The cosmopolitan iftar

Stuffing our bellies full of golden fried goods hardly seems a viable option anymore. A shift to support our changing lifestyles requires that we eat compatibly so as to go easy on our bodies. Cosmopolitan, in its core, means a total acceptance of the best of cultures. So for iftar, it would directly mean the best of iftars from around the globe. 

Given all this, there has been a definite shift in households regarding iftar. The daily halims, pakoras, peyajus, and begunis, took a turn for various greens, sliced fruits, juices, salads, and warm bowls of soup inside households. It shows that there has been an establishment of a more conscious persona when it comes to food today. The iftar menu this year boasts of a wide range of vegetables and condiments that go with salads and soups.

On the other hand, iftar also tends to imitate the traditional 'breakfast' food we usually have. Often, our homely iftars sees various beans and daal, vegetable labra, accompanied with plain flour rotis as part of the food to be consumed. Hearing this, Sayka, a student at BRAC University and living on her own, shares that she usually eats a bowl of Quaker oats and a few slices of local guava or some other fruit to break her fast, and later in the night, opts for supper.

The iftar gluttony can continue, despite our realities of a fast paced lifestyle, with a little bit of smart shopping from the open markets around Dhaka, such as in Kawran bazar, Gulshan DCC-1, or the Balur Haat bazar near Bashundhara 300 ft., and use everything you find there to help jazz up your urban cosmopolitan household iftars this Ramadan.

– LS Desk

Photo: Sazzad Ibne Sayed

Food: LS Desk

For this Ramadan in 2018, Star Lifestyle is all about being cosmopolitan with Iftar, an Iftar that dials down on all things fried. Amp up that urban taste with a bit of grilled chicken or fish, add some soups and definitely put in your share of fruit-ful drinks to make it a relaxing summer Iftar.