Reigning in the rants - Day 10

Today was one of those days. We all have them. We all know them and we all have no idea how to explain them. I managed to foresee this day somehow and had aptly taken half the day off. I left work in the early afternoon and headed towards the one person who was loud enough without uttering a single word - my niece. The little ginger monster is capable of drowning out even the most imminent of thoughts and worries. Perfect. Yet there is no audience more critical that this bundle of joy and torment and as I try out all my accents whilst reading to her the one she prefers the most is the French Garcon wiz hiz zzz and rrrrrr. That's right - one afternoon with mini here and you forget your native language. When she soon tired of him I sang to her made up lullabies about finding babies at the riverbed and eating monsters. Its a good thing she doesn't understand me yet.

By the time I was back on the highway my mind waz prrrrty much emptiii of all the day's qualms and quarrels. This left me sufficient time to think about tomorrow's meal plan. I had previously mentioned that I signed up to cook a meal for complete strangers i.e. those interested in finding out more about Ramadan and more importantly the iftar (breaking of fast meal). Somehow I just could not pass up on this opportunity to accrue guinea pigs for my culinary try-outs. And lets face it - what constitutes a stranger these days anyway with the whole 6 degrees of separation thing? So I signed up here and got a call a while later and set the date for Saturday 21st - Day 11. And more importantly a weekend. There is no way I -daughter of my mother with the a priori ingrained "need" to make at least several different complicated dishes - can churn out a meal for 10 in the two hours I would have for it on a week-day. Though I wouldn't mind that challenge actually... hmmm. Anyway, I went through my mental roller-index of recipes that I never stick to and put together a meal to show-case delights from across north africa and the middle east. Vavavoom! How it all panned out we'll find out tomorrow...

I would love to call the exaggerated emphasis on food this month a subtle dichotomy but it is nothing more than a gluttonous paradox. The last couple of years in Egypt food retailers have been hiking up the figures around this time of the year knowing people will pay regardless of the price. And those who cannot pay will simply have to make due with less, or rather depend on the ma'edas [food tables]. It would of course make far more sense to profit this month by holding Ramadan sales and since last year a couple of supermarkets have finally caught on to this, but nowhere near enough to strike a balance.

I suppose it is very similar to what happens during all religious holidays be it Christmas, Easter, Hannukkah, Lent, Eid, Diwali, etc. There is a sudden furor about the lack of food. It is just that much funnier in the case of Ramadan given that the emphasis should be on eating only what you need.


This is never the case in the Arab world. An iftar is made up of too many dishes heavily laced with ghee butter and spice followed by desserts so sweet the mere sight of them makes your teeth dissolve. So what have we achieved? In some cases we double what we eat and try to smoke an entire pack and jug of coffee to make up for the day's savings. Don't get me wrong - I love my meat, coffee and sweets, but the excessive indulgence that takes place is far removed from this month's goal let alone any viable health warning!