
FirstLook: Iftar Nights
Photograph and video by Johnny Hanson
Iftar nights
Sunday, June 26, 8:42 p.m.,
Howard County, Maryland
We dug in, as we always do, just moments after sunset, as soon as it was time to break this day’s 16-hour Ramadan fast. As cell phone apps played calls to prayer in near synchrony, a small, hungry crowd descended upon the buffet table.
On this night it was a potluck iftar with a heri-tage theme, and the food mirrored some of the incredible diversity of suburban Baltimore itself: There was Malaysian tapioca cake (bingo ubi kayu), Ecuadorian empanadas, Bosnian stew (Bosanski lonac), Uighur steamed squash and lamb dumplings (petir manta), Italian escarole and beans (scarola e fagipoli), African- American bean pie, Senegalese peanut stew (mafe ginaar) and beignets (puff puff), Palestinian lentil soup (shorabit adas) and St. Thomas jerk chicken—all shared along with stories of their origins among friends old and new.
Iftar means “fast breaking” in Arabic, and the socializing that goes along with it is a worldwide hallmark of the month of Ramadan, which this year began on June 6 and ended with ‘id al-fitr (“feast of the fast breaking”) on July 5. (Following US Independence Day, this gave us a delightful double holiday.) In an upcom-ing feature article, I’ll be sharing some of the recipes you see on this table.
—Laila el-Haddad, author of
“Gaza’s Food Heritage” (N/D 11)
Sunday, June 26, 8:42 p.m.,
Howard County, Maryland
We dug in, as we always do, just moments after sunset, as soon as it was time to break this day’s 16-hour Ramadan fast. As cell phone apps played calls to prayer in near synchrony, a small, hungry crowd descended upon the buffet table.
On this night it was a potluck iftar with a heri-tage theme, and the food mirrored some of the incredible diversity of suburban Baltimore itself: There was Malaysian tapioca cake (bingo ubi kayu), Ecuadorian empanadas, Bosnian stew (Bosanski lonac), Uighur steamed squash and lamb dumplings (petir manta), Italian escarole and beans (scarola e fagipoli), African- American bean pie, Senegalese peanut stew (mafe ginaar) and beignets (puff puff), Palestinian lentil soup (shorabit adas) and St. Thomas jerk chicken—all shared along with stories of their origins among friends old and new.
Iftar means “fast breaking” in Arabic, and the socializing that goes along with it is a worldwide hallmark of the month of Ramadan, which this year began on June 6 and ended with ‘id al-fitr (“feast of the fast breaking”) on July 5. (Following US Independence Day, this gave us a delightful double holiday.) In an upcom-ing feature article, I’ll be sharing some of the recipes you see on this table.
—Laila el-Haddad, author of
“Gaza’s Food Heritage” (N/D 11)
You may also be interested in...
AramcoWorld: 75 Years of Visual Storytelling Through Photography
Arts
History
Part 2 of our series celebrating AramcoWorld’s 75th anniversary this year highlights “visual vagabonding”—the magazine’s expanded use of vibrant images over the decades to fulfill the mission of cultural connection.Spotlight on Photography: Discover the Marshes of Iraq in a Visual Story by Wilfred Thesiger
Arts
History
“In the Marshes of Iraq” — November/December 1966First Look: The Color of Nubia in Aswan
Arts
As a Saudi photographer with a passion for cultural, human and heritage themes around the world, I strive to make my images windows to the past as well as reflections of the present. When I came across this guesthouse on a visit to Aswan, Egypt, I was taken back to 3000 BCE to ancient Nubia.