Eid-al-fitr is a celebration signifying the ending of Ramadan (Also read “What is Eid-al-Fitr? Get to know about The Muslim celebration after Ramadan”). The word in itself means from Arabic to English “festival of breaking the fast”. During this celebration you will hear Muslim saying “Eid Mubarak!” which means “Blessed Eid”. This has always been my favourite festival as a Muslim child. I can recall the smell of fried banana plantains, mint green tea from an Arabic saucer, dates and roasted meat. The best tradition is to share food with neighbours whether Muslim or not. My mum would also give food to the less fortunate during that time. It is a way of showing “Allah’s” (“God” in Arabic) mercy towards people whether poor or fortunate. It is a time of sharing, of joy and filled happy bellies.
Different countries and cultures have their own special dishes during Eid-al-fitr. Exploring such a wealth of traditions is our aim at All Eat, we care about our customers festivals and traditions.
North Africa and West Africa
Eid is full of long lasting food traditions starting in my country of origins, Senegal and Mali and also North Africa. For example in Morocco they are eating traditional Moroccan pancakes, while in Egypt they eat nut filled cookie called “Kahk. In Algeria and Tunisia they eat white moon shaped cookies and honey glazed filled pastries. In Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria they pray and sacrifice a lamb, ram or mutton, then roast it which can be a luxury as being quite costly. They accompany the roasted meat with vermicelli, rice and traditional curries called “Yassa” (in Senegal) or Egusi (in Nigeria).
United Arab Emirates and other middle eastern country
n the United Arab Emirates, they celebrate with a selection of meat based tagines, similar to the Moroccan ones. They also have chicken soup called “Harees” and diverse sweets called “Khabeesa”.
In Syria, sweets like “Maamoul” are at the table, those are little pastries stuffed pistachios, date or walnut, powdered with icing sugar. Iranians eat a variety of kebabs which you can order here with any of our partners and also a beef stew called “Haleem” accompanied with rice, beans and chilli.
Finally, in Turkey, similarly to the UAE they eat “Harees” a meat porridge or soup and “Machboos” a spiced chicken or fish dish with long grain rice.
South Asia
South Asia is said to have the largest community of Muslim in the world as opposed to opinions, 1/3 people are Muslim in Southern Asia.
In Pakistan, traditional food would be “Biryani”, a curried rice either made of chicken or red meat. During Eid you could try a biryani with us here. Also “Haleem” is a meat dish with wheat, barley and lentils. Finally, the traditional Nihari which is a slow cooked beef stew. In Afghanistan, a lot of sweets are shared which make little Afghan children the most joyful! Such as cardamom infused pastries called ‘cream rolls’ and “Gosheh Fil” meaning “elephant ears” which are crumbly pastries dusted with pistachios and icing sugar.
All these beautiful flavours and aromas are long preparations which are nothing compare with the joy of sitting at the table with family and enjoying every single piece of laughter and conversations. If you want to know more about food during Eid and Ramadan around the world watch “The story of Ramadan” on Netflix.
Eid-al-fitr is set to be this Friday 21st of April 2023.