Feasting and starving: Eating during Ramadan
By Jessica Lenamond
Ramadan — Islam’s holy month during which Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to sunset — revolves around the lack of. Lack of food. Lack of coffee. Lack of smoking. Lack of sex. Yet the month-long fast when followers reflect on their faith is sustained by feasts at night, a suhoor (breakfast) eaten in the pitch black, and lots of dates.
The daily ritual of breaking fast is an art form, craftily developed over a thousand years ago by prophet Muhammad. First eat dates for energy and to restore blood sugar after 14 hours of dry mouth, dizzy spells and an aching stomach. Then in glory Iftar (dinner) arrives releasing the devoted to savor a home-cooked meal. Spices and hot steam rolling from platters of crispy rice are briefly welcomed back into the home before final prayers and setting alarm clocks for before sunrise.
April 13, 2021 marked the first day of Ramadan in the United States. Because Ramadan follows a lunar calendar, the dates shift each year, also meaning that ritual prayer times vary by a few minutes each day, says Dede Almahrooq, a 23-year-old Jordanian who lives in Texas. To avoid confusion, many Muslims use apps that track prayer times and fasting.
The physical struggles of Ramadan are transcended by sharing the experience with family and friends, and this year, vaccinations allow Muslims to join loved ones for dinner in homes again. But the second Ramadan during COVID-19 means mosques that normally fill for prayers and Iftar every day still remain widely shut in Texas.
For Deena Ismail, a human biology senior at the University of Texas at Austin, mornings during Ramadan begin around 5:15 a.m. each day with her alarm clock blasting. Once awake, she immediately drinks water from a 64-ounce bottle and rises to make a small suhoor before her first prayer, Fajr, that starts the day’s 14-hour fast without a drop of water or bite of food.
“At the beginning of the month, everybody’s really motivated,” Ismail says. “You have your eggs and protein. But by the end of the month, or even halfway through, you kind of lose motivation to wake up and make a fancy meal.”
When she doesn’t want to cook breakfast, Ismail eats cereal with nuts and no sugar to avoid crashing later in the day. After Fajr around 5:40 a.m., Ismail sleeps again and eventually wakes up around 11 a.m. to start her day of classes, work and prayers.
Other Muslims prefer to not wake up for breakfast at all. Near Dallas, Jude Amr works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for Brinks, a security company, and would rather sleep longer than wake up for suhoor.
The first few days of Ramadan are the hardest, Amr says, because the lack of food drains you and is made worse by the transition away from eating, drinking or smoking anytime the body or brain signals the want.
“Especially if you’re working, it makes you tired,” Amr says. “It’s like one of the worst things because you can’t wake up and have your coffee. That hurts.”
What’s worse than no coffee is no liquids at all. Amr says the first hour of being awake is difficult, because her first reaction is thirst. Ismail says that not drinking water is the hardest part of Ramadan and rather than chugging water at the last minute, she avoids dehydration by gradually sipping water as long as she’s awake between sunset and sunrise.
“The hunger comes and goes and you’ll forget about it after a while,” Ismail says, “but if you’re thirsty the whole day, your head hurts, your throat’s dry and you feel awful.”
Because Muslims don’t drink alcohol, many use nicotine by vaping or smoking tobacco from a hookah, Almahrooq says. Abstaining from nicotine during Ramadan doesn’t affect hunger, but mood swings are rampant.
“I vape and that’s the hardest,” Amr says. “Especially guys who are addicted to nicotine, they get pissy throughout the day, like really pissy. Some people would rather stay home than even go to work.”
After Fajr, Muslims pray two more times in the afternoon, and are finally met with Maghrib, the prayer after sunset that allows the fast to pause for six to eight hours.
“The hardest hours are the last two to three, because you’re just waiting,” Amr says. “It’s like, ‘Oh my God. Come on, come on, come on!’”
Fasting is broken with water and sweet dates that provide a quick source of nutrients and energy to help avoid overeating when the real feast, Iftar, arrives.
Ismail is a sweets enthusiast, and her favorite Ramadan dishes are her mom’s desserts. Qatayef are only made during the holy month and are small, fluffy pancakes folded in half and stuffed with sweet cheese or a walnut and sugar mixture. After frying, they’re drenched with sugar syrup.
Knafeh can be made anytime and is another beloved dessert. It’s crunchy shredded filo dough crust envelops the gooey sweet cheese melted inside. Once perfectly golden in the frying pan or oven, it’s covered with chopped pistachios and Attar, a decadent syrup.
Other than sweets, Muslims can eat anything they want for dinner, and some try to stay away from salty and fatty foods that make them even thirstier the next day. A common appetizer each Arabic household makes with their own spin is the samboosa, a fried pie filled with meats or cheeses. Amr says samboosas are her favorite Iftar meal because you can eat many of them.
Despite Ramadan’s physical and mental challenges, many Muslims look forward to the holy month because enduring it with family and friends brings unity. Traditionally the mother of the household is responsible for most of the cooking, but family members provide help where they can when groups join for Iftar. After dinner, the friends and family pray Isha together. Normally many would then go to the mosque for Taraweeh, meditational prayer, but now mosques have very limited capacity.
Muslims are rewarded for their month of intermittent fasting with a three-day celebration, Eid al-Fitr. The first day could be compared to Christianity’s Christmas morning, Amr says, because the whole family eats breakfast together, exchanges gifts, wears their best clothes, takes photos together and the celebrations go on and on. But one rule is crucial: you must have coffee and chocolate.
“While you’re fasting, it’s really easy to remember God. You’re more mindful, because you’re aware of your hunger,” Ismail says. “Because even for me, how religious I am will vary throughout the year. So wherever I am in my relationship with God, I always end the month better than before.”
Knafeh Recipe from Shireen Ismail’s Cookbook
Ingredients:
1 lb. Katif dough (shredded filo dough)
1 package sweet cheese (Syrian or ricotta)
1–1 ½ cups butter
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp. Mazaher (orange blossom water)
¼ cup pine nuts
1 tsp. Knafeh coloring (optional)
¼ cup pistachios, chopped (optional)
2 cups thin Attar (see recipe below)
Instructions:
- Mix cheese, sugar and Mazaher together.
- Chop or rip knafeh dough into small shreds. Mix with 1 ¾ cups melted butter over low heat for 15 minutes, or until dough absorbs all the butter.
- Mix ¼ cup butter, knafeh coloring and spread in a 17” x 12” pan. Sprinkle pine nuts evenly.
- Spread ⅔ of dough in pan over nuts and press well. Spread cheese mixture over dough evenly. Cover with remaining dough. Press well.
- Bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Place on lower rack.
- Add thin Attar. Flip tray over to another tray of the same size. Return to oven and bake for 10 more minutes.
- Garnish with pistachios. Serve hot.
Thin Attar Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Mazaher (optional)
Instructions:
- Mix sugar and water and bring to boil.
- Add lemon juice and boil for 7 more minutes.
- When cool, add orange blossom water.
For more information:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/04/19/recipes-for-ramadan/
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/10-things-know-about-ramadan-and-fasting
