What does Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food culture bring to other countries? Certainly a healthier diet
“The history of this food is that of the Middle East. Dishes carry the triumphs and glories, the defeats, the loves and sorrows of the past,” writes Claudia Roden in her The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. Food and traditions of the Middle East and North African cultures are very prosperous. And the holy month of Ramadan becomes an ideal time to focus and notice the reassuring depths of these regions and the richness of their cuisine.
This is a time for deep spirituality and good doings where Muslims all around the world show patience and gratitude by quieting their hearts and minds from sunrise to sunset. Yet one can surely not assume that this is what it is all about. At least, not those that have at least once been present in a Muslim country during Ramadan. A significant portion of the culinary culture which has developed around Ramadan surely includes a ceremony-like preparation before it arrives.
Culinary traditions on religious occasions vary from country to country of course. Isin says she is familiar with those in Turkey. During this month, desserts with sherbet or fragrant aromas such as the rose flavoured dessert of, a layered pudding made of starch wafers soaked in sweet milk, are particularly associated with Ramadan. Baklava is also eaten throughout the year, but it is rare to eat güllaç at any other time.
Middle Eastern food evokes the idea of spirituality, in holy references or as part of religious celebrations, like Eid al Fitr at the end of Ramadan. Iisn explains this as such: “In Islam sweet foods have traditionally had a spiritual aspect, symbolising God’s blessings to mankind and human love of God.” The 13th-century Islamic mystic Rumi frequently uses helva, a word of Arabic origin meaning any sweet, as a metaphor for such religious concepts.
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