Mumbai: An Endless Ramadan Buffet

By Farah El-Akkad

Aaliya Nour El Din, 28, was born and raised in the city of Mumbai, graduating from Mithibai College of Arts in 2009. Nour El Din takes us on a journey around the crowded aisles of the joyfully diverse city.

“Mumbai never fails to impress anybody, especially when it comes to any celebration related to food. During the holy month of Ramadan, the city turns into an endless buffet with mouthwatering and delightful new plates served only in Ramadan,” she tells us. Linked to making extravagant desserts, pastry shops in Mumbai always present a new specialty during Ramadan.

Public iftars are very common in Mumbai during the holy month, residents of different neighborhoods and different social classes usually gather around one table “a tall street table that is almost one kilo long,” El Din describes.

Children decorate the streets with verses from the Quran or Prophet Muhammad’s words such as “Whoever observes the fast of Ramadhan and stands (in the voluntary night prayer of the month) out of faith and in hope of reward, his previous sins will be forgiven.”

El Din recounts “Every family in the neighborhood makes a special dish.” This tradition is carried throughout Ramadan until the last 10 days. “On the 20th day of Ramadan, most Muslim families in Mumbai focus on prayers and reading Quran and some practice i’tikaf (Staying away from worldly pleasures and focusing only on prayers, a practice conducted for several days usually in mosques and sometimes at home).”

Fun Islamic games for children are generally carried out after taraweeh prayers and until dawn prayers when the fast beings. Both children and adults typically gather around to eat phirni, a pudding-like sweet made out of rice and then the competition starts, El Din describes. “The games are mostly intended to encourage children to pray and learn more about religion in a fun way,” she adds.

Famous Indian specialties in Ramadan include watermelon and mango sherbets, especially on hot summer days, the mawa jalebi wala’, a dough that is fried until crispy and then dipped in a sugar and milk syrup.