GAZA CITY: From the first day of the month of Ramadan, Palestinians in Gaza begin flocking to sweet shops, either to eat them after iftar or to gift them when visiting relatives.
Sweets of all kinds are very popular, but qatayef, which is famous in Ramadan, as well as kunafa of all kinds, are more popular than others — especially the local version known as Arabic kunafa, brown in color and made with bulgar wheat and semolina, stuffed with walnuts instead of cheese.
The kunafa is then decorated with mashed pistachios and syrup, and eaten with a spoon.
“Gaza’s kunafa is the most famous kunafa on all occasions, and in the month of Ramadan, despite the presence of qatayef, I buy qatayef for half of the month, and in the other half I buy kunafa as sweets after iftar,” Khaled Al-Saedi, 56, told Arab News.
“Even at banquets to which family members are invited, kunafa is present. We must serve sweets in Ramadan after breaking the fast. A day cannot pass without a kind of sweet; even my children love it very much,” Al-Saedi said
Lubna Al-Qassas, 44, also serves kunafa and qatayef regularly throughout Ramadan, and she asks her husband or one of her children to buy them to eat after iftar, especially with a cup of coffee, or to serve to guests when they visit.
“Personally, I love kunafa very much and prefer it to many other types of sweets. If the decision was up to me alone, I would eat it daily, but my children and my husband prefer to bring different kinds (of sweets home) every day, although there is also qatayef almost daily,” Al-Qassas told Arab News.
“I learned to make kunafa at home, and sometimes I make it myself, but many days there is no time, or I am tired after a long day of preparing food for breakfast, so we bring it from the shops,” she said
Kunafa and qatayef’s importance during Ramadan stem from their nutritional benefits, compensating the body with sugar and fat from calories lost to fasting.
Kunafa dates back to the Fatimid period, where it adorned the tables of royalty, earning fame as food for the caliphs.
It soon became associated with the month of Ramadan in the Ayyubid, Mamluk, Turkish, modern and contemporary eras, as food for rich and poor alike.
As well as Arabic kunafa, one can also find in the sweet shops of the Gaza Strip Nabulsi kunafa and Turkish kunafa.
Mahmoud Arafat, owner of a sweet shop in the Gaza Strip, said: “Arabic kunafa is more popular than other items during the month of Ramadan.
“Despite the existence of many types, the Arabic kunafa remains … the top sweet consumed (during) Ramadan, due to its connection to the Gaza Strip, and it’s prices are moderate.
“It is also suitable to be served on occasions and banquets that families organize for their relatives,” Arafat told Arab News.
