Ramadhan Routine: Myriam Francois-Cerrah

Myriam Francois-Cerrah & Sharmeen Ziauddin
Iftar: I’ve spent a lot of time in the Arab world, my husband is Turkish so we eat a mixture of food. I always open my fast with a date – Palestinian sourced of course, and water. I like to eat things that aren’t too heavy as I get super full really quickly. I try and be a healthy eater so I’m big on vegetables, lean meat and some source of carbohydrates. If we have a typical Turkish meal with family, it’ll always begin with a meat or veg soup. After that it’ll be rice, fresh salad, lean grilled chicken/lamb with yogurt sauce, fresh bread, hummus and aubergine. My mum in law makes this dessert in Ramadan called Güllaç, it’s made with rice, milk, pomegranate and crushed hazelnuts, it’s a very milky dessert. Also, Sütlaç is also made which is like a rice pudding.
Suhoor: I don’t tend to have a big suhoor, but I wake up and have as much water as I can possibly ingest, a banana and porridge or ready brek. I’m very aware if you don’t put good things in your body during Ramadan you will not make it through the day!
I miss: I only miss water whilst fasting, food doesn’t really come in to it for me. I drink a lot of water usually so I definitely miss water.

I crave: Some Turkish boruks , with cheese or meat. I don’t usually eat dessert every day but in Ramadan I usually crave something sweet after. On a regular day I may have a yogurt but in Ramadan I feel like having a proper dessert, something like knafeh. It’s fried cheese in sugar, it’s a heart attack in a dessert but once in a while it’s fine.