Breaking The Ramadan Fast In A Cab At 50 MPH (Reheat)

Hey everyone, Dan here with another Reheat and as we sit here today, it is Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims, so it was the purpose of returning to Reheat, a Ramadan episode that we did a few years back. For this one, I spoke with Sahara, Arafat, Ray, a Palestinian Texan cooking teacher who re-discovered her Muslim roots in her 30s and later in the episode, and this part, I still

remember it was yesterday because it was such a special experience. I break the Ramadan fast with some taxi drivers in New York City and want to turn out to be a very real and fast-moving New York City cabby iftar experience.

Now remember, there's never a sort of this book for you on us to re-heat, drop me a line at [email protected].

Thanks, Ramadan, Lubarak to everyone who celebrates and enjoy. Right now, Muslims across the world are celebrating Ramadan. Ramadan is the holiest month of the Muslim calendar, it's when Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. And during Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk every day for 30 days.

That's right, 30 straight days, they don't eat or drink anything while the sun is up. It's intense. I had a friend who worked for the Saudi embassy in Houston and she was, she's not Muslim, but she went to lunch during Ramadan. She said she came back and she saw whatever co-workers who definitely was Muslims,

crouch behind a car, shoving a big Mac and his mouth. And he gave her this book, don't tell anybody. So even the best of us managed to slip a little. That's right. Like I said, Ramadan's intense.

But as I learned when I talked to a wide range of Muslims, it's also spiritual, peaceful.

When the sun finally sets, delicious.

You just heard Austin based food blogger Sahar Arafat Ray. Coming up, she'll talk about rediscovering her Muslim roots in the wake of 9/11. And observing Ramadan for the first time, when she's in her 30s. Later in the show, I go to break the fast for the bunch of cab drivers and the taxi parking lot at JFK Airport. Stick around.

This is this pork full, it's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman. Sahar Arafat Ray was born in raised in Texas, the daughter of a Palestinian father and a Texan mother. We met up in Austin to talk about how she observes Ramadan now and of course to eat. So we hear at peace, bakery, and Delhi in North Austin.

“We've got, I walked in the door, I was like, what should we have Sahar?”

And we were like, well, they got this brazed lamb shake and I was like, done. This is so good.

The brazed lamb shake on the rice, we had hummus, bobba, ganush.

Yep. Hang on, I get to take a bite. Yeah, go ahead. Mm. I'm a big hummus guy, I love me some hummus.

Yes. Yes, I'm a very strict construction, it's when it comes to hummus. Tell me about that. Well, hummus in its most basic form is ground chick peas, tahina, lemon, garlic, and salt. In its most basic of forms, obviously a lot of people, it's very popular obviously now.

And a lot of companies like Sabra is the main one, or even just small mom and pop operations, they put a lot of other things in it. And for me, that's kind of an aberration, it's just no, thank you.

“Do you have a strategy for your hummus and pita consumption?”

Yeah, you usually want to have more sub-dip than bread, let me get some bread here. So for you, you're really just using the pita bread as like a hummus conduit. That is really all it is, is just a hummus conduit, yes. I'm with you, yeah. So it's like, you know, minimum bread maximum hummus.

Oh, interesting. So what you've done is you've taken the pita and you've split it in half, so you'll have a single layer. And now you're kind of folding it over into a scoop, it's almost like you shape it like a bugle. Exactly. And just scoop it up.

Yeah. That's a nice technique. I became very learning with this as growing up. Yeah, you go to an Arab household a lot of times they won't have utensils on the table that have everything with bread, the older schools people.

Yeah. I got to say, I love the sound of the Arabic language, there's so many words that I really like, but I feel like Baba Ganush. Baba Ganush. That's the winner.

That's got to be the winner. It is a winner. Yeah, Arabic is very guttural. So it's a Hebrew, they're very similar, actually. Well, there are so many similarities.

Oh, of course.

“Isn't that kind of one of the depressing things about it all?”

Yes, it is. Yes. A lot of the foods are very close together. Yeah, I mean, in halal and kosher are very similar. Yeah, they definitely have their differences, but they are very similar.

You know, Salam Shalom, they sound very much alike. You know, there's a lot of words that are very similar, so yeah, we all come from the same

I just don't get it. Yeah.

“Well, we're here to get it today, Sahara.”

Yes, we are. It's awesome. We're going to fix everything right now. That's right. We should.

Um, raise in Texas, and my father is Palestinian origin. He's actually was born and raised in Nablus, which is now on the West Bank. My mother is a native Texan born in Galveston, Texas, and is German. She's a born and raised in Texas in Fort Worth. Right.

Um, and were you raised Muslim? No, my, I was raised in a pretty a religious household. My mother was raised Catholic. My father was raised Muslim. When he came here, he just sort of drifted away from his faith somewhat.

He's always identified as Muslim, but he just didn't practice when he came here.

And when he met and married my mother, she wasn't really practicing her religion either. And they just raised my sisters and I very a religiously and let us forge our own paths as we got older. And tell me about what role is on plays in your life now. For me, it's a really big part of my identity now.

It, for years, I wouldn't really think about it. I wouldn't talk about it, because unfortunately Islam has a lot of, unfortunately negative connotations that come with it. But as I've gotten older, I've decided, you know, I'm just going to embrace this. I may not be somebody who goes praise five times a day.

I may not always fast. I may not always keep a lie. But you know what? It's a part of me. And I'm just going to embrace it and just take hold.

“So was it something in particular that led you to make that change?”

Surprisingly it was after 2001 that I was so, not only was I angry about what happened. 9/11. Yeah, 9/11. I was very angry about that because that was not, you know, we could go on all day about how that's really not Islam with those guys did.

But I was really very angry at the backlash because I felt like we were, as a Muslim, I was almost forced to apologize for this. And it's like I shouldn't apologize for it because it wasn't a Muslim thing that was done. But it did make me think that, you know what, I really should look into this and actually learn more about my own religion.

And when somebody says something that is incorrect about Islam, then I can at least say, "No, you're wrong." So how old are you the first time you observe Ramadan? I was in my 30s, I couldn't say exactly how old I was, but I was definitely in my 30s. Tell me about that.

What was like the first time you did it? It was really hard and I was really cranky a lot, so it was really difficult. Were you with your husband at the time? Yeah. Because he's not Muslim.

Yeah, I was like, I don't know about this whole rediscovering Islam thing honey. Yeah, pretty much. We went out to eat the first time and he's, you know, I'm like shoving food in my mouth because, yeah, don't bite your fingers, you know what I'm saying? That was really funny.

So, so hard, let's talk about eating it Ramadan. During Ramadan, what you do is you eat very, very early in the morning, which is the Sehwurd meal.

And you eat that before the Fajjo prayer, which is the sunrise prayer, you always break

“your fast with some dates and some water because that's what the prophet did.”

The prophet Muhammad and then you go to prayer and then you can eat. So, a little something to take the edge off. A little something to take the edge off and then you eat and generally people like to start off with soup because it's something easy on the stomach. Usually like a lentil soup or a chicken or a seafood, something very light.

Move on to salad, like Faitouche salad, which is a bread salad, basically. And then you move on to the big stuff, you know, you move on to the Saita dea, which is a fish with rice dish or you move on to the mansef, which is the lamb and yogurt dish. And it's an old Bedouin dish. It's very common with Palestinians and Jordanians, and it takes a long time to prepare.

And you make a lot of it, which is another, which is, it's not a dish you make for two people. It's a family thing. And then eventually you'll get to the desserts. Some people will eat all night long and just keep eating until Sehwurd the next day.

Some people will eat until very late the night catch a little sleep and then get up and have their Sehwurd meal before the sunrise prayer. There are no, and I talked to several of my relatives about this, one that are much more devout than I am.

And they all said the same thing, and I knew I was on the right track because I never really

associate any specific foods was Ramadan and they all said, "No, we just eat."

Is your father still alive?

Oh, yes, yes. He's alive for worth. Oh, yeah. My parents are both still in Fort Worthy. My parents are both alive and kicking.

So, what does your father think about you now having sort of embracing Islam and getting

“more into the culture and the food and the language and all that?”

He's good with it because for us, it's an appreciation of what he is, I think. You know, he wasn't born in this country. He came to this country. He's a college student and stayed, so he's been here for over 50 years. But he still retained some of the old ways and it was kind of fun growing up with that.

Especially the food. The food part was the best. Right. That's the heart, Arifat Ray. She writes about food at tartqueenskitchen.com.

She also teaches cooking classes in Austin. She can show you how to make the Middle Eastern dishes that she just mentioned in our conversation. She teaches a wide range of other cuisines as well. All the info is at tartqueenskitchen.com. Coming up, I feel the New York City cab full of food and take it to the JFK Airport Taxi

Parking Lawn at sundown. What could go wrong? Time to cook up some atrartizements. Welcome back to another sportful Reheat. I'm Dan Pashman.

Hey, check out my Instagram. When you get a chance, I share what I'm up to. What I'm eating. All of my hot takes.

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“who want to cut out my rants, about the best way to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

But the point is that that stuff is on my Instagram. We have a lot of fun there. Also, sometimes I'm debating what should we do for this episode, not put up a poll, because your chance to actually have it put into the show. So you can do it right now, while you're listening, follow me on Instagram at the sportful,

again, it's at the sportful. Thanks. All right, back to this week's Reheat. Welcome back to the sportful. I'm Dan Pashman.

Bit more info for you about how the Ramadan fast works. There are exceptions for people who are young, sick, elderly, or pregnant. Muslims use a lunar calendar, which is 10 or 11 days shorter than a solar calendar. That means that Ramadan moves a little earlier every year. So like some years, it's in February.

But this year, it falls during the longest days of the year in the northern hemisphere. So Muslims in Norway have to fast for like 20 hours. But some e-moms have issued fatwas shortening the fast in those areas, often by basing it on the time in Mecca. I wanted to get a feel for the way is different people celebrate Ramadan.

So I went to the Arab American Family Support Center in Brooklyn, talked to a group of Jordanian, Yemeni, and Palestinian American teenagers. I remember one time when I was younger and I was taking a nap and my sister opened me up. And she was like, "That means that we're going to wake up and I was like, "Why would it?"

She's like, "It's time to eat." And I go to a kid and I'm the only one and I'm eating and she comes back she's laughing at me and my mom. She's like, "No, me. Why are you eating?"

I was like, "Leans, hold me. It was time." She got on trouble for it. Tell me some of your favorite things to eat at Ramadan, for it's time. Some boosts.

Oh, it's like a fried, like a musket pocket with cheese and different vegetables and it must be so hard because that's the kind of food if it's frying a bit your house smells so good. Yeah, man.

Tell me about the moment before the first bite.

“I don't know, I mean the last minute, it's like a whole hour for me, so I think the last”

minute is the longest, but is there also something special about that minute? Yeah, there is. It's like, everybody goes crazy because like, you're just waiting, like, it feels like you can't even wait like another minute because like you've been waiting hours, it's like, it's like, it feels so long and then once it comes and then you eat, it's like, it's

like, it's not even that big of a deal, you did it and like, it's over. Like, for example, yesterday I was working and then like, you know, Sundays is a slow day. And then last, it's like five minutes, I'm waiting, I have my food, everything, I'm getting ready and I see this customer like 10 of them came and I was like, seriously, guys, it's down.

And then after the day left I went close the door, I said close for 20 minutes and then my bossy calling me, what are you guys saying, man, listen, I'm gonna leave this to all and I am hungry. What are some things you can do during Ramadan that you would not be able to do the rest of the year?

The best part is when you stay on night for the whole night. Um, I think you have more freedom in choosing the food you want your mom to cook. It's like, if you don't do your chores, like, that you won't get punished for it, they're like,

I think it's just because they don't have that much energy to bother you, so that's a good

thing. What's the best part of Ramadan? What do you look forward to?

“I think the energy is really nice because I don't know, you act in a different way than you”

were if you weren't fasting, like there's no fighting, no arguing. The best part of the Ramadan is get the whole family gathered and eating together, sitting together, talking. Yeah, it's like spending time with family and friends, and it's like, you have everybody around you and supporting you, you're not doing it by yourself.

From the Arab American Center, I met up with Mohammed Tipu Sultan, he's a Muslim cab driver who works with a union called the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. About half of New York City cabbies are Muslim, and I wanted to find out what it's like to do that job when you're not eating or drinking all day. Tipu and I had a plan by a bunch of fruit and snacks, bring them to the cab drivers waiting

for fairs at JFK Airport, get there right at sundown, where it's time to break the fast. Share the food, talk to Muslim cabbies, sounds like fun, right?

Tipu is off duty, so we held a cab and the two of us rode in the back, and first thing

I learned, cab drivers are used to being in control of the vehicle, so Tipu had lots of opinions about which route a driver should take. Let me see the little farther. Yeah, in Shallah, the bell parkway is good, except a rockway of a blue body area is a traffic.

“Tipu, it's 715, you have been fasting all day, am I right?”

Yes, I'm fasting all day. That means that it's 3.30 a.m., the last food I ate, and last drink I, 3.43, the last minute of the closing time, I drink the water. How are you feeling right now? I'm feeling thrusting and tired and hungry, missing my food.

You now mostly drive night shift or day shift? I drive in my shift. So that's about what time to what time? Five o'clock to five o'clock in the morning, every day, every day, oh my gosh. So for a taxi driver who is fasting for Ramadan, is it better to have the night shift

or the day shift? Is he are for fasting at the driver driving a night time? Person who driving a day time, it is much more realization about the fasting. So a whole day, he is on the street with the traffic and picking the luggage. So it is a harder day driver to be fasting and driving in a day time.

Where are you from originally? I'm from Bangladesh, how long have you been here? Last 17 years. Am I right? You're going to school?

Yes, I'm back and forth, I've been and I try my best, but having family and child is not easy. I have a wife and you have a two-kits. How do they? One of them is a year and a half and another one is seven, four or two, seven years.

And what are you studying for? I got a bad associate degree in physics and from Kingsborough Community College and currently I want to re-admage and in Brooklyn College on computer science. So you already have a degree in physics? I already have a associate degree in physics.

Now you're going for computer science. Computer science. Is there any you learned about physics that affects the way you drive your cab? Oh, that's totally, it is all about physics. Driving a text is all about physics.

Tell me about that. So I see the observing the speed of the car and I see the timing and I can't want to take a left turn and how fast I have to push the gas. Right.

“Your brain is deciding how fast you have to go to get in front of the car.”

That's coming. Coming, coming. Come to left turn. Left turn.

Now what about the physics of taking the first bite of food at the end of a day of fasting

a Ramadan? What is the best angle to put the food into your mouth at and at what velocity? That is how to become, because my tongue will be with the full of his speed. It's getting down and they are probably biology work. That'll be your next degree.

That's true. We got to the airport with our cab full of watermelon, apples, and other treats.

But I'm trying to explain to you you're not to be in here.

I can go call the police right now and if you don't see, they will arrest you. That's how serious it is. I don't know, I don't know. And obviously you don't because you keep trying to explain something to me that I already understand.

Well, Tsupu and my producer Anne talked to the supervisor, I snuck away. There's a rest stop building in this parking lot and there's actually like an outdoor prayer area that the Muslim cabbies have set up in the back. It's a little patch of sidewalk cover with rugs, wedge between an access road and dumpster. Tell me your name.

Rahul. Are you Muslim? Yes, I am. I am. So, Rahul.

I'm Rahul. Thank you. Thank you very much. This is the holy month. We fast during this month.

The time now is 8 o'clock and about exactly half an hour is more people to be praying here in this area. Right?

“So, as a taxi driver in particular, how does it affect you?”

During Ramadan. Many things.

But this job is demanding because so many other things that come along with the job, like

a traffic with the customers, but I mean, but just in general, this is the month and which God is a testing. You are last one. I thought it is a testing. This is a test.

Your life that we are here today is a test. Now, during this we get tested more. In about 30 minutes it will be iftar, it will be time for you to break your fast for the day. What are you looking forward to eating? Well, I will be having a passenger somewhere, so I have my supplies in my cab.

The custom to break the fast is with a bit. I have a few bits in my cab, so I will break the fast somewhere on the highway with the passenger in the back. Okay, so, but nice day. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. Take care. Can you tell me your name please? Where are you from originally?

I'm from Gambia. And you're fasting for Ramadan? Yes. So it's just about 25 minutes. Yes, a lot of 25 minutes.

So you left? Yeah. What are you going to be eating? I'm going to eat something light, you know, coffee, make a little roll, and then after the rain, and then I'll eat something like rice, that's my main.

So the jig was up. We left the food by the prayer area, got back in our cab. It decided to head to La Guardia Airport to see if there were Muslim cabbies breaking their fast there. But the sun was about to set.

It was a race against time. To put, you may have to break your fast here in the back of this cab. Well, I have my food, my wife gives you. Yeah, we didn't leave all the food there, did you? No, I have some in my from my home.

I brought it. Okay, good. So, Tipu has taken the lid off of his food. He's getting ready. How much?

How many more minutes do we have? Tipu. Oh, seven more minutes. Seven more minutes. Not like you're keeping track though.

Yeah. Me 24. Seven minutes. You may break your fast in this very cab.

“Well, I'm sure won't be the first time you've done that, right?”

Not in the first time. Have you ever broken your fast as a passenger in a cab? That's the first time.

That's the first time I've been as a passenger.

It smells so good. How do you do this to yourself? Why are you taking the lid off? You're releasing the smell. You're only teasing yourself.

Yeah, just. It is also rewarded that you're sitting front of the food and he's still you're not eating and you are falling the water of a lot. So you're so hard. So you are supposed to look at the food before.

You're supposed to make it as hard as possible. It sounds like it is like, it is also rewarded when you are sitting with the food, a low-wheeled sitting at how much hard it's joggle and we are doing it. Tip of what time is it? 830.

Check your phone. What time is 831 or 830? What time is it? 831 or 832? 630.

Oh, we done? Yeah. Oh, okay. So this is a lot of glory. Really?

Oh, yeah. I want this.

“Checking out our driver who's also been fasting all day.”

Just passed back some dates. We live there. Oh, yeah. It's literally, it's a party in the car now. I'm sorry.

Oh, sorry. Oh, that's okay. Checking out how does that taste? Good. All right.

After all day spending. Oh, you're out of the ticket. No, you're doing your left. I'm still in the left. Left, left, left, left, left.

We almost got in an accident just now. You take this any. And I'll share that with Anne. No, no, no. You eat.

I haven't been fasting. I'll share with Anne. It's okay. You eat. Oh, all right.

Thank you. Oh, my God. This is the eggplant. Yeah. Oh, my God.

We got like a buffet back here.

We got bananas, apples. We got China. We got it's in the eggplant. Oh, man. And Tippu.

“I have to say just in the few minutes since we started eating.”

Hmm. I can see your, uh, you're already energized. As he holds. Yeah. Tippu just took two bites of his banana.

Pass it up to check. Who took two, who finished the rest of the banana. Yeah. It's a. Yeah.

That's right. This is a romantic month. Is it shearing? Is that her word? Oh, love.

Give us that her word.

“But party's debating the food, shearing the food.”

We understand each other. And it is cool. Like check now our driver here at cab driver. He's from Molly. You're from Bangladesh.

You guys have never met before.

And here we are in a car together. But you have this common bond. Yep. Here you are. Eating out of each other's hands.

Yep. A 50 miles an hour on the van. We can express way. By the time we got to La Guardia, the fast have been broken in that cabbies had gone their separate ways.

And anyway, nothing was going to top watching tippu feed our driver Shekna as Shekna weave through traffic at 50 miles an hour. So thanks for not killing us Shekna.

And tippu, thanks for sharing your wife's amazing cooking with us.

And to all the Muslims out there, Ramadan Rubara. This show is a production of WNYC in the sportful. It's produced by Antsani and me. We get help from Tim Regeri. Special thanks to Paula Shuman. And thanks to Ramadan Isa, Ibrahim at the Arab American Center.

And all the kids we spoke with. Abdullah, Arwa, Hamoud, Lean, Naya, Nermine, and Osama. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman. I'm Velopadiyachi from Cape Town, South Africa. Reminding you to eat more and eat better and to eat more better.

[Music] This reheat was produced by Guyana Palmer. It seemed that produces the sportful today, includes me along with Managing Producer. Emma Morgan Stern.

And senior producer, Andres O'Hara. Our engineer is Jared O'Connell. Music help from Black Label Music. The sportful is a production of Sirius XM podcast. Our executive producer is Camille Stanley.

“And hey, did you know you can listen to the sportful on the Sirius XM app?”

Yes, Sirius XM app and his all your favorite podcasts. Plus over 200 ad free music channels curated by genre and era. Plus live sports covers. Your podcasting app have that. And there's interviews with a list stars and so much more.

It's everything you want. Your podcast app and music app all rolled into one. And right now, sportful listeners can get three months free of the Sirius XM app by going to SiriusXM.com/sportful. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman.