Ramadan: the culinary delights spread across three continents

“The history of this food is that of the Middle East. Dishes carry the triumphs and glories, the defeats, the loves and sorrows of the past,” writes Claudia Roden in her The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. Food and traditions of the Middle East and North African cultures are very prosperous. And the holy month of Ramadan becomes an ideal time to focus and notice the reassuring depths of these regions and the richness of their cuisine. Aside from fasting and gastronomic traditions, this month attracts attention to spiritual acts, sharing, strengthening family and friendship ties. Muslims are urged to share meals with their loved ones and reach out to those who are in need.

While patterns of food traditions differ in every geography, that of the Eastern Mediterranean and North African people is usually considered to be appealing for a majority of people. The food of this region combines a style of cooking that is characterised by fresh and natural ingredients and distinctive techniques to create the tastiest dishes. These then come together in large gatherings around meticulously prepared, heart-warming table settings that are subject to deep conversations. Those are tables of fragrant aromas of blossoms, authentic spices, fresh herbs, refreshing mezes and sweet delights. In other words, it is much more than an exotic categorisation of kebab-land.

In fact, there is something unique about it. The dishes are as healthy to eat as they are delicious.

Speaking to TRT World, Priscilla Mary Isin, a prominent writer and food historian based in Istanbul, admits what comes to her mind initially is the wide variety of vegetable dishes, both hot and cold. “Instead of vegetables playing second fiddle to meat as in Western European cuisines, they are treated as flavours in their own right. In the Middle East excellent meals can be prepared with very little meat or none at all.” She thinks this is not only healthier but better for the environment, explaining: “Since intensive animal husbandry to supply the enormous demand for beef in the Western world means that cattle are treated with antibiotics regularly and this is washed into the soil and water supply.” 

This is a time for deep spirituality and good doings where Muslims all around the world show patience and gratitude by quieting their hearts and minds from sunrise to sunset. Yet one can surely not assume that this is what it is all about. At least, not those that have at least once been present in a Muslim country during Ramadan. A significant portion of the culinary culture which has developed around Ramadan surely includes a ceremony-like preparation before it arrives.

The stories and memories

Omar Baban, an Istanbul based interior decorator who also has roots from Lebanon, recalls that period as his favourite. “We would welcome Ramadan even more enthusiastically in the Middle East and decorate our homes with more care and excitement. We used special tablecloths, napkins, plates, bowls, glasses for Ramadan.” Resembling medieval literature such as One Thousand and One Nights, he describes their home atmosphere during this period thus: “The lanterns and candles, as well as oil lamps in the shape of the crescent and star illuminated everywhere. We used dates and palm branches instead of fresh flowers on the table.” The stories and memories of this period are always entertaining and colourful.

One cannot deny the culinary experiences that remind us of a part of Ramadan. There are a couple of recipes and common practices that are associated with it. As Mary Isin explains: “Breaking fast with dates, a favourite food of the Prophet Muhammed, is common practice. Meals are structured differently, beginning with several small entrées such as cheese, and often soup, followed by other hot dishes. The pre-dawn meal consists of simple light dishes.” As most Turkish people would already be familiar with, Isin explains Ramadan meals are also always accompanied by a crusty circular loaf of leavened bread called Ramazan pidesi sprinkled with Nigella seeds. The crown of Ramadan food surely belongs to this special type of bread because it only comes out during this period.

Culinary traditions on religious occasions vary from country to country of course. Isin says she is familiar with those in Turkey. During this month, desserts with sherbet (sweet syrup) or fragrant aromas such as the rose flavoured dessert of güllaç are rather more appreciated. “In Turkey baklava and güllaç, a layered pudding made of starch wafers soaked in sweet milk, are particularly associated with Ramadan. Baklava is also eaten throughout the year, but it is rare to eat güllaç at any other time.” She explains sweets are also closely associated with Eid al Fitr at the end of Ramadan that it is called the ‘Sugar Holiday’. “Sweets symbolise good-will, good fortune and happiness, so they are a part of religious celebrations and joyful occasions like weddings.”

A sweet dessert with syrup is made at least once during Ramadan, even if the weather is hot and it may be considered heavy. In the last few years, the holy month has coincided with the longer days of hot months, making it more difficult for the observers. Hot months shall bring lighter food alternatives too, and desserts are not the only way to enjoy the aromatic delights that nature has to offer in these lands. Orange for example has a long history in many Mediterranean countries. Yet, a secret of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines remain rather unknown: orange blossom water. It is a byproduct of distilling fragrant orange blossoms of the orange tree and has a long tradition in Middle Eastern cuisine that continues to this day. It is used in syrups, basboosa, sponges and even baklavas. Or it simply flavours some dishes such as rice or fresh salads as well as cold drinks to create refreshments.  The perfumed aroma is intense and it is no wonder why it is so popular.

Middle Eastern food evokes the idea of spirituality, in holy references or as part of religious celebrations, like Eid al Fitr at the end of Ramadan. Iisn explains this as such: “In Islam sweet foods have traditionally had a spiritual aspect, symbolising God’s blessings to mankind and human love of God.”  The 13th-century Islamic mystic Rumi frequently uses helva, a word of Arabic origin meaning any sweet, as a metaphor for such religious concepts. “This idea probably originates in the sweet manna sent as a gift from heaven by God that is mentioned in the Bible and the Koran. In Turkey, semolina helva and doughnuts in syrup are served to mourners at funerals and even to passers-by on the street outside the mosque where the funeral has taken place because these sweet foods express good wishes for the soul of the dead person.”

A healthier diet

The tradition of Middle Eastern hospitality and food culture exemplifies power to promote bonding too. This portrays itself in its cuisine, flavours, and even table settings. “Coming together over food is universal of course. But in the Middle East even a chance visitor is always invited to the table if the family is eating,” Isin says. She continues to say the idea that people like to be on their own is very foreign to Middle Eastern culture. “So often I have heard British people say that bereaved people would prefer to be left alone to grieve and hesitate to visit them. I cannot disagree more. In so many other cultures relatives, friends and neighbours visit the home of the bereaved family, take them food so they do not have to cook, show sympathy, listen to the bereaved talking about their lost loved ones and their feelings of grief, and provide companionship and sympathy. This is so important.”

But what does Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food culture bring to other countries? Certainly a healthier diet. “It has taught us that beans and soup do not need to come out of a tin. I remember eating so much tinned food when I was a child in the 1950s and 60s. Even noodles in tomato sauce came out of a tin.” Isin recalls.  “I had never seen pasta or dried beans cooked at home. My mother baked wonderful pies and puddings, but savoury food was very limited. Stew was of one kind only, with potatoes but no vegetables added to the meat. Minced meat was cooked like stew and was ghastly! But Middle Eastern vegetable stews with just a handful of minced meat to add richness are delicious. Vegetarians are much luckier now.” One cannot ignore the sweet and passionate relationship Turks at least have with yoghurt. “Yoghurt is an ingredient or topping in so many Middle Eastern dishes and real yoghurt is an important probiotic. Of course it is still hard to find good plain yoghurt with a sufficiently tangy flavour in Britain unfortunately.” 

She says in Eastern countries people are very aware of health giving properties of food which are easy to digest, which are suitable for invalids, which for hot and which for cold. 

“And I hope some of this awareness has rubbed off on British people.”

We have to credit the role of immigration in this. The food historian says it has added enormous variety to cuisine in Britain.  “Although traditional British dishes like roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and pies are delicious, they tend to be time consuming to prepare and rely mostly on oven cooking, which has a high fuel consumption. Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern dishes are usually much quicker to prepare, cooked in pans on a stove, which is more economical, and provide a far more varied and nourishing diet, since they include a high proportion of vegetables and pulses.” This vision has spread far and wide in years because of many reasons. “Restaurants established by immigrants made eating out affordable for many people in Britain from the 1960s onwards. Like music, food is a key to cultural interaction and mutual understanding.”

“Food is one of the best ways of understanding history and culture, as modern historians have come to realise,” says Mary Isin and continues. “Ensuring food supply is one of the main duties of any state, and so plays a crucial part in economics, trade and politics, as well as social history.”  Food heritage is indeed a reflection of history and culture. And food on these parts of the Mediterranean is born to be colourful and flavourful and never too simple. That is to say, it is very much representing its history and culture to this day. Ramadan truly forms a path to discover what this cuisine can offer to treat our taste buds.