During Ramadan, Dates Are a Unifying Staple

posted on: Jun 18, 2015

When the chef Sameh Wadi was growing up — first in Kuwait, then in Jordan, and finally in Minneapolis and St. Paul — one of the few constants in his life was his mother’s cooking, especially the date-filled ring cookies called ka’ak that she made by hand and stockpiled during Ramadan.

Children do not fast during Ramadan, but adults like Mr. Wadi’s mother, Shahira, do not eat during daylight for the month. Traditionally, women spend much of their time cooking for the iftar, or fast-breaking meal, that is eaten every night after sunset.

“No question, those are my favorite things in the world to eat,” Mr. Wadi said. “I never realized as a kid how cruel it was to steal them, because even though she was fasting, she would still have to make more.”

During Ramadan, the far-flung Muslim communities of the world are unified by one food: the date, one of the earliest cultivated crops and an ancient icon of the Middle East, where the thick-trunked date palm is a symbol of hospitality, rest and peace.

Source: www.nytimes.com