Raif Rashed, a New York City chef and survivor of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, opened a restaurant named Taboonia in Chelsea as part of his healing journey. Drawing from his Israeli-Druze heritage, Rashed focuses on serving authentic Druze food made from scratch. The trauma from the attack lingered as he struggled with survivor's guilt, having witnessed horrific events at the Nova music festival. Taboonia aims to connect people through food while Rashed seeks personal healing from the profound loss he experienced that day.
"I lost many friends that day," said Rashed, who refers to Oct. 7 as his "second birthday," considering the life-altering impact the terror attack had on him.
"[Taboonia] is part of my journey, to heal myself. I want to make connections between people, with good, healthy food."
Rashed talked about seeing people being lynched, rockets flooding the skies, ducking behind cars and under tanks to escape the barrage of bullets.
"I let the people there down," he said. "I wanted to go back, I wanted to help them. But I can't, I don't know what to do."
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