In Alexandria, the holy month of Ramadan does not arrive with a single taste, a single voice, a single dish, or a single custom.
Instead, it comes in multiple dialects, as the city has become a melting pot of cultures for Syrians, Sudanese, Yemenis, and Palestinians, all of whom are now making the city their home. The customs and traditions of their diverse backgrounds coexist in Alexandria today, and the aromas of foods once foreign to the city now fill its streets.
These have created a unique cultural and human connection, weaving together the rituals of the foreign Arab Muslim community with the original lifestyle of the city. This is not unique to the cosmopolitan character of Alexandria, which has long welcomed people of different origins, but perhaps it is the type and genre of immigrants that have changed over time.
When Alexandria was founded in 331 BCE by Alexander the Great, it quickly became a cosmopolitan city. It welcomed expatriates, immigrants, exiles, merchants, and those fleeing wars and persecution. Long before the term “asylum” existed, Alexandria was recognised as a city of migration and refuge.
For more than two centuries in the modern period, Alexandria has been a city whose culture and character have been influenced, and sometimes even reshaped, by those who came there seeking refuge or a new life.
Today, refugees in the city observe Ramadan both the way they did in their homelands and as the city compels them to reinvent it, striking a delicate balance between preserving the customs and traditions they left behind them and adapting to the new life they now have.
Perhaps the first thing that Arab immigrants from Syria, Sudan, Yemen, and Palestine had to compromise with was the original flavours of their cuisine. While their homes remain vivid with original recipes, they have sometimes had to trade some ingredients that may be rare or expensive in Alexandria with more available and affordable alternatives.
Cooking traditional Syrian and Palestinian dishes like maqlouba, a famous “upside-down” rice and meat dish, in Alexandria often requires adaptation, as original ingredients such as special rice, pine nuts, or pistachios are either unavailable or expensive.
“I have been living in Alexandria for about eight years with my family,” said Rafa Abdel-Hakim, a Syrian expatriate in her thirties. “Coming to a new country is difficult because every nation has unique culinary traditions. While many ingredients are available in Egypt, they are costly, so we have adapted our recipes using what the Alexandrian market offers.”
However, she is happy with the compromise, since “during Ramadan, although the taste of the food is not the same, the atmosphere still reminds us of Syria.”
Over time, these dishes have become hybrid, no longer entirely authentic, but not purely Egyptian either, and they carry the memory of home with them while incorporating the flavours of the new city.
For Syrian immigrants, their cuisine during Ramadan is more symbolic than just nourishing and is a strong memory of their homeland.
This is the case for Shatha Rukan, another Syrian living in Alexandria. “We celebrate Ramadan in the spirit of Syria, preparing our traditional dishes for Iftar and Sohour such as Syrian harira, a rich Ramadan soup, lentil soup, freekeh, or cracked wheat, vegetable soup, and fattoush, a salad of toasted bread, fresh vegetables, sumac, and pomegranate molasses,” she explained.
“Maqlouba is central, and it is traditionally made with rice, vegetables, meat or chicken, and pine nuts,” Rukan said. “Because some ingredients are costly, we substitute what we can, such as Egyptian rice or Sudanese nuts, but the name and spirit remain. Kibbeh (meat with bulgar wheat) when fried and served with yoghurt, or baked, and samosas are also stars on Syrian Ramadan tables.”
For expatriate communities in Alexandria, Iftar in Ramadan is not just about food and original recipes as the very idea of the communal meal is the main issue.
“It is not only about satisfying hunger,” Shatha noted. “More importantly, it’s about compensating for absent family. We gather as a community, exchange memories and news and hope to one day to return home,” she added.
Awad Al-Zarqani, another Syrian resident, nodded in approval.
“Ramadan in Alexandria is different from in Syria, but we gather relatives and friends for a large Iftar that brings the taste of our homeland,” Al-Zarqani said. “Cooperation is at the heart of it. Every family contributes dishes, so our children feel connected to a homeland they may have never seen.”
Keeping homeland rituals is equally important. They include performing the Maghrib prayer in groups, followed by traditional drinks like tamarind, licorice, and julep – a mixture of date molasses, grapes, water, raisins, and pine nuts, all of which evoke memories of Ramadan in Syria.
Sweets such as qatayef stuffed with cream or walnuts, ma’arouk bread, a type of flatbread, and namura, a kind of semolina cake, reinforce the connection to home.
“The joy of food comes from the family presence and teamwork, more than the ingredients,” Al-Zarqani said. “Eating is a way to preserve identity in exile.”
The consensus among the Syrian immigrants is that for children born in Alexandria who have never experienced Ramadan in Syria these meals create an alternative memory, being a way of transmitting the cultural heritage connecting them to their homeland through stories, aromas, and shared rituals.
A CITY FOR ALL: Alexandria has long been a cosmopolitan city that accommodates everyone and where local inhabitants merge with expatriates, embracing them as part of the city’s life.
In the meantime, Alexandria has always served as a good host and a melting pot of different cultures, allowing space for new customs, festive traditions, and continuous adaptations to emerge.
Ayat Fahmi, an Alexandrian student, was waiting in the Azarita district of the city for her favourite Syrian meal of grilled chicken and yalingi, or grape leaves with pomegranate molasses.
“I’ve become a lover of Syrian food,” she said. “During Ramadan, I prepare or buy Syrian dishes every week. My Syrian neighbour first introduced me to these dishes, and I fell in love with them. I also introduced our dishes to them and they loved them too.”
Syrian food in Alexandria seems to have become a universal language, transcending translation. Alexandrians and Syrians have blended Egyptian ingredients with authentic Syrian recipes, creating a shared love that bridges cultures.
Other foreign Arab communities, such as Sudanese, Yemenis, and Palestinians, similarly maintain their culinary traditions largely within family gatherings, again with similar adaptations that match budgets and availability.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, Egypt hosts over 1.09 million refugees and asylum seekers from about 60 nationalities. Alexandria alone is home to roughly 89,000 such people, including Sudanese, Syrians, and others.
For these communities, Ramadan is about more than food and instead is also the gateway to keeping homeland traditions alive and preserving their culture. Immigrants maintain traditional prayers and rituals, whether in mosques or at home, preserving the tone of zikr (supplication), the length of taraweeh (night prayers), and other rituals.
Hamoud Abdel-Samad, a Sudanese refugee living in Alexandria, told Al-Ahram Weekly that he has been in the city for two years and has come to “love its people for their generosity.”
Yet, he noted that each community preserves its own customs and traditions, which highlights differences in Ramadan rituals like “the length of mosque prayers and extended sermons.” To maintain their own traditions, Hamoud and other Sudanese people in the city decided to gather in each other’s homes to perform group prayers reminiscent of those back home.
He explained that they “preserve a sense of unity by sharing meals together, compensating for the absence of family.”
“The act of gathering around the table has become a Ramadan ritual in itself,” he said. “Each day begins with a first morsel of authentic food, carrying the aroma and taste of our homeland and prepared by Sudanese hands. Nostalgia has become a daily Ramadan ritual.”
Reflecting on the differences between Ramadan in Alexandria and in Sudan, Hamoud said that he “always feels the contrast”.
“Back home, the streets are familiar, the family is whole, and rituals have been passed down through the generations. Here, Alexandria is a host city, with new rituals and constant attempts to adapt, so we can live while keeping our traditions alive,” he said.
Mohamed Al-Aboudi, another Sudanese living in Alexandria, recalled his first Ramadan in the city.
“Initially, I was confused by the timing of Iftar, the call to prayer, and the crowded streets,” Al-Aboudi said. “But slowly we adapted by preparing food with local ingredients, buying kunafa and qatayef, and attending Sohour in Ramadan tents. Nostalgia remains, but it comes from love, not complaints. We preserve our memories while reshaping our rituals in Alexandria.”
Food, prayer, and community become bridges between the homeland and the host city, and between memory and adaptation, creating a Ramadan that is both familiar and new.
Hasna Jaafar, a Sudanese woman living in Alexandria, says that Ramadan in the city feels familiar and is not very different from the atmosphere she was used to back home. One of the most important Ramadan traditions that she tries hard to keep is preparing such popular Sudanese Iftar drinks as sweet bitters made from fermented corn that is dried into chips weeks before Ramadan starts and then prepared afresh during the holy month.
These drinks are also shared as gifts with Alexandrian neighbours, fostering cultural exchanges through food.
Hasna adds that she always invites her Egyptian neighbours to breakfast in Ramadan, preparing the famous Sudanese meal of porridge made from corn flour or millet. This is served with a traditional Sudanese sauce made with onions, dried meat, spices, and tomatoes that is considered a symbol of Sudanese cuisine.
She notes that Sudanese balila, a chickpea snack, also differs from the Egyptian version, as it is made from chickpeas or wheat and served either salty or lightly seasoned.
“Sudanese cuisine is full of rich and wonderful food,” Hasna said. “But it isn’t well known in Alexandria, and it isn’t sold in restaurants like Syrian food.”
For this reason, she is always keen to invite her Alexandrian neighbours to her Sudanese breakfast table to share the culture of Sudanese cuisine. During Ramadan, “the table often becomes a space for neighbours to share dishes,” she says, adding that while she prepares Sudanese specialties, her neighbours bring Egyptian favourites like stuffed cabbage, okra tagine with meat, and kunafa and qatayef, creating a festive exchange of culinary traditions rooted in love and coexistence.
Hasna also highlighted popular Sudanese baked goods that are eaten during Ramadan like pinch bread, a thick round bread with a soft texture, and kasra, a thin bread made from fermented corn. Traditional sweets include luqaimat, a kind of doughnut, which are less sweet than the Egyptian version and are sometimes served with honey or sugar.
“The first time I tasted Sudanese porridge and Sudanese tea, I was fascinated by the richness of Sudanese cuisine,” said Donia Salama, a young Alexandrian woman, recalling one Ramadan Iftar with her Sudanese neighbours.
“It was thanks to them that we gathered at a table full of Sudanese and Egyptian dishes, shared beautiful stories, and exchanged recipes with love and friendliness,” she said.
Donia added that the house where three Sudanese families live in Alexandria has become a close-knit community.
“Before Ramadan even begins, we share purchases and hang up decorations both in the house and on the street,” she said, adding that “the ritual feels the same, but with a different spirit and flavour.”
COEXISTENCE AND EXCHANGE: These customs and rituals are no different for people from Palestine and Yemen who live in Alexandria.
Despite their displacement and difficult circumstances, these refugees maintain traditions of social solidarity among themselves during Ramadan, exchanging visits and hospitality, while also engaging in cultural and intellectual exchanges with people in Alexandria.
Egyptian Ramadan celebrations intertwine with the traditions of Yemeni and Palestinian immigrants to the city, who eat at the public Ramadan banquets held by Egyptian society, such as the Mawaid Al-Rahman (charity tables) or communal Iftar gatherings that spread the spirit of love among communities.
The Yemeni community in Alexandria is known for its small size, yet its members work consistently to integrate into Egyptian society during Ramadan. They participate in local Ramadan practices with neighbours and friends while preserving their cultural identity. This includes preparing lanterns and decorations in the streets, praying in mosques, and contributing to the preparation of free meals that serve all those who are fasting, including expatriates, refugees, and Egyptian citizens.
Faisal Al-Jasseri, a Yemeni resident of Alexandria, told the Weekly that many Yemenis in Egypt participate in Egyptian Ramadan rituals.
“They perform taraweeh and tahajjud prayers in local mosques alongside Egyptian neighbours and friends and adopt Egyptian customs such as decorating homes and streets and enjoying Egyptian foods, particularly kunafa and qatayef,” he explained.
Al-Jasseri added that Yemenis also maintain their own authentic rituals by preparing traditional dishes such as shafout, a popular Yemeni dish of bread mixed with yoghurt and herbs, salta, a stew of fenugreek, vegetables, meat, and eggs, and manda, or rice with meat.
Yemenis share these foods with their neighbours and friends in Alexandria during Iftar, reflecting the Yemeni value of hospitality.
As for the Palestinian community in Alexandria, its members are deeply involved with Egyptians, perhaps due to their geographical proximity and long history of coexistence. Palestinian families who have settled in Alexandria participate actively in Egyptian Ramadan celebrations, including communal Iftars, invitations to friends and neighbours, and attending taraweeh prayers in local mosques.
Palestinians in Alexandria are also committed to preserving their traditional food habits during Ramadan, preparing dishes such as Palestinian Khalili durda (a pastry from Jerusalem), musakhan (roast chicken), maftoul (couscous), matabab (Baba Ghanoush), Nablus knafeh (the Nablus recipe for kunafa), and other traditional sweets for Iftar.
Afifa Hassoun, a Palestinian resident of Alexandria, explains that they embrace the Alexandrian Ramadan rituals learned from the Egyptians while maintaining their authentic identity and heritage. She emphasises that Palestinian families are keen to exchange visits and invitations during Ramadan to strengthen the sense of community and belonging among themselves.
The UNHCR in Alexandria provides community activities for refugees of various nationalities during Ramadan. It also offers assistance such as organising communal Iftar tables, distributing aid to those in need, and providing training and social empowerment programmes.
Similarly, the Egyptian Red Crescent branch in Alexandria organises Ramadan activities, including entertainment, Iftar campaigns, and the distribution of aid to various refugee communities, supporting them during the holy month.
But it is above all the spirit of Ramadan itself that offers a golden opportunity, as the traditions of the host Alexandrian community intersect with the customs of immigrants, forming a rich cultural blend of celebration, worship, and social solidarity in a triangle of love, coexistence, and adaptation.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 12 March, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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