Omnivore - Ramadan: Fast, cook constantly, eat well
The Muslim holy month prompts food porn.
- Wikimedia Commons/Md.Saiful Aziz Shamseer
- An iftar market in Dhaka
We’re in the middle of Ramadan, the holy month that Muslims observe with daily fasting during daylight hours. It’s not surprising that one effect of the fasting is absolute obsession with food.
After sunset (and before dawn), Muslims “break fast” and, typically, indulge in favorite foods, prepared at home or in restaurants. So, while hunger defines the day, the cooking is constant. The month, in fact, ends with communal feasts.
Arsalan Iftikhar, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com, described the worldwide shared pain of fasting Tuesday on NPR. He said that Muslims are posting thousands of pictures of break-fast meals, “food porn,” on social media sites like Pinterest.
Check out #breakingfast on Twitter, too. You can also see pictures and exchange recipes on a Facebook site, “Ramadan Recipes,” which has over 99,000 “likes.” The vast majority of posts describe the evening meal (iftar), which traditionally begins with three dates.