I live in a predominately Muslim neighbourhood. Their meeting hall is right across the street and in my building almost all of the tenants are Muslim. It’s Ramadan right now and every evening for the last month my building, and the whole neighbourhood starts to smell amazing. I mean seriously delicious.
The men arrive early and, I assume, have prayers. Then as it starts getting darker all the women arrive with pots and containers of amazing smelling food. I find myself standing at the window, watching and smelling like a food stalker and wondering if they’d let me come eat their food.
Though I tend to agree with this, I don’t think we can make any definite statements about a particular neighborhood without know the culture where the residents typically hail from. In Egypt, for example, we got invited to iftars (fast-breaking meals) all the time, by people we only slightly knew. Egyptian culture is amazingly hospitable!
In Indonesia, on the other hand, we don’t get invited to “buka puasa” (same idea, different language) unless there is already a pre-existing friendship or it is an office function.
If the OP wants to be a “food Muslim” s/he needs to be genuinely friendly year-round to the neighbors; then I bet there will be some invitations next Ramadan.
There are cookbooks giving recipes for traditional breaking-the-fast Ramadan foods, often really delicious soups and stews. I’ve tried my hand at a few.
Learning about other peoples’ food is one way to learn about them.
We’re all pretty friendly with each other but just in a “we live in the same building” sort of way. I’ve been here for 5 years and know most of them by face but I don’t know any of their names. We do things like put money in the dryer if someone’s clothes aren’t dry yet, help if you see someone struggling to get their bike or stroller up/down the stairs, pick up someone’s mail if they’re away. Oh and for some reason if they need to borrow something like milk or whatever, they send their little girls to knock on my door to ask. For really weird things like a coat-hanger or tape.
Again - it’s culture dependent. Except for dates, which I will venture to say probably ARE pretty universal fast-breaking food, Muslims from different parts of the world break fast with different foods.
Sounds like a nice building! But if you haven’t gotten an invitation despite the level of cooperation you describe, it doesn’t sound like you are going to get one unless you create an opening. (Maybe they just assume you wouldn’t want to come?)
Next time you see someone, try asking “can you tell me what that delicious food was? I would like to look it up in a cookbook.” If they don’t invite you then, well… it isn’t going to happen.
Of course, Ramadan is just about over this year anyway, so regardless of how you hint and scheme, you may have to wait for next year unless you act really fast.
Every year at Eid the Muslim community here makes a huge donation to the food bank, and also open their mosque, for a few days, to anyone interested to tour and ask questions, etc.
You’re in Pakistan, right? checks weather Yep. Cold drinks are in order, and I’m curious why Weather Underground lists the current conditions for Bahawalpur as “Smoke”… That’s just too dang hot. “Smoky this morning, and later, we’re just going to burst into flame…”
As someone who grew up in an area with a lot of Muslims (Dearborn, MI), let me say that Eid food is simply phenomenal. It’s like a Christmas feast, Thanksgiving feast and Easter feast, all rolled up into one with garlic and chickpeas, and repeated for 30-odd nights. I highly recommend finding a way to join them one of these nights.
FYI, I lived around mostly Iraqi, Yemeni, Palestinian and Lebanese. These cultures were all more than happy to welcome anyone into their feasts.
Maybe a cheerful “Eid Mubarak!” to the neighbors carrying the food?
Then, maybe you could ask if they could use some (bottled water? something generic that you can’t ever have too much of?) and see if that doesn’t wangle you an invitation. It’s (supposed to be) a pretty friendly, welcoming gathering. If you seem like you want to be invited, you probably will be.
Agreed, there is nothing better than that rich smell of roasted garlic and spices. My mouth gets to watering just THINKING about an Eid feast.
I was just in Turkey during Ramadan and in the more conservative areas we felt as if we were intruding in the celebration (that is only during the actual meal- the rest fo the time people were the warmest country I’ve ever encountered) and we tried to be as inconspicuous in our table at the restaurants. However, in Istanbul in and around the Blue Mosque and Hippodrome, first of all it was one of the most amazing displays of community I’ve ever seen- thousands and thousands of people sitting and eating together but very quietly initially with huge food spreads. But also people offering us bread, etc. as we were walking past. They were far more celebratory and friendly with us an dthe people around during the iftars. So even in my extremely limited experience, the differences in attitudes were remarkable.
It’s hardly a celebration. It’s just another meal. People do tend to eat out a lot more in Ramazan then they do otherwise in the other 11 months of the year.
Non Muslims do have a rather strange (if understandable) fascination with Ramazan, my flatmate in London asked rather excitedlay what I was having for the evening meal; I think he was disappointed when I pointed to the M&S Beef Lasaga.
That’s you. Some people do make a celebration out of it. They make it a potluck, like the OP, and night after night gather at a different neighbor’s house.