Fresh Take: Food And Water Access Under Attack

What were the clearly marked World Central Kitchen vans full of as they delivered food in the southern Gazan city of Deir al-Balah this week, before the horrific killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers? Rice, flour, legumes. Also among the supplies: Dates. To celebrate Ramadan. To bring a brief moment of tradition to a region facing catastrophic loss.

World Central Kitchen has delivered 43 million meals to Palestinians facing starvation, as access to food and water have been under attack. People like chef José Andrés’ volunteers have been risking it all to bring humanity to an inhumane crisis. The deadly attack this week is far from the first time food has been weaponized in Palestine, and while World Central Kitchen is calling for an independent commission to investigate the killings, millions are waiting to see if this shocking loss will create change.

— Chloe Sorvino, Staff Writer

Related Stories

• Russia Widens Attack On Food With Bombing Of Train Bound For José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen
• José Andrés Has Some Things To Get Off His Chest As World Central Kitchen Prepares For A Brutal Ukraine Winter
• Finding Moments Of Joy And Inspiration In The World Central Kitchen Cookbook
• Water Emerges As Weapon Of War In Ukraine And Beyond

Order my book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, out now from Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.

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Chloe Sorvino leads coverage of food and agriculture as a staff writer on the enterprise team at Forbes. Her book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, published on December 6, 2022, with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Her nearly nine years of reporting at Forbes has brought her to In-N-Out Burger’s secret test kitchen, drought-ridden farms in California’s Central Valley, burnt-out national forests logged by a timber billionaire, a century-old slaughterhouse in Omaha and even a chocolate croissant factory designed like a medieval castle in northern France.