Fuel your body for the Ramadan fasting period with delicious date recipes from MasterChef’s Hoda Hannaway.

Ramadan is a month of spiritual reflection, self-improvement and devotion to Allah. Fasting during Ramadan is an important act of worship that teaches self-discipline, empathy and spiritual awareness. For me it is also a time to strengthen my relationships with family and friends and reflect on life in general.

Dates are full of antioxidants, minerals and vitamins that help support brain, digestive and heart health and protect against diseases. In addition, in Islam, dates are consumed to provide natural energy to sustain the body during the fasting period and were prophet Muhammad’s favourite and most desired foods.

Suhoor is known as the pre-dawn breakfast before the start of fasting for the day. During this time many Middle Eastern bakeries are open in Australia and produce breakfast street foods like manakish (Lebanese breakfast pizzas), mashatih (Lebanese Ramadan bread) or even the kaak bil tamer (date bread rings). Growing up, I would look forward to going in the middle of the night to buy the breakfast and enjoy a pre-dawn gathering. The atmosphere during Suhoor was simultaneously calm and buzzing, and gave a sense of togetherness and community, which somehow felt different to the gatherings for Iftar.

Every night in Ramadan we sit around the table as a family and with others that we have invited to break the fast with and have a share style meal. It’s kind of like having Christmas Eve dinner with friends and family every night for 30 days. The children also have the opportunity to learn and start challenging and training themselves to observe fasting when they feel ready to, often starting with a couple of hours in the day and gradually increasing that time.

Eid-al-Fitr is celebrated at the end of the month to bid farewell to Ramadan and start implementing our resolutions – kind of like a New Year’s resolution. It is a time that people come together and mass produce homemade sweets, particularly maamoul. It’s like smelling the perfume of Christmas-y treats during the festive season.