Traditional Ramadan foods from around the world

Below are some examples of foods eaten in different Muslim countries during Ramadan:

Algeria

“A soup called ‘Chorba’ which is made with tomatoes, vegetables, vermicelli and lamb neck is a traditional way to break the fast, served with borek, which are fried filo pastries with a variety of fillings, like spinach and cheese and lamb and potato.  After this, we usually have a range of salads and sometimes stews with bread and we’ll often have ‘laham lalou’ for dessert, which is a mixture of different dried fruits, cooked with fresh apple or pear and spices. For suhoor, a traditional meal in Algeria would be couscous, mixed with sultanas and buttermilk .

Lebanon

“We have many different traditional soups and freshly pressed juices for iftar in Lebanon. Something very specific to Ramadan is called ‘qamr id-deen’ which is a fruity snack made of dried ripe apricot juice, made into a sheet and cut into pieces. I remember it as a sweet, tasty treat – similar to fruit leathers that are popular today. It can also be mixed with water and orange blossom water to make a delicious drink”

Bangladesh

“In Bangladesh we have different traditional drinks to break the fast including lassi, wood apple juice and Isabgol husk (a type of psyllium) drink. It’s also traditional to break the fast with seasonal fruits like watermelon, mango, guava and jackfruit. Main dishes can include meat and fish with rice but also a lot of vegetarian dishes like peazu made with blended pink lentils or masoor dal, aloo chop (potato cakes with green chilli) and kichiri, made with rice, lentils, onions, garlic and ginger. We normally also have these dishes for suhoor but some people prefer chapatis with lentil soup .

Egypt

“We would often break the fast with dates and milk, tamr hindi (tamarind juice) and also sobia (coconut juice). Traditional iftar dishes include green salad and different dips to start and then sambusak (pastries with different fillings, like cheese or meat), mahshi (stuffed vegetables), moloukhia (a type of green leafy vegetable, cooked and often served with chicken) different types of kebab and rice. For suhoor, a traditional dish would be ful madammas – a warm dip made with broad beans, and also eggs, cheese and bread.”