{"id":267562,"date":"2025-03-26T23:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T23:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/a-traditional-ramadan-treat-gets-a-modern-remake-but-good-luck-getting-it\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T23:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T23:08:10","slug":"a-traditional-ramadan-treat-gets-a-modern-remake-but-good-luck-getting-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/a-traditional-ramadan-treat-gets-a-modern-remake-but-good-luck-getting-it\/","title":{"rendered":"A Traditional Ramadan Treat Gets a Modern Remake (but Good Luck Getting It)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/25\/multimedia\/00int-syria-marook-jwbz-promo\/00int-syria-marook-jwbz-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Traditional Ramadan Treat Gets a Modern Remake (but Good Luck Getting It)\" title=\"A Traditional Ramadan Treat Gets a Modern Remake (but Good Luck Getting It)\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the minutes ticked closer to sundown, the crowd grew more impatient, pressing against the glass display case, shouting and shoving bills toward the young men filling order after order of the Ramadan sweet bread.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201c<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">If you please\u2014<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201c<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">What is this stuffed with?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201c<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">Sir, take my money!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201c<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">Just be patient<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The high-pressure volley of queries, entreaties and pleas for patience plays out each evening of Ramadan as Syrians jostle for marook, a sweet bread eaten here during the Muslim fasting month. As the time of iftar, the breaking of the fast, nears, a day\u2019s worth of hunger pangs combine with jockeying among patrons desperate to get their marook loaves and rush home before the call to prayer sounds from mosque minarets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There is a hint of tension in the air, but much more pronounced is the smell of baked bread, sugar and chocolate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Marook, a simple sweetened bread sprinkled with sesame seeds, has been a part of Syrian Ramadan traditions for generations. Each year, as bakeries \u2014 and the occasional pizza parlor \u2014 devote their entire production to it during Ramadan, new variations emerge to satiate evolving tastes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Syrians are proud of their rich culinary traditions, but not precious about allowing them to evolve. There are now olives in the fattoush salad. Onions in the shawarma. Parsley in the hummus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And then there is marook, which comes in so many different iterations that bakeries post long lists of all their offerings, some unrecognizable from the original. Perhaps unavoidably given the viral food trend, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/23\/dining\/dubai-chocolate-cant-get-knafeh-it.html\" title=\"\">Dubai chocolate<\/a> marook appeared in some shops this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prices differ from bakery to bakery. Individual loaves often cost around 4,000 Syrian pounds, less than 50 cents, while large ones \u2014 depending on how fancy they are \u2014 can go up to 45,000 pounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe older people like the classic for sure,\u201d said Tareq al-Abyad, the owner of one bakery, Al Jouzeh, standing between racks stacked with trays of marook. \u201cI even get surprised by the new ones. For me, I only like the plain one. But I don\u2019t sell only what I like, I have to sell what the customers want.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On the other side of the glass counter his customers stood on the sidewalk calling out their orders above the honking in the street behind them. Occasionally they had to dodge a bicycle or motorcycle racing onto the sidewalk to avoid the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the road as everyone rushed to make it home in time for iftar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPlease, is there pistachio bubbly?\u201d asked Ayah al-Homsi, 27, referring to a marook that comes in a honeycomb shape and is drizzled with pistachio cream.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bakery was already out of that flavor. She got an Oreo-filled one instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe first night we always eat plain, date-filled and coconut,\u201d said Ms. al-Homsi, a Damascus native, of her family\u2019s Ramadan eating habits. \u201cAnd then we start trying the other flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Seemingly overwhelmed by the choices, a couple and their young daughter stood debating each flavor before walking off without any marook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At Al Jouzeh, baking begins at 6 a.m. The bakers eat suhoor, the predawn meal before the fast, at home, then arrive for an exhausting day of kneading, stuffing, glazing and sprinkling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They work like a well-oiled assembly line. Little is said except for the occasional urging from one worker, Mahmoud Midani, 39, to pick up the pace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLet\u2019s go \u2014 move this tray,\u201d he ordered Muhammad Taboosh each time another tray was filled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Taboosh, 16, was nearly covered in flour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bakery runs off a mix of solar energy, a diesel-powered generator and two hours a day of government-provided electricity. Syria\u2019s power grid is marked by long blackouts, a result of the 13-year civil war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mohammad Hilwan, 20, from the Old City in Damascus, has been working at the bakery for more than a year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is part of our Syrian heritage and goes back many many generations,\u201d he said. \u201cThis variety, we are changing with the times. It\u2019s not something bad \u2014 on the contrary, this is modernization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One by one he took a small marook loaf from a tray and filled it with melted white chocolate using an automatic nozzle before drizzling more on top and adding a sprinkle of crumbled chocolate cookie. It is his favorite flavor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe plain ones our grandfathers used to eat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bakery has three locations, and between them they make about 11,000 large and small marook loaves each day, Mr. al-Abyad said. Those thousands of loaves disappear quickly in the last hour of the day\u2019s fast, and customers seeking specific flavors may walk away empty-handed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy dear, just one with dates,\u201d said Salih Muhammad, 41, as he stuck his head behind the counter trying to maneuver past the crowd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere are no more date ones, uncle,\u201d 17-year-old Muhammad Khawla told him \u2014 and then reiterated this for his co-workers. \u201cGuys,\u201d he said, \u201cthere are no more date ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOh no, what will I do?\u201d Mr. Muhammad asked himself despondently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his hand he held a bag from another bakery with three small marooks, a plain one for him and coconut ones for his two young children. His wife had requested a date marook, and less than half an hour before iftar he was going from bakery to bakery in search of one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By then the varieties in bakeries across the city had thinned out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe don\u2019t know exactly what\u2019s still left,\u201d said Mr. Khawla, wearing an orange sweatshirt with a Syrian map and the date and time marking the fall of the Assad regime in December. By that point the sweatshirt was smeared with their many flavors on offer: chocolate, pistachio and Biscoff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Amid the flurry of business, the young men behind the counter didn\u2019t always have time to count all the Syrian bills they were being handed by customers. Currency depreciation over the course of the war has meant that even small everyday purchases can require a thick stack of bills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With only minutes remaining before iftar, seconds can matter, and some customers did not bother waiting for their change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Khawla handed over an order of five coconut marooks, five Biscoff-flavored ones and a bubbly to a regular customer, an older man, and stepped away to get his change. When he turned back, holding out a stack of 1,000 Syrian notes, he scanned the thinning crowd for him in vain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhere\u2019s the hajji?\u201d asked Mr. Khawla, using an honorific for older people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then he laughed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe hajji has rushed home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/26\/world\/middleeast\/syria-ramadan-food-marook.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the minutes ticked closer to sundown, the crowd grew more impatient, pressing against the glass display case, shouting and shoving bills toward the young men filling order after order of the Ramadan sweet bread. \u201cIf you please\u2014\u201d \u201cWhat is this stuffed with?\u201d \u201cSir, take my money!\u201d \u201cJust be patient!\u201d The high-pressure volley of queries, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/25\/multimedia\/00int-syria-marook-jwbz-promo\/00int-syria-marook-jwbz-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[199786,23102,163198,1551,4871,8376,12213,22470,19366,986,4423],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267564,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267562\/revisions\/267564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}