now finds it a challenge to fill their lunchboxes with fresh food they are used to.

• Syrian refugees flock to Halifax food bank to make ends meet
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Syrians typically eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, but those can be expensive at the grocery store andnot easy to come across atthe Halifax food bank where Al Ali heads twice a month.

"When we came we would put one kilogram of tomatoes in our salad for six persons,"said Al Ali, who fled Syriawith his family and eventually settled in Halifax. "But it is too expensive, so we now put two tomatoes instead."

Asking for food is not something he's used toand he says the family only takes from the food bank what "we absolutely need."

Reading labels

This is not the only difficultySyrian refugeesface. Muslim tradition dictates that only animalsslaughtered by hand in a humane way and blessedcan be eaten, a traditionknown as halal, which isArabic for permissible.

While there are stores that sell such meat in Halifax, it's expensive.

Another challenge at the grocery store and food bank is reading the ingredients with only limited English. Al Ali hopes to quicklylearnto decode the labels, and alsoneeds help to understandwhat kind of food is suitable for his family'shealth and religious needs.

"We are OK, but it is difficult for people who have diabetes and allergies and they really need clear translations and explanations,"said Al Ali."Better from an Arabic-speaking person, saying'this has sugar, this is bad for your cholesterol.'"

60 per cent of clientele

Syrians now make up to 60 per cent ofclients at some food banks. Dennis Peters, who volunteers atthe Halifax West Ecumenical Food Bank, uses pictures to communicate.

"One of our volunteers devised this, got these pictures made up of a cow and a pig and a chicken and all that," Peters said. "We lay that on a table out front, just outside these doors. When they come in, they'll point to one of the animals and they'll say 'yes or no.'"

For Nick Jennery, executive director of Feed Nova Scotia, the big challenge right now is not even language or dietary requirements but the need for more food donations.

"We are doing an outreach to farmers and all the regular donors that we do and we're hoping that things like the farmer tax credit that was announced in the budget will provide some additional incentive for fresh fruit and vegetable donations," Jennery said.

He has also put a call out to students atlocal universities for more Arabic-speakingvolunteers.

• Parker Street food bank seeks volunteers who can speak Arabic

Al Ali, like many other refugees, has just started learning English. He hopes the languagebarrier will soon disappear.

Although navigating around the dietary requirements is not easy, he said it is a minor difficulty compared tofleeing bombing in Aleppo and hitchhiking to Turkey for almost four days.

AlAli'sfamily is grateful for all the support.

"I want to tell, that the Canadian people and the Canadian government are already doing so much to make our settlement easier, very nice and kind people," he said.