食料難のシリア、キノコが肉の代用品に…避難民キャンプで栽培

【ハーレムＡＦＰ＝時事】シリア北部の避難民キャンプで、ナスララさん（43）は湿った干し草を入れた袋の中にキノコの胞子をまいた。うまく育てば、家族を養える。「キノコは肉の代用品の定番だ。肉はとても高価だから」（写真シリア北西部イドリブ県の町ハーレムにある避難民キャンプで、暗い部屋の中で育てたキノコを収穫するナスララさんと息子のサイード君）
　ナスララさんは３人の子の父親だ。中部ハマ県の町カラートアルマディクで地方公務員として働いていたが、今年に入って政府軍の空爆が激化したため、トルコ国境に近い同国北部へと避難を余儀なくされた。
　北西部イドリブ県の町ハーレムに設けられた避難民キャンプに身を寄せたものの、仕事はほとんどない。妻子を養うため、ナスララさんはキノコを栽培することにした。
　実はナスララさんは８年前に内戦が始まってから、ハマ県の自宅で「家族で食べる分と、友人たちへのおすそ分け」としてキノコを育てていた。今は「自分たちで食べる分と、売って生活の足しにする分を少し」栽培している。
　栽培方法はこうだ。たき火で沸騰させた湯で煮て殺菌した干し草をぬれたまま袋の中に入れ、５～１０グラムのキノコの胞子をまく。これを何層も重ねたら袋の口をしっかり縛り、暗く暖かい部屋に２０日間ほど放置する。袋の色が白くなったら少し明るい部屋に移し、袋を開けて、胞子が発芽するまで定期的に霧吹きで水をかけ、湿らせ続ける。
　ナスララさんによると、避難民キャンプではキノコ栽培を始める人が増えつつある。
　シリアでは、約６５０万人が食料不足か栄養不足に陥っている。国連世界食糧計画（ＷＦＰ）は、こうした人々の多くは内戦で自宅を追われ避難生活を送っていると指摘している。
　ナスララさんの家でキノコを買った女性（６５）は、自宅に帰って早速息子や孫たちのために調理しながら「本音を言えば、鶏肉や赤身肉のほうがいい。でも、高すぎて買えない」とこぼした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/27-08:44）

In a camp for the displaced in northern Syria, Nasrallah scatters mushroom spores into a bag of wet hay, hoping they will sprout and feed his family.
Mushrooms have become the main alternative to meat, as it's so expensive, says the 43-year-old.
After the civil war erupted in Syria eight years ago, Nasrallah started growing the fungi in his home province of Hama.
We'd eat some, give some away to friends, explains the father of three, who used to work for the local council in the town of Qalaat al-Madiq.
But earlier this year, increased regime bombardment on the Hama region forced his family to flee north towards the Turkish border.
They found refuge in a camp in the town of Haarem in the northwestern province of Idlib, but jobs there are scarce.
With money tight to support his wife and children, he planted some mushrooms.
We eat some and we sell a little to provide for ourselves, he says.
Before planting the fungi, Nasrallah sterilises hay by stirring it in boiling water over a wood fire.
He then layers the wet straw into a bag, sprinkling five to ten grammes of mushroom spores between each coating.
Sealing the bag with a tight knot, he lugs it into a dark, warm room and leaves it for around 20 days.
Once the bag has turned white, he transfers it to a slightly brighter room, opens it up, and mists the top regularly until mushrooms sprout out.
Not many people grow mushrooms, though people -- especially in camps -- are increasingly turning to them, he says.
- 'Can't afford them' -
Mushrooms are commonly viewed as an alternative to meat in dishes, although they are different in nutritional value. They contain far less protein, but more minerals and vitamins.
Syrians in other parts of the country have also grown them during the war, most notably in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta when it was under a five-year government siege.
Around 6.5 million people in Syria are food insecure, or lack access to sufficient nutritious food.
Many of them have been displaced from their homes by the conflict, the World Food Programme says.
Today, Nasrallah buys a kilo of spores from Turkey for the equivalent of $10, hoping they will generate 20 kilos of food.
But he spreads out his yield, picking no more than five kilos a week.
Each kilo sells for a little under the equivalent of $3, far less than the average $13 per kilo for meat.
Inside the brighter cultivation room, his nine-year-old son, Saeed, watches as Nasrallah carves off a huge sprout of creamy oyster mushrooms from a sack.
In the street outside, 65-year-old Umm Khaled takes a quick look at the merchandise and picks it up for a few bank notes.
Inside her modest mudbrick home, she chops the mushrooms up and cooks them over a camping stove with some onions and ghee.
To be honest, chicken and meat are better, but we can't afford them, says the elderly woman, who cooks for her son and grandchildren.
Gathering around the dishes, she and her family rip up flat bread and dip it into the vegetables instead.