After a long, hard day, I feel my mouth watering for nearly anything, the idea of grilled meat, glistening as it releases its signature aroma and sizzles against a flame pulls me in, the smell of the neighbor's freshly cut grass finds me dreaming of a fresh crisp salad, and the sight of a mere fountain spraying makes my mouth water.
It is tradition to break one's fast with dates. The sugary concentrate livens the tongue and rapidly re-energizes the soul after 12 hours without. Oftentimes, other dried fruits may also be used in place of dates, but dates are specifically mentioned in the Quran. These are nutritionally dense, with fiber, sugar, and plenty of minerals, and don't take space in the stomach like liquids often do, so they are very highly recommended when your tolerance for large food quantity is low. Additionally, eating a light meal at the end of one's fast will be much less taxing on the digestive system than a meaty, high fat meal. The reasoning behind this is that meat and fat are generally very complex to digest, and may cause digestive pains and constipation if you are eating less often.
The first food course is usually a soup, most commonly lentil soup. There are usually many other dishes, oftentimes multiple types of each food category (meats, starches, vegetables, etc) shared among family in friends. Enough talking about food, I'm horribly hungry! On to break my fast!
On my table we have apricot leather lined and rolled with almonds (to replace my dates that a little mouse in my house with my last name has eaten), my lentil soup, cucumber and tomato salad with fresh mint, and of course to satisfy the carnivore within, a raw meat dish called kibbeh. Welcome to my table, and happy Ramadan! Recipes for these are coming within the next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment