Waterloo chef Jawad Ghabra on favourite dishes to celebrate Eid al-Fitr: Andrew Coppolino

For Jawad Ghabra, co-founder and co-owner of Waterloo's Shawerma Plus, Eid al-Fitr means celebrating the end of Ramadan fasting by sharing breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes and traditions with family and friends over the course of a full day.

"When we were kids, I remember very clearly my parents after prayer waited for a couple of hours in the morning before starting to visit one family member after another. We'd celebrate with each and we were always on a time crunch," Ghabra says.

There are two Eid celebrations in the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Ahda is in July, while Eid al-Fitr, meaning "the feast of breaking the fast," will take place beginning either May 1 or May 2, depending on the new moon.

For Ghabra, Eid might start with a breakfast or brunch of fettet hummus with whole chickpeas, yogurt and crisp pita chips followed by lunch around three p.m.

"Dinner you'd expect to be at 10 p.m. or afterwards. It wasn't part of our religious beliefs to eat so late, but it became habitual," he notes of his family's observance. 

At all religious observances the world over, food plays an important role, whether it's a Passover seder, Orthodox Easter (which was last weekend) and certainly at the conclusion of Ramadan.

Variety of dishes to celebrate

With 1.8 billion Muslins around the world, Eid practices can vary and the foods can be quite different. In Waterloo region, there are a number of dishes you could find that are often eaten at Eid.

That might be doro wot chicken stew and bulgur-wheat kibbeh at Kitchener's Ethiopian restaurants, haleem at Urwa's Pakistani and Indian restaurant in Waterloo, dumplings from MoMo House in Preston, or Afghan bolani, a stuffed flatbread, from Chopan Kabob in Kitchener.

You can find Uyghur lamb, rice and mantu dumpling dishes at Bogda Restaurant in Waterloo — the Uyghurs being a persecuted Muslim people living in northwest China.

Chef Derek Hines has prepared Ghanaian and Nigerian Jollof rice in his kitchen at Waterloo's Knights of Columbus.

"The Levantine countries are similar," Ghabra says. "Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Palestinians. In the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia and Emirates, those are similar. Then you look at North Africa and Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Egypt as well."

Pointing to a bin of fresh green almonds at Ammar's Halal Meats and Market, a sign of spring for Syrian cooks, he calls them "aqabiyee."

"We clean them up in water with ice and then dip them in salt. They're a nice snack to enjoy each and every crunchy bite," said Ghabra.

Ghabra favours lamb dishes as a main course at Eid, but meals feature fruits and vegetables, including maqlube as a sort of "upside-down" eggplant dish. "That's the translation of maqluba," he notes. "I love my eggplant dishes. On the bottom is eggplant and on top is the rice. Once it's cooked, you flip it over."

Walk through the door at Ammar's and among the first foods you'll see are dates and figs on an aisle-end display: sharing sweets is popular at Eid al-Fitr. 

"When we break our fast during Ramadan, dates are one of first foods eaten, along with water," Ghabra says. "For some people, dates continue with Eid. You'll come across date maamoul with a special dough and date stuffing or pistachio or walnuts. They come in different shapes."

Bakhlava, kunayef and maamoul: the popularity of sweets, in fact, can get out of hand, according to Ghabra.

"At Eid, sweets are a big thing. And that's why we put on some weight for sure," he says with a laugh. He encouraged people to join the celebration and share in the excitement and goodwill that comes at Eid.

"You're going to see Muslims over-hyper. Head over to your neighbour with some sweets like maamoul that we always enjoy and wish them good health and prosperity every year. Kul aam wa antum bi-khair."