Ramadan kitchen crew: The stars of Iftar

Dubai Like a well-oiled machine, massive and anonymous acts of charity transform smoothly into Ramadan meals rolling out of custom-built kitchens across the country.

The huge cauldrons are then shuttled to mosques nationwide, where the faithful wait for iftar, the meal taken to end the fast at sunset. For community helpers, meanwhile, it is mission accomplished.

Iftar is the only meal of the day for many workers, but they hardly ever meet the people who prepare it behind the scenes.

"People sponsor iftar for the pleasure of God, not for compliments on Earth," said Farida Ali, an Emirati housewife who has provided iftars for decades in Dubai. "It is our duty to help each other. How can we eat our fill while our neighbour goes hungry?"

People sponsor iftar for the pleasure of god, not for compliments on earth. It is our duty to help each other. How can we eat our fill while our neighbour goes hungry? Farida Ali, Emirati housewife

Iftar for a month at a small mosque with around 200 worshippers costs about Dh55,000.

Each mosque has several iftar sponsors, usually the neighbours. Though some send home-made meals, or buy packed foodstuff, the main course is almost always biryani, a rice-and-meat dish popular in the Gulf region and the Indian subcontinent.

Biryani Express

During Ramadan, public kitchens take bulk orders of biryani and harees, a local meat-and-wheat paste. Orders are placed by the mun, a local measure of weight for rice that equals four kilogrammes. In biryani, a mun actually weighs 10kgs because six kilogrammes of meat are always included.

A biryani mun feeds around 20 people, and costs about Dh225.

"We make a minimum of 30 muns daily, virtually all of it meant for mosque iftars," said Shafiq Shauket, Manager at Al Shaba Kitchen in Sharjah.

"It is mostly UAE national families that place the order," he said. There are around 60 such kitchens in Sharjah, with each making an average of about 30 muns each day during Ramadan. That means residents are giving away food worth around Dh12 million.

In a typical kitchen, half-a-dozen chefs start preparing biryani and harees as early as 10 in the morning.

"It takes a good six hours or so for everything to be ready. Then, the pots are covered and kept warm on the stove. After that, we load them into vans, which deliver them to the mosques," said Shauket.

Volunteers serve the food on plates, neatly arranged in rows.

"I’ve always wondered where all this food comes from so I could thank the sponsor," said Faisal K., a Bangladeshi hairdresser.