Fars, the Falafel Chef of Ritsona

Fars holds his famous double falafel sandwich, only made for the bravest and hungriest of customers.

The entrance of Ritsona aligns with the main strip. There is a wide road and on both sides of it, residents have set up shops and businesses. Among them is the falafel restaurant. Around 1 PM, when summer heat sends people running for shade, you can find groups of Lighthouse Relief volunteers, other NGO workers, and Ritsona residents crowded into the booths patiently awaiting their meals. Among them is Fars Ramadan, the owner and cook of the falafel stand, taking orders in English, Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish. 

Fars stands outside the entrance to his falafel shop.

Fars explains, “I don’t want to do this to get rich, but to help people. Freedom is the best thing. I just want to be able to work and not worry about money...When there is no freedom, you die a thousand times a day."

The falafel restaurant has been running for 9 months now, with Fars finding his own recipe after teaching himself to cook. The kitchen includes all that is necessary for a delicious meal that his customers are always quick to consume, “regardless of their mood, or where they come from." However, Fars admits there was a time the camp had little food for several months; he says, “I couldn’t walk I was so hungry."

But that has since changed, and Fars’ restaurant is a part of Ritsona that all are thankful for.

Fars is proud to see how far it’s come. His past home in Kurdistan has a tradition of naming shops after the town. “Whatever country accepts me, I’ll name my restaurant after it."