Ramadan Mubarak !

Less than 24 hrs for Ramadan,yet food shopping frenzy like won’t be ending soon. people shop as it’s the end of the world, one visit to one of many Cairo’s hyper markets could paint a good picture of the average Egyptian estimate consumption on; Supposedly, a month designed for elevating spirituality over materialism. 43 % food prices raise , I guess couldn’t stop Egyptian to celebrate the holy month with eating till they drop dead, or at least that what I thought.

I, as a part of Egyptians, had done some shuttle Ramadan-shopping trips on my favorite souq, During which I came to notice that small shops that used to put out Kunafa & Qtayf stands  just before Ramadan are not there as it used to be since forever. I was just puzzled; something was not right to my beloved Egyptian Ramdan scene; I started wondering, and the answer was some how predictable. The people on the streets told me that small Kunafa& Qatyf shops didn’t afford the sudden wheat price rise, so they just are waiting for prices to come back to normal (!!)

OMG! are people really giving up Ramadan kunafa& Qatyf; a tradition dated since the Fatimids?? is this really happening??

If it wasn’t enough shock; Egyptians now are feasting in Ramadan on installment!!!

To wrap things up, Ramadan shopping in Egypt turned into fares, 3 caricatured scenarios:

1-hyper-market food hyper mania, with unbelievable food quantities which my limited brain can’t absorb; how a human could actually eat all of that food in 1 month.

2- people tighten their budget and give up Kunafa luxury to be able to afford small Ramadan feast.

3- finally, people fighting and killing each other over Ramadan charity Packs.

The divine comedy is; if you were present in one and only one of the scenarios above you will be convinced that it is how things are going all over the country.

 

 

 

an optimistic final note Ramadan Kareem everybody :)