What Do Food Brands Get Wrong About Ramadan?
We asked cookbook authors Asma Khan, Ifrah F. Ahmed, and Fadi Kattan.
Wake up. Eat. Fast. Eat. Repeat. For an outsider looking in, that might be all there is to Ramadan. And I don’t blame you! Nuanced conversations around what this month truly entails are few and far between and rarely ever the focus of legacy media, even though Islam is the third-largest religion in the U.S. and the second-largest in the UK. I myself have been a part of many perfunctory attempts by food media brands to cover this month, which often boiled down to an obligatory listicle of vaguely Muslim-sounding recipes. That’s a real shame because the Muslim world is vast, diverse, and colorful, and so is our food. And there’s no better time to witness our multiplicity than this month.
Yearning for a more dynamic portrayal of Ramadan in the media, I had an hour-long conversation with chefs and cookbook authors Asma Khan, Ifrah F. Ahmed, and Fadi Kattan, which I’ve distilled below (edited for form and clarity). We talk about the prosaic idea of Muslimness in the media, the tangled web of brand partnerships, the power of community, and the role food plays in the rhythm of Ramadan. I hope you enjoy this conversation. —Anikah
About the guests:
Asma Khan: One of Time’s 100 most influential people in 2024, Asma was featured in the Emmy-nominated episode of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, which documented her journey to opening her restaurant, Darjeeling Express, in London. She has also written three cookbooks: Asma’s Indian Kitchen, Ammu, and the newly released Monsoon.
Ifrah F. Ahmed: Ifrah is a Brooklyn and Seattle-based chef, writer, and recipe developer. She's a regular contributor at the New York Times and has bylines in LA Times Food and the Washington Post. Her wildly popular Somali pop-up Milk & Myrrh has routinely sold out in Seattle, LA, and New York. She is currently working on a cookbook called Soomaaliya, coming out next year.
Fadi Kattan: Fadi is a Bethlehem-based Palestinian chef with restaurants in Bethlehem (Fawda), Toronto (Louf), and London (Akub). His cookbook, Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food, came out last year, and he’s currently working on another on Palestinian terroir and the long-standing wine-making families in the region.
