Islamabad, Pakistan – Tens of thousands of farmers in Pakistan are holding protests in several cities over the government’s decision not to buy their wheat, causing them huge losses in income.
The farmers in Punjab, the country’s largest province and often called the “bread basket” of Pakistan, are demanding that the government stop wheat imports that have flooded the market at a time when they expect bumper crops.
At a protest in Lahore, the provincial capital, on Monday, police violently pushed back the farmers with batons and arrested dozens of them.
Here is what we know about the issue so far:
What triggered the protests?
The farmers are furious about the import of wheat in the second half of last year and the first three months of this year, resulting in an excess of wheat in the market and reducing prices.
Agriculture is one of the most significant income sectors in Pakistan, making up nearly 23 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Wheat makes up 2 percent of the whole.
Following devastating floods in Pakistan in 2022, the impact on wheat farming caused a shortage of wheat in early 2023. While Pakistan consumes around 30 million tonnes of wheat per year, only 26.2 million tonnes were produced in 2022, pushing up prices and resulting in long queues of people in cities trying to buy wheat. There were even instances of people being crushed in crowds trying to access wheat.
The farmers accuse recent wheat import policies of causing their financial woes [Bilawal Arbab/EPA]
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the ruling coalition at the time, decided to allow the private sector to import wheat in July 2023, just a month before the end of its tenure in government.
According to figures from the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, between September 2023 and March 2024, more than 3.5 million tonnes of wheat were imported into Pakistan from the international market, where prices were much lower.
As a result of the excess, at the beginning of April this year, when Pakistan’s farmers started harvesting their wheat, the country’s national and provincial food storage department was holding more than 4.3 million tonnes of wheat in its stocks.
Usually, the government purchases around 20 percent of all the wheat produced by local farmers at a fixed price (about 5.6 million tonnes, based on a 2023 yield of 28 million tonnes). This intervention in the market, it says, ensures price stability, prevents hoarding and maintains the supply chain. This year, however, it has announced that it will purchase only 2 million tonnes of wheat from Pakistani farmers.
If farmers produce as much wheat this year as they did last year – and in fact, they expect to produce more – that represents around only 7 percent of total produce, leaving farmers out of pocket, they say.
Khalid Mehmood Khokhar, president of the farmers’ organisation Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) and a farmer from the city of Multan in Punjab, said that also allowing private importers to bring unlimited wheat into the country last year means that farmers will now have to sell what they can to other sources at much-reduced prices – and they will suffer great losses.
“With a bumper crop, we are expected to grow nearly 32 million metric tonnes of wheat this year, but with the government’s coffers already full of wheat, we will be able to sell not more than 50 percent of our crop. This could result in losses of nearly 380 billion rupees ($1.4bn),” Khokhar told Al Jazeera.
Why does it matter how much wheat the government buys?
According to Adil Mansoor, a Karachi-based food security analyst and researcher, the government’s purchase of domestic wheat each year helps to set the price at which the rest of the farmers’ wheat is sold to flour millers and others in the market.
“When everybody knows that the single largest buyer [the government] will purchase the wheat at a certain price, it means that the rest of the market functions accordingly as the government has set a reference price, and sells goods on that price,” he explained.
What do the farmers say?
Ishfaq Jatt, a wheat and cotton farmer who owns 4.8 hectares (12 acres) of land in Khanewal, Punjab, said the production cost for wheat has risen sharply due to the high price of fertiliser, water and other requirements for growing wheat.
“Now we farmers also have to sell the wheat to middlemen at a much-reduced rate, incurring losses for us,” Jatt told Al Jazeera. “I have a small farm. I do not have any space to store the wheat I have grown. What will I do with it? And if I don’t earn from my harvest, how can I sow my next crops?”
He added that many farmers may opt to avoid planting wheat in future years if they feel they “cannot trust the government anymore”.
What does the government say?
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into the wheat crisis.
Bilal Yasin, provincial food minister for Punjab, told the provincial assembly earlier this week that the crisis had been caused by decisions made by the caretaker government that took over in August last year after the tenure of the previous elected government came to an end. Elections, which should have been held within three months, were delayed by the need to redraw constituencies following the latest census. They were eventually held in February this year.
“Those people who allowed the import of the wheat close to wheat harvest season are responsible for this crisis. However, despite this, the government will fully support the small farmers,” the minister said.
Al Jazeera reached out to the food minister for further comment, but did not receive a response.
How will consumers be affected?
Mansoor said the government’s decision not to buy the excess wheat this year “reeks of poor planning and management”, but he pointed out that it will ultimately benefit consumers who have been hard hit by the cost-of-living crisis, as the price of wheat will fall.
“Farmers are naturally going to be very upset, with some incurring massive losses. But if consumers are getting benefit, is it a bad situation?” Mansoor asked.
Pakistan has been hit by skyrocketing prices over the past two years. At its high, inflation stood at nearly 38 percent in May 2023.
However, government action to tackle inflation – along with loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – have brought relative stability, with inflation dropping to 17 percent in April, its lowest in more than two years.
Mansoor also welcomed the government’s effective retreat from interfering in the market.
“The government should have communicated better to farmers about their plan of not purchasing wheat from them. But in the long term, it is a good thing that the government exits from the market,” he said. “This cannot be done overnight, but gradually, it should phase out its involvement in coming years.”
Food insecurity worsened around the world in 2023, with about 282 million people suffering from acute hunger due to conflicts, particularly in Gaza and Sudan, according to United Nations agencies and development groups.
Extreme weather events and economic shocks added to the number of those facing acute food insecurity, which grew by 24 million people compared with 2022, according to a global report on food crises from the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) published on Wednesday.
The report, which called the global outlook “bleak” for this year, is produced for an international alliance bringing together UN agencies, the European Union and governmental and non-governmental bodies.
The year 2023 was the fifth consecutive one with a rising number of people suffering acute food insecurity – defined as when populations face food deprivation that threatens lives or livelihoods, regardless of the causes or length of time.
Much of last year’s increase was due to the report’s expanded geographic coverage and deteriorating conditions in 12 countries.
More geographical areas experienced “new or intensified shocks” while there was a “marked deterioration in key food crisis contexts such as Sudan and the Gaza Strip”, Fleur Wouterse, deputy director of the emergencies office within the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), told the AFP news agency.
Brink of starvation in Gaza
About 700,000 people, including 600,000 in Gaza, were on the brink of starvation last year, a figure that has since climbed yet higher to 1.1 million in the war-ridden Palestinian territory.
Since the first report by the Global Network Against Food Crises covering 2016, the number of food-insecure people has risen from 108 million to 282 million, Wouterse said.
Meanwhile, the share of the population affected within the areas concerned has doubled from 11 percent to 22 percent, she added.
Volunteers deliver food to families in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip [File: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]
Protracted major food crises are ongoing in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Syria and Yemen.
“In a world of plenty, children are starving to death,” wrote UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the report’s foreword.
“War, climate chaos and a cost-of-living crisis – combined with inadequate action – mean that almost 300 million people faced acute food crisis in 2023,” he said, adding that “funding is not keeping pace with need”.
Call for end of hostilities
For 2024, progress will depend on the end of hostilities, said Wouterse, who stressed that aid could “rapidly” alleviate the crisis in Gaza or Sudan, for example, once humanitarian access to the areas is possible.
Worsening conditions in Haiti were due to political instability and reduced agricultural production, “where in the breadbasket of the Artibonite Valley, armed groups have seized agricultural land and stolen crops”, Wouterse said.
Lorena Jean Denise feeds her 19-month-old son David, one of several malnourished infants and toddlers who are being treated at the Centre Hospitalier de Fontaine, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti [File: Octavio Jones/Reuters]
The El Nino weather phenomenon could also lead to severe drought in West and Southern Africa, she added.
According to the report, situations of conflict or insecurity have become the main cause of acute hunger in 20 countries or territories, where 135 million people have suffered.
Extreme climatic events such as floods or droughts were the main cause of acute food insecurity for 72 million people in 18 countries, while economic shocks pushed 75 million people into this situation in 21 countries.
“Decreasing global food prices did not transmit to low-income, import-dependent countries,” said the report.
At the same time, high debt levels “limited government options to mitigate the effects of high prices”.
The situation improved in 2023 in 17 countries, including the DR Congo and Ukraine, the report found.
On the plate in front of me, raw mango slices have been carefully arranged into the petals of a flower. My friend, Alka Dogra, urges me to eat them right away.
One bite, and immediately, my tastebuds are alight with hot, piquant salt that pairs beautifully with the sourness of the fruit.
“This has the hari mirch pisyun loon (green chilli salt) from Uttarakhand you so wanted to taste,” she shares.
But I hardly listen, already transported back in time. It’s lunchtime in sixth grade and we’re eating our way through our lunches. A girl named Mahima brings out a small packet and asks, teasingly: “Kis kis ko chahiye (How many of you want)?” We jump with delight: This is her mother’s irresistible signature spice mix.
We spread out guavas, apples and oranges. I sprinkle the coarse, deep green mixture on an orange slice and pop it in my mouth. The sharp salt and hot chilli mix with the sweet and sour orange juice in a fiery, tangy explosion of flavour.
We craved that legendary spice mix. And when Mahima left school the next year, we had to eat our fruit with plain salt, sulking.
I’d almost forgotten this memory, but 20 years later, I was reminded while enjoying some fruit with Alka in Delhi one sunny winter afternoon. She lamented: “Daadi ka pisyun loon hota to kya baat thi (If only my grandmother’s flavoured salts were here).”
Ingredients to make green chilli garlic pisyun loon [Courtesy of Rushina Ghildiyal]
“Pisyun what?” I asked, confused.
“It’s our special salt from Uttarakhand,” she responded and promised to share some pisyun loon with me the next time her mother sent some.
It was worth the wait. As I savour the salt-sprinkled mango slices Alka has laid out for me, I am delighted to now have a name for the spice mix I loved so much as a schoolgirl.
Freshly-made green chilli garlic pisyun loon [Courtesy of Rushina Ghildiyal]
A cherished condiment
Pisyun loon (which translates to “coarse salt ground with spices”) is a cherished condiment in Uttarakhand. Deeply connected to the local culture, there are even songs written about it. “Hoon Pissyu lone” tells the story of a boy’s longing to return to his village for his mother’s salt. And “Hai Kakdi Zilema loon pisse sile ma“ is about a girl who sees ripe cucumbers and dreams of happily grinding salt for her fiance.
Culinary expert Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal says she discovered that the salty condiment exists only in the kitchens of Uttarakhand. In her documentation of the area’s cuisine, which she has been compiling for 25 years in efforts to capture recipes – her husband is originally from the area – she has recorded more than 17 types of flavoured salts, each with claims to “health and medicinal properties.”
“Every cook and home in this region has their own variations based on individual and family tastes,” she says, adding that she is looking to publish a cookbook next year.
Home chef Nitika Kuthiala, who is an expert in cuisine from Himachal, a neighbouring state, says: “It is like the Indian quintessential garam masala [everyday spice mixture] recipe every family has and is prepared with whatever is available.”
People who have grown up with the condiment often have fond memories from their childhood. Nandini Jayal Khanduri, who is a jewellery designer from the state capital Dehradun, remembers running home from school every day to watch her mother making khatai with neighbours while sitting in the winter sun.
The mixture, which is a regional favourite, is prepared with chakotra (grapefruit), malta (blood orange) and galgal (hill lemon). The fruit is peeled and pulped before mixing with the salt and spices. Sometimes roasted sesame powder is added to reduce sourness. It’s often enjoyed with parathas or flatbread. “My mouth waters even as I speak about the khatai,” Khanduri says, laughing.
Kavita Manralm spent her childhood in Ranikhet where her father, an army officer, was posted. She remembers enjoying lemons from the back yard with green chilli garlic pisyun loon – her favourite. As an adult, she makes this salt in her home in Ghaziabad.
Raw mango slices with green chili salt pisyun loon [Nupur Roopa/Al Jazeera]
Salty history
Because salt is an essential element for vital body function, and humans also tend to crave it, it’s historically been used as currency, but also heavily taxed and even at the centre of conflicts, such as the War of Ferrara (1482–1484) between Venice and Ferrara and the Salt War (1556–1557) between Naples and the Papal States. The famous Dandi March, also known as the Salt March, led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930 was a vital event during India’s struggle for independence from British rule. It was a non-violent protest against the British-imposed salt tax, which gave the British government a monopoly on salt production and distribution, making it illegal for Indians to collect or sell salt.
Salt’s indispensability and cost made it precious, forcing people to find more of it — Ghildiyal cites a wild salty leaf used by the tribal communities of the Sahyadri region in western India and a saltbush used by the Aboriginal community in Australia – and use it sparingly.
Because of its potency, salt can be used in small amounts to make pickles, chutneys and loons (salts), allowing it “to be stretched”, Ghildiyal adds.
That’s why “this salt tradition developed in both Svaneti, Georgia, and Uttarakhand, India, two mountainous places where salt had to be carried over difficult terrain”, explains Naomi Duguid, a Canadian cookbook author who wrote The Joy of Salt. In Quebec, Canada, a salt mix called “herbes salees” is made with finely chopped fresh green herbs and chopped carrots, then stored in jars and used as a seasoning for a variety of dishes, Duguid explains.
The origins of pisyun loon remain somewhat of a mystery. However, Ghildiyal has a theory: The Bhutiya community, which spans the three Indian states bordering Tibet and Nepal (Sikkim, West Bengal and Uttarakhand) historically traded herbs and spices with each other. Because salt was sold in rocks or blocks, it needed to be ground with a silbatta (grinding stone) – spices also required grinding. Ghildiyal believes that this led to the accidental creation of flavoured salt. “Someone would have used the mortar and pestle that was used to grind something else previously to crush the salt and found the residual masala left on the stone augmented its flavour.”
A lack of fresh vegetables — especially in the hills — during the winter may have also been a factor, says Tanaya Joshi, a chef from Uttarakhand, prompting people to explore new ways of preparing meals.
Women holding packets of pisyun loon [Courtesy of Shashi Raturi/Namakwali]
Crafting flavoured salts
There is no documentation of recipes, variations or combinations of these salts, shares Ghildiyal. Family recipes, which are “mostly handed down by great grandmothers and grandmothers”, have been rooted in the availability of ingredients, personal preferences and “the home’s main cook’s philosophy” – even the medicinal properties of the ingredients. Thus, mixtures differ from home to home and from region to region.
This is also the case with svanuri marili or Svan salt, the flavoured salt of Svaneti, Duguid notes, which typically includes dill, fenugreek, marigold petals, coriander, caraway, dried red chiles and a lot of garlic. It can be used as a meat marinade or rub, seasoning during cooking or a condiment.
For pisyun loon, dried spices such as asafoetida (fennel), basil, carom (caraway), mint, coriander or green chillies are added to white, pink and sendha namak (rock salt), Kuthiala says. Fresh coriander, which is not always available in this region, is used when in season. “The main ingredient is salt, and you can add anything you prefer.”
In the Kumaon region, salts made from bhang (hemp seeds), jakhya (wild mustard) and bhang jeera are quite popular, Joshi says.
In Uttarakhand, green garlic salt is a winter speciality. Also during this season, iodine, pink and rock salts are blended with amchur (dry mango powder) and sprinkled on oranges, guava and papaya. In the summer, mint salt and chilli cumin salt are very popular, and various salts are added to dahi raita (yoghourt mixed with tomatoes, onion or cucumber) and mattha (tempered buttermilk).
During both seasons, the mixture is spread on paper and dried in the shade – never in the sun – to retain its flavour; however, it’s eaten fresh during the monsoons, Kuthiala explains. After it’s been dried, the mixture resembles salt granules. Households will often make seven or eight varieties; a batch has a shelf life of about two years.
When it comes to eating pisyun loon, options are plentiful. It can be sprinkled on fruits and vegetables, cooked into dishes, mixed with rice and ghee, and added to ramen or instant noodles.
Joshi recalls eating ragi (finger millet) roti smeared with ghee and pisyun loon. Spreading the flavoured salts on roti is a popular lunch option – it travels well and doesn’t require refrigeration.
Finger millet roti with white butter and garlic salt [Courtesy of Rushina Ghildiyal]
Green garlic salt and sugar are often served with jhangora (barnyard millet) that’s been cooked in buttermilk to create a porridge called paleu or chencha eaten for breakfast. The flavoured salt used with this porridge varies with the seasons: for example, hare lehsun ka namak (green garlic salt) in winter and jeere ka namak (cumin salt) in summer.
Finding international fans
Pisyun loon is now being sold via social media and online shopping platforms, thanks to its increasing popularity in other regions of India and abroad.
Shashi Raturi has been running an NGO (Mahila Nav Jagran Samiti) in Dehradun since 1982, helping women find employment. “We used to have lunch together and all these women bought their homemade salts,” she says. This gave her the idea of selling pisyun loon to generate income and employment.
Raturi started selling the flavoured salts in 2015 under the label Namakwali (“women with salt”) – they’re now available on Amazon. “We use garewal namak (rock salt) and not the commercial salt,” she says, and the mixtures are made by hand using a pestle and mortar. Preparing a batch of 10kg (22lbs) of flavoured salts takes about three to four days.
Women sample pisyun loon from Namakwali, which provides employment opportunities [Courtesy of Shashi Raturi/Namakwali]
Deepa Devi from the village Kakrighat, near Almora, has been selling flavoured salts since 2011. Starting on a small scale with a shop on the main road, she prepared a variety of mixtures with chillies and sold around 5,000 rupees ($60) worth of salt in the first two years.
Today, working with a team of nine women and taking orders via WhatsApp, she sells more than 20 varieties made from chilies, local spices and herbs like timur, ginger, green garlic, cumin, asafoetida, sesame seeds and more. She has also trained around 500 women and set them up in their own independent businesses.
Ghildiyal says she hasn’t found a tradition similar to flavoured salt-making anywhere else in India, and she wants to keep the practice alive. During culinary sojourns in Uttarakhand she’s been given jars of ghar ka namak (homemade salt) by homeowners, and she’s also been developing some of her own flavours, such as stinging nettle.
Our ancestors had figured out how to use salt judiciously to survive in famine, in difficult places and during seasons of scarcity, Dugaid says. “Salt needs to be respected and revered.”
Uttarakhand’s flavoured salts are more than mere condiments. They celebrate relationships, create memories, inspire stories and songs, and commemorate the beloved people who make them: grandmothers, mothers, sisters and wives.
UN agencies say double-digit inflation and stagnating local production are major drivers of the hunger crisis.
Nearly 55 million people will struggle to feed themselves in the coming months in West and Central Africa as soaring prices have fuelled a food crisis, United Nations agencies have warned.
In a joint statement on Friday, the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN children’s agency UNICEF, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the number facing hunger during the June-August lean season had quadrupled over the last five years.
It said economic challenges such as double-digit inflation and stagnating local production had become major drivers of the crisis, beyond recurrent conflicts in the region.
And it noted that Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Mali would be among the worst affected.
The UN agencies said the prices of major staple grains had continued to rise across the region from 10 percent to more than 100 percent compared with the five-year average.
The situation was particularly worrying in northern Mali, where some 2,600 people are likely to experience catastrophic hunger, it added.
“The time to act is now. We need all partners to step up … to prevent the situation from getting out of control,” said Margot Vandervelden, WFP’s acting regional director for West Africa.
“We need to invest more in resilience-building and longer-term solutions for the future of West Africa,” she added.
Malnourished children
Food shortages have also resulted in “alarmingly high” levels of malnutrition, with children badly affected.
The agencies said eight out of 10 children aged between six and 23 months do not consume the minimum amount of food required for optimal growth and development.
It also said some 16.7 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished and more than two out of three households are unable to afford healthy diets.
“For children in the region to reach their full potential, we need to ensure that each girl and boy receives good nutrition and care, lives in a healthy and safe environment, and is given the right learning opportunities,” said UNICEF Regional Director Gilles Fagninou.
“To make a lasting difference in children’s lives, we need to consider the situation of the child as a whole and strengthen education, health, water and sanitation, food, and social protection systems,” he added.
The region’s heavy dependence on food imports has tightened the squeeze, particularly for countries battling high inflation such as Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
Policies should be introduced to boost and diversify local food production “to respond to the unprecedented food and nutrition insecurity”, said Robert Guei, the FAO’s Sub-regional Coordinator for West Africa.
String lights line the street and wafts of barbecue smoke fills the air as the evening envelopes Chaalis Futta Road in the Shaheen Bagh neighbourhood of the Indian capital.
The market area is crowded with people who have come here for iftar, to break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan. The hustle and bustle lasts throughout the night until people do their suhoor, the pre-dawn meal that Muslims have before starting their fast.
Shaheen Bagh, a working-class Muslim neighbourhood in southeast Delhi, made global headlines in the winter of 2019-20 when its residents, mainly women, occupied a highway near the neighbourhood that connects the capital city to the satellite city of Noida.
The sit-in protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a law passed by the Indian government in December 2019 – and implemented last month – with the aim of fast-tracking the naturalisation of non-Muslim refugees from three neighbouring countries. Protesters demanded the revocation of the law, which they said discriminates against Muslims and violates the principle of secularism enshrined in the Indian constitution.
The occupation, which lasted more than three months and inspired a wave of mass protests against the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi across the country, was ended in March 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic.
But the landmark protest left the neighbourhood its name. And a new reputation for tasty street food.
Chaalis Futta Road, which runs parallel to the New Delhi-Noida highway, was once a collection of shops, car repair stores and a few restaurants and tea stalls.
“During the protest, we used to sit for hours at these tea stalls and discuss politics,” Sanaullah Akbar, a 27-year-old resident who regularly attended the occupation, told Al Jazeera. “It was around that time that cafés and biryani stalls started coming up. People from different parts of the city would come here to participate in the sit-in, and then they would go to these eateries for tea and coffee.”
Food became a way to bring people together – through cups of tea, locally made biryani and simple home-cooked meals, explained Tanushree Bhasin, a Delhi-based writer.
“People who had never visited Shaheen Bagh sat with locals and broke bread together, transforming these chance meetings into intimate connections full of radical potential,” she said. “After the protest ended, people still come to Shaheen Bagh looking not just for the same delicious food but also for a sense of community and connection.”
Reels posted to Instagram and YouTube have further popularised the market. The street has become a main attraction for foodies, serving traditional Mughlai dishes as well as Arab, Afghan, Turkish and Italian food.
People used to visit streets around the historical Jama Masjid in the old part of Delhi for their iftar. However, “the protests highlighted Shaheen Bagh,” says Mohammad Danish, 23, owner of House of Delhicious (HOD), one of the oldest restaurants in the area. “Everyone got to know about this area and slowly the food market emerged here over the last four years.”
New Delhi’s well-known Mughlai food eateries, including Javed Famous Nihari, Zehra Biryani, Aslam Butter Chicken, Karim’s and Qureshi Kabab, have opened here in the last three years.
“We opened our shop here because it is an emerging food market,” says 42-year-old Arshad Jamal, who owns the Qureshi Kabab. He adds that business is “doing well”.
In Mexico, pan de muerto (bread of the dead) is a special sweet bread made annually for the Day of the Dead in early November.
Shaped like a roll and topped with a cross and a nub – meant to symbolise bones and teardrops or hearts – the pan de muerto is both an offering to the deceased and a treat for everyone, explains Kati Hogarth. She grew up in Mexico but now calls Australia home and works in the creative industry. “It’s a bit sweet”, she adds, “to lure the spirits to come and share it with us.”
Pan de Muerto is sweetened ‘to lure the spirits to come and share it with us’ says Kati Hogarth who grew up in Mexico [Shutterstock]
Food is closely connected to our rituals around death. Whether we are inviting spirits to commune with us or preparing feasts for the grieving, food provides solace, comfort and nourishment – often of the soul – at a time of mourning.
For example, in countries like the US and Australia, friends and neighbours will drop off casseroles or lasagnas, understanding that the bereaved often don’t have time or energy to make food.
Of course, many countries do not turn to a meat-and-cheese carbfest to mark a loved one’s passing. But those acts of cooking and eating – those heartfelt rituals around food – hold significant meaning when it comes to burials, mourning and even the remembrance of ancestors.
A Mexican altar to departed family members includes sugar skulls made to represent the souls of departed loved ones [Courtesy of Kati Hogarth]
Take koliva (also spelled kolyva, koljivo or coliva), a wheat-based dish that makes an appearance at Orthodox Christian funerals – from Greece to Russia – and is served in similar yet slightly different ways.
In Russia, the spelling is different – kutia – but Anastasia Kaissidis, a Russian mother of two who now calls Australia home, explains that it is essentially the same dish.
“It is like porridge but more sticky than watery. We make it with boiled wheat, barley and sometimes rice. Then, we add honey for the sweet taste and dried fruits like sultanas or berries and walnuts,” Kaissidis says. “It is really easy and quick to make. There’s no meat in it and most people would have ingredients like wheat at home.” A meatless dish makes it more affordable as well.
‘It’s like porridge but more sticky than watery,’ says Anastasia Kaissidis, a Russian mother of two [Shutterstock]
In other places like Greece or Macedonia, sugar is sometimes added as a sweetener, as well as other dried fruits and nuts like pomegranate seeds or walnuts. The dried fruits and nuts not only provide textural and colour contrast but they can be used to decorate the top of the dish in the shape of a cross or initials of the deceased.
Kutia is steeped in the rituals of a Russian Christian Orthodox funeral. The family of the deceased – “usually the women”, Kaissidis says – are responsible for making it for the people who drop by to pay their respects. “After the burial, people will come to the family’s house, so they will prepare food. Traditionally, kutia is the first dish we eat before anything else,” Kaissidis explains. “It will be scooped into small bowls so that everyone can have some. You just need a little taste and after that, you can eat the rest of the food on the table.”
Koliva is the Macedonian version of Kutia – both feature prominently following death in Christian Orthodox cultures [Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images]
The dish also has a symbolic meaning. “In Christianity, we believe life is eternal and we celebrate resurrection,” Kaissidis explains. “The wheat symbolises new life because it must be buried before it can grow again, else it will just rot. The honey or sugar symbolises that life will be sweet in heaven.”
Georgi Velkovski, a Macedonian living in Belgium knows this communal dish as koliva. He describes it as a sticky, sweet paste that is a bit bland and not to his taste, “like eating a piece of bread if you squeeze it and chew on it”.
“The family of the deceased would serve it on a plate along with tasting spoons. They would go around and offer koliva to visitors. People would take a spoonful of the dish and place the dirty spoons in a separate cup or container. This way, everyone is sharing the koliva,” he explains.
Anastasia Kaissidis, a Russian mother of two, talks about grief food in Russian Orthodox communities [Courtesy of Anastasia Kaissidis]
When people don’t have the space to accommodate mourners in their own
houses, they may go to a cafe or restaurant. “When my grandmother died, there were about 20 close family members attending the funeral and they came from everywhere. Instead of having the meal at home, we pre-ordered food from a cafe, including kutia, because it was easier,” Kaissidis shares.
Although koliva is simple, cheap and filling, neither Kaissidis nor Velkovski will make or eat it outside of funerals – although other people in the Russian or Macedonian community may serve it during religious celebrations or even Christmas.
For Kaissidis, this is a sacred dish that is associated with funerals and not something to make for a casual Saturday brunch. “Sometimes, I make my kids porridge with honey because it is kid-friendly. I suppose it is similar to kutia, just a bit waterier but I wouldn’t call it kutia,” she says with a laugh.
Communal cooking in Sri Lanka
While the Orthodox Christian community communes with one sacred dish after a funeral, in Sri Lankan Buddhist culture, everyone comes together to cook full meals in support of the bereaved family.
When there is a death in the community, particularly in villages with close-knit communities, someone will take charge and start by collecting funds. “People give based on their finances and this collection will be used for the rites,” explains Zinara Rathnayake, a journalist and social media manager from Sri Lanka. On the last day of the ceremony, Sri Lankan Buddhist families typically cremate the bodies of the deceased although some may also choose a burial. This is then followed by a feast or ceremony called Mala Batha which is a meal provided to people who came over to pay their respects to the deceased.
Zinara Rathnayake says a Sri Lankan funeral feast is ‘a feast for the living’ but also, some believe, a ‘feast for the spirit who might still be lingering’ [Nathan Mahendra/Al Jazeera]
“If there’s enough space in the family’s house, they will cook the meal inside. If not, they will pick a house with a large garden to cook outside with a makeshift fire stove,” Rathnayake explains.
While this is a feast for the living, some people believe it is also a feast for the spirit who might still be lingering; this is a way to feed them before they head off to the other world.
The meal features food that people cook and eat daily – like dahl, dried fish curry, potato dishes, brinjal (aubergine) dishes, leafy green salads and papadums – rather than symbolic, funeral-specific dishes. These dishes are meatless. Meat is often considered “impure” so a vegetarian diet is de facto for periods of mourning.
This will vary from villages and communities, but people instinctively know the role they need to play; they may have done something similar for weddings or festivals. “The men might go off to buy the provisions and others will bring a large pot with utensils. Someone will cook rice, others will chop the vegetables. There is a mutual understanding,” says Ratnayake.
Sri Lanka vegetable curry is often served following a funeral in Sri Lanka [Shutterstock]
Following the Mala Batha, neighbours will continue to support the bereaved family by cooking for them. “The food part is taken care of by the community because the family is not in a state where they can cook,” says Ratnayake. “People will make potato curry or grated coconut sambol, buy large boxes of biscuits, make tea or coffee.” As Ratnayake explains, this is partly because traditionally, there is no concept of freezing and reheating food here; food is eaten on the same day it is cooked.
Offerings to the deceased in Malaysian-Chinese culture
Sometimes, the food that is prepared during funerals is not for the living. Instead, each element of the meal represents the deceased’s journey into the afterlife.
Chin (who asked not to use her real name to protect her family’s feelings) has a Chinese-Buddhist-Taoist background and lives in a country town in Australia. When her mother passed away in Malaysia, she became aware of the numerous rituals she had to fulfil and the symbolic food she had to place by her mother’s altar.
“We had her wake at a funeral centre,” Chin explains, “It was a three-day wake followed by a burial. There was someone at the centre to guide us on rituals and procedures, including what to wear. Most modern Chinese people don’t know what to do for these rituals!”
Dishes at a funeral in Malaysian-Chinese communities include cooked meats, particularly a boiled chicken placed at the centre of the table and representing the spirit’s flight to the beyond [Shutterstock]
The standard dishes for Chinese funerals in Malaysia include cooked meats: a roasted pig symbolises eternity and good luck, a boiled chicken represents the spirit’s flight to the beyond and a roast duck symbolises protection for the spirit as it crosses the three rivers (Gold River, Silver River and the Life-Death River) that are synonymous in Chinese-Buddhist belief with giving and supporting life. Everything is served with rice, which represents family and respect.
Among the dishes that Chin prepared for her mother’s funeral was a stir-fry vegetarian dish called Buddha’s Delight, plus her mother’s favourite tea and fruit.
Buddha’s Delight, a stir-fried vegetarian dish [Shutterstock]
“There had to be five different colours of fruits, so we had green grapes, yellow pears, red apples, white peaches and black Chinese chestnuts,” Chin explains. The idea is to invite the deceased to eat along with the living.
One of the foods that is closely associated with Malaysian-Chinese funerals is pink and yellow steamed buns. These buns also make an appearance during the Hungry Ghost Festival; a month-long period when the Chinese community makes offerings to appease and honour spirits that roam the earth. Like koliva, these soft buns are also made with pantry staples – flour, yeast, sugar, baking powder, and shortening – and steamed, since most Southeast Asian kitchens do not have ovens.
Pink and yellow steamed buns are frequently served at the feast following a Malaysian-Chinese funeral [Shutterstock]
Family members are also encouraged to offer food that the deceased used to enjoy. “On day seven, we laid out the dining table with my mother’s favourite food because symbolically, this is the last meal we are giving to her spirit,” Chin says. The idea is that after this feast, the spirit has to leave our world.
During this time, Chin and her family were expected to stay in their rooms from 10pm to 2am.
Afterwards, “we threw away the whole banquet because it is [considered]) bad luck to eat it”, Chin says. “This is the part I did not like because it’s so wasteful.”
The “bad luck” is a mix of superstition – not wanting to eat something that a spirit has feasted on; and concern about food hygiene – not eating something that has been sitting at room temperature in the tropics.
Chin understands the purpose of rituals, but also finds some of them “ridiculous”.
“I rolled my eyes a lot but we had to ‘do the right thing for the deceased’. When my father passed away, my mother did the same thing for him and it was clear that this is what she wanted too.”
Rajesh Jatavad*, a delivery rider for Zomato, a food delivery app in southern India, is worried about his full name being displayed for customers on the platform – because his last name reveals that he belongs to a marginalised caste.
More privileged communities among India’s caste system historically considered castes like Jatavad’s “untouchables”.
Jatavad’s worry is based on lived experience. “It is easy for others to identify my caste from my surname. Some of the customers, after reading my surname from the app, they won’t allow me near them, or even [allow me to] hand over the food packet. They will tell me to place it down and then leave,” Rajesh told Al Jazeera.
Then, in mid-March, his employer announced a decision that threatens to make Jatavad’s already perilous daily struggle against caste biases even tougher.
On March 19, Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato, declared on social media platform X that the company was launching a “Pure Veg Mode along with a Pure Veg Fleet on Zomato, for customers who have a 100% vegetarian dietary preference.”
“India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedback we’ve gotten from them is that they are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled,” he wrote.
The Pure Veg Mode allows customers to pick from curated list of restaurants that serve only vegetarian food and excludes eateries that serve any meat or fish. The Pure Veg Fleet, Goyal announced, would consist of riders who will only carry food from Pure Veg Mode restaurants.
And in the future, Goyal wrote, the company plans to introduce other specialised fleets – a comment that left Jatavad anxious and that betrays, said sociologists, an ignorance of a complex reality that undergirds India’s enormous app-based food delivery industry, valued at $7.4bn in 2023.
More than half – 54.5 percent – of delivery workers belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, according to a March 11 study by the University of Pennsylvania.
These communities are designated “scheduled” by the government because they have suffered centuries of discrimination and socioeconomic disadvantages. In India’s caste-stratified society, they are also often associated with being “impure” by privileged castes.
Zomato’s latest policies could end up reinforcing those stereotypes and deepening the discrimination workers like Jatavad face, said sociologists and workers’ rights advocates. There are 700,000 to one million food delivery workers on platforms like Zomato in India.
Delivery riders – many working for Zomato – wait in line to collect their orders outside a mall in Mumbai, India, on August 10, 2023 [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
‘If that happens, I’m in trouble’
Jatavad learned about the specialised fleets from a screenshot shared by his colleagues. Instantly, his mind went racing.
“’What is the company aiming for?” he said. “Will they create fleets based on religion and caste next? If that happens, I’m in trouble.”
In his posts on X, Goyal explained his rationale for the separate fleets. “Because despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes the food spills into the delivery boxes. In those cases, the smell of the previous order travels to the next order and may lead to the next order smelling of the previous order,” Goyal reasoned. “For this reason, we had to separate the fleet for veg orders.”
Following pushback over the risks colour-coded uniforms could pose to riders, if neighbourhoods that view meat as impure decide to attack or abuse delivery workers, Goyal backtracked partly.
“All our riders – both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will wear the colour red,” he wrote in a follow-up post. “This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food and blocked by any during any special days … our riders’ physical safety is of paramount importance to us,” his post read.
But while riders carrying vegetarian and non-vegetarian food will not be distinguishable by their uniform, they will still belong to different fleets – and customers will be able to pick the “Pure Veg” fleet on the Zomato app.
Workers are worried.
“Today, they will say veg and non-veg; tomorrow, they will bring in religion and caste,” Shaik Salauddin, national general secretary and co-founder of the Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT), a trade union federation of ride-sharing and other gig transport workers, told Al Jazeera. “They will say, upper-caste customers have demanded upper-caste delivery boys. This will create a further division among workers.”
Shaikh questioned why Zomato was wading into sensitive food and culture-related issues in a country as diverse as India. “This company is dividing people,” he said. “If they’re here to do business, let them do business.”
‘Purity and pollution’
Asked by Al Jazeera about the concerns of delivery workers, Zomato said that customers would not be able to choose delivery partners based on the rider’s own dietary preference.
It added that the “delivery partners onboarded on Zomato are not and will never be discriminated against on the basis of any criteria (including dietary/ political/religion preferences).”
But that’s easier said than done, according to Mini Mohan, a sociologist based in the southern Indian state of Kerala, who argued that by segregating vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, Zomato was exploiting religious and caste-based divisions.
“The caste system in India links food with purity and pollution,” she said. “Vegetarian food is considered ‘pure’, while meat and occupations associated with lower castes are seen as ‘impure’. This shapes dietary practices, with higher castes even avoiding food handled by lower castes.”
Zomato considered special green uniforms for its ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ delivery riders rather than the red uniform pictured here, but has backed away from that plan, Kolkata, India, July 13, 2021 [Rupak De Chowduri/Reuters]
Zomato’s approach “not only discriminates against certain groups but also risks widening social rifts. When food choices dictate treatment, it creates conflicts and undermines social harmony,” she added.
And the intersection of deep-seated biases and food delivery isn’t new for India – or for Zomato.
In 2019, Zomato faced controversy when a customer cancelled an order due to the delivery person’s religion. Zomato’s response, highlighting that food has no religion, was widely praised on social media. Five years later, the company now find itself on the other side of the fence.
‘Rise in Brahmin restaurants’
The concept of pure and impure food in Hinduism dates back to the Dharmasutras, Vedic texts written by different authors between BCE 700 and BCE 100, TS Syam Kumar, a Sanskrit scholar and teacher and debater told Al Jazeera.
“Dharmasutras are ancient Indian texts that functioned as guides for dharma – a concept encompassing duty, righteousness and ethical conduct. They are considered the earliest source of Hindu law,” he said.
Quoting chapters from Dharmasutras, the scholar said that the scriptures declared that food that has been touched by an impure person becomes impure, but is not rendered unfit to be eaten. On the other hand, food brought by a Shudra – the lowest rung of the traditional caste hierarchy – is unfit to be eaten.
The caste system often associates traditionally disadvantaged castes with meat consumption and considers them “polluted”, justifying their social exclusion. That’s true even in Kerala, a state often seen as a progressive bastion in India.
Kerala, too, he said, “is witnessing a rise in Brahmin restaurants”.
“People prioritise to buy certain brands of ingredients with upper-caste names,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, Shashi Bellamkonda, a marketing professor and former hotelier said Zomato’s controversial approach is the outcome of a failure of communication and of not understanding the customer.
“Instead of introducing a separate ‘Pure Veg Mode’ and ‘Pure Veg Fleet’, the company could have focused on improving its existing processes to ensure that vegetarian orders are handled with the same care and attention as non-vegetarian orders,” he said. “And communicated that to customers.”
As the sun sets during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Muslims from around the world gather to break their fast with dates and water followed by a meal known as iftar.
There are some 1.9 billion Muslims around the world, approximately 25 percent of the global population. For many however, rising food prices have meant that households have had to consider cutting back on some of their favourite Ramadan dishes.
To see just how much the prices of various ingredients have increased over the past year, Al Jazeera compared the prices of dozens of ingredients from a variety of supermarket chains from 14 countries around the world. Below are pictures of these traditional meals along with their corresponding prices, listed alphabetically.
Argentina
From South America, we have a locally inspired main dish with beef asado, featuring various cuts of grilled meat with chimichurri – a tangy parsley dipping sauce.
As a side, we have empanadas, a popular savoury pastry consisting of ground beef or vegetables, and for dessert, dulce de leche pancakes with a sweet and creamy caramel sauce, topped with fresh fruit.
To drink, Argentinians will often enjoy a traditional herbal tea made from the yerba mate plant.
Argentina has experienced one of the world’s highest levels of inflation, with the cost of food increasing 303 percent in February 2024 compared with February of the previous year.
To prepare this particular iftar meal, Al Jazeera calculated that a single serving would cost about 7,200 pesos ($8.4) today, compared with about 1,782 pesos ($2) in 2023, reflecting an increase of more than four times.
(Al Jazeera)
Australia
For the world’s largest island, Australia’s iftar experience is a reflection of the country’s multicultural landscape, blending flavours from across the globe.
At the heart of the meal is a “halal snack pack”, a popular street food turned staple dish of shaved lamb over a bed of hot chips and topped with garlic and barbeque sauce.
For the side, a hearty lentil soup with vegetables is often enjoyed and for those with a sweet tooth, there are lamingtons – sponge cake coated in chocolate, filled with jam and blanketed with desiccated coconut.
Best served chilled, cordial is a sweet and refreshing fruit concentrate to rehydrate after a summer day of fasting.
Similar to other Western countries, Australia has also struggled to curb inflation. Al Jazeera calculated that it costs about 12.5 Australian dollars ($8.1) to have this meal in 2024, up from about 11 Australian dollars ($7) the year before.
The biggest price increases came from key ingredients including meat and eggs.
(Al Jazeera)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Among the highest Muslim populations in Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a variety of traditional foods reflecting its multicultural heritage. A solid choice on a Bosnian iftar table is pita krompiruša, a baked dish consisting of layers of thin phyllo dough filled with a savoury mixture of mashed potatoes, onions and spices.
Following the hearty start, the meal transitions to topa, a slow-cooked side of melted cheese and butter. The transition to sweetness is marked by hurmašica, a syrup-soaked dessert that is both sweet and comforting.
Concluding the iftar is a glass of sok od drenjina, a popular beverage made from the fruit of the Cornelian cherry tree.
Combining all meals, Al Jazeera calculated that it costs about 2.9 BAM ($1.6) for a single serving of this meal this Ramadan. In 2023 the same meal cost 2.7 BAM ($1.5), a 7 percent increase.
The higher cost of potatoes, sugar and butter was mainly responsible for a more expensive Bosnian iftar meal in 2024.
Egypt
A country steeped in centuries-old traditions and culinary heritage, an Egyptian iftar table may include a local delicacy of grape leaves stuffed with a mixture of rice, minced meat and spices.
For a nutritious and comforting soup, chopped molokhiya (jute leaves) prepared with garlic and coriander is always a good choice, followed by kunafa, a sweet and cheesy dessert staple eaten across the Middle East and North Africa.
To quench one’s thirst, qamar al-din, a traditional apricot drink, is a crowd favourite.
Egypt is currently experiencing record levels of inflation and a depreciating currency. This has meant that the prices of many ingredients, most notably ghee and sugar, are nearly three times more expensive than they were last Ramadan.
Al Jazeera calculated that this Ramadan, it will cost roughly 68 Egyptian pounds ($1.4) to prepare a single serving of the meal above. In 2023, the same meal cost 39 Egyptian pounds ($0.8), an increase of 74 percent.
India
India has a great variety of iftar meals to choose from. Among one of the favourites is ghugni, a vegetarian curry made of peas or chickpeas and cooked with onions, tomatoes and various spices.
For sides, there’s pakora, a deep-fried vegetable fritter made with onions and green chillies. For dessert, we have suji halwa, a semolina pudding cooked with ghee and sugar and topped with nuts.
To cleanse the palate, one can reach for a glass of refreshing rose drink made from rose syrup, water and often a splash of lime or mint.
In combining these ingredients, Al Jazeera calculated that it costs roughly 149 rupees ($1.8) to prepare a serving of this meal this Ramadan. The same meal last year actually cost 162 rupees ($1.9), a decrease of 9 percent.
The main reason for this was the drop in the price of onions which were used widely in this dish. The price of all other other ingredients either increased or stayed the same.
India is the world’s largest exporter of onions. In December, the country imposed a ban on all onion exports to increase domestic availability and drive down prices which have more than halved since the ban took effect. On March 23, the ban, which was due to expire on March 31, was extended indefinitely.
(Al Jazeera)
Indonesia
In the world’s largest Muslim nation, spanning six thousand inhabited islands, Indonesia’s iftar traditions are locally inspired by the unique flavour of bubur – a traditional rice porridge topped with shredded chicken, peanuts, greens and an array of spices.
A favourite side dish is, bakwan, a crispy vegetable fritter containing a variety of vegetables such as shredded carrots, cabbage and bean sprouts. For those with a sweet tooth, there is kolak pisang, a sweet dessert made with bananas cooked in coconut milk, sugar and pandan leaves.
And to wrap up the flavourful meal, wash it down with a glass of es timun suri, a refreshing melon and coconut-infused drink.
To prepare the meal, Al Jazeera calculated that it costs about 66,600 rupiah ($4.2) for a serving this year. The cost last year was 62,600 rupiah ($3.9), about 6 percent lower.
(Al Jazeera)
Malaysia
A predominantly Muslim nation, Malaysian cuisine is locally inspired with beef rendang, a rich and spicy coconut milk-based beef dish.
As a side, Malaysians often enjoy sayur lodeh, a fragrant vegetable stew made of coconut milk, with eggplant, beans and nuts.
To complement the rich flavours, many Malaysians will reach for a glass of sirap bandung, a sweet rose syrup-infused milk.
And to top things off, a popular dessert is seri muka, a two-layered rice and pandan custard.
Combining all the necessary ingredients, Al Jazeera calculated that it costs roughly 6.9 ringgits ($1.5) to prepare a single serving of this meal in 2024. In 2023 the same meal cost about 6.4 ringgits ($1.3), an increase of 7 percent.
For Malaysia’s iftar, the largest price increases over the past year were in fresh food items, including eggs and coconut milk.
(Al Jazeera)
Nigeria
Nigerian cuisine is known for its diverse ingredients and vibrant spices. For the main course, Nigerians, like many across West Africa, will often enjoy jollof rice, a red aromatic rice, served with chicken.
To enhance the flavours, one could enjoy moi moi – a savoury pudding made from black-eyed peas or beans.
And for dessert, a good choice is a fresh fruit salad.
To top things off, a Nigerian iftar is best served with zobo, a popular beverage made from dried hibiscus flowers.
Africa’s most populous nation has seen a worsening inflation rate, aggressively increasing the price of poultry and other fresh food items.
Al Jazeera calculated that in 2024 it costs about 6,500 naira ($4.4) to prepare a serving of this meal, compared with about 3,860 naira ($2.6) the year before – an increase of about 68 percent.
(Al Jazeera)
Pakistan
Nearing Iftar time in Pakistan, the atmosphere is imbued with anticipation and warmth starting with dahi baray – lentil fritters, doused in yoghurt and topped with sweet and spicy chutneys.
On the side, we have fruit chaat, a sweet and savoury fruit salad sprinkled with chaat masala. For dessert is jalebi – a popular street food made with flour and sugar with a gooey centre.
A beautiful round-off for iftar is a rose-flavoured drink.
Totalling up the grocery cost, Al Jazeera calculated a serving of this iftar meal to be 172 rupees ($0.6). In 2023 the same meal cost 141 rupees ($0.5), about an 18 percent increase.
Pakistan’s inflation levels have remained high with food inflation reaching a record high of 48.65 percent in May 2023. Looking at our list of ingredients, we found that the largest price hikes were seen in vegetables, sugar and ghee.
Palestine
One of the most widely eaten dishes across Palestine and the Levant region is maklouba, which translates from Arabic to “upside-down”. It is a flavourful rice dish with layers of sliced eggplants, meat and other vegetables cooked together in a pot, then flipped upside-down onto a serving platter before eating.
Complementing the maklouba is dagga – a traditional spicy tomato and cucumber salad covered in olive oil.
For dessert, a great Ramadan choice is katayif, a type of semi-circular stuffed pancake often filled with walnuts or cheese and then dipped in syrup.
Tamir hindi is a popular drink made with tamarind and sugar.
Totalling up the grocery cost, Al Jazeera calculated that it costs about 31.5 shekels ($9) to prepare a serving of this iftar meal in the occupied West Bank this Ramadan. The same meal cost 28.5 shekels ($8) in 2023, an 11 percent increase.
Olive oil had the most significant price increase, nearly doubling from 30 shekels ($8.2) per litre in 2023 to 55 shekels ($15) this year. The price of meat also saw a 10 percent increase.
Observing Ramadan in Gaza amid Israel’s continuing assault has been a huge challenge for many Palestinians. Preparing a meal is a luxury that many can’t afford. According to people on the ground, a single egg now costs 6 shekels ($1.64).
Despite this, families are trying to keep their spirits and traditions alive by preparing whatever meals they can. Al Jazeera spoke to some of these displaced families who are now living in tents in Rafah.
(Al Jazeera)
South Africa
The Rainbow Nation has a variety of racial and ethnic groups. Preparing a traditional meal means bringing together various foods. For the main course, South Africans can enjoy a classic combo of pap en vleis, also known as shisa nyama – a maize meal porridge eaten with barbecued meat.
Accompanying this is chakalaka, a spicy vegetable relish made with onions, tomatoes, carrots, beans and spices. For dessert, koeksisters – braided deep-fried dough drenched in syrup – provide a crunchy treat.
To round off the meal, a “Stoney” – carbonated ginger beer – offers a refreshing end to the iftar.
Like many countries, South Africa is battling rising inflation. Al Jazeera calculated that it costs about 77 rand ($4.0) to prepare a serving of the iftar meal above. In 2023 the same meal cost 68 rand ($3.6), about a 13 percent increase.
The biggest price increases came from the price of store-bought chakalaka and pantry items such as cake flour and sugar.
Turkey
As the sun sets in Turkey, many families will feast on dolma – stuffed vegetables with a mixture of rice, meat and herbs.
On the side, is a bowl of cacik, a creamy yoghurt and cucumber dip. For dessert, one of the many choices might be a bowl of muhallebi, a milk pudding flavoured with cinnamon and nuts.
And to support digestion, salgam, a fermented turnip beverage is a good choice.
Turkey has also seen soaring levels of inflation. Setting out the table for iftar, Al Jazeera calculated that a serving of this meal costs about 60.5 lira ($1.9), compared with about 50.6 lira ($1.6) a year ago – an increase of about 20 percent.
Among the biggest price hikes came in the form of dairy products including milk and yoghurt.
(Al Jazeera)
United Kingdom
There are roughly four million Muslims in the UK. Like many other non-Muslim majority countries, the choice of iftar meals depends largely on a household’s ethnic background. A hearty British seafood iftar could comprise a slice of salmon fillet served with a side of greens and a bowl of rice.
Served after the main course could be a bowl of fruit yoghurt.
Packed with antioxidants, and aiding digestion could be a hot cup of green tea.
For this year’s iftar, Al Jazeera calculated that it costs roughly 2.2 pounds ($2.7) for a single serving of the meal above. That’s a marginal increase of about 4 percent from the previous year of 2.1 pounds ($2.6).
In 2022, the UK experienced seven months of double-digit inflation peaking at 11.1 percent in October. The rate has since settled at about 4 percent during the first few months of 2024.
(Al Jazeera)
United States
The United States has a diverse Muslim community with about three to four million members – or about one percent of the population. A popular main dish enjoyed across many American households is the culinary classic oven-roasted chicken infused with herbs and spices.
Complementing the roast, one might find the traditional Middle Eastern green salad topped with crispy pieces of toasted bread known as fattoush.
For dessert, one can’t go wrong with a piece of kunafa, a sweet and cheesy dessert topped with nuts.
To round off the evening, one can reach for a flavoured milk of your choice.
To prepare this year’s meal, Al Jazeera estimated costs are roughly $7.1 per serving this Ramadan. Last year the same meal cost about $6.7, an increase of about 5 percent.
For the most part, the prices of the ingredients needed to prepare this meal have held firm with slight increases in the price of poultry and dairy.
In London, a city farmer battles to preserve her community’s green sanctuary in the face of soaring costs of living.
For at least a decade, Sandra Salazar D’Eca has taught the art of growing food in North London, with a focus on empowering the Black community.
What started as a hobby has become a vital survival strategy for many. But Sandra’s food growing projects come under threat when the council announces a three-fold increase in annual rents to local farming allotments.
“My life is finished,” says 88-year-old Momma Selma, who has been growing food in the allotment for 50 years.
Sandra leads a grassroots resistance to save the community’s sanctuary, but will she lose herself?
London Grown is a documentary film by Richard Mejeh.
For the first time in months, a trickle of aid has arrived in northern Gaza. 13 trucks drove from the Rafah border crossing in the south to deliver desperately needed flour, a day after the first sea delivery was unloaded.
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