I came across the booklet when a colleague was going through the pile of flyers, press releases, advertisements and so on that would tend to pile up in any newspaper office. He dumped the envelope from the Semiramis Intercontinental on my desk, and walked away. The envelope held a ten-page full colour booklet called “Ramadan Highlights”, with pages highlighting the special iftar offerings from each of the Semiramis' restaurants, including descriptive text and complete menus in Arabic and English, and full-page colour photographs. My first thought upon opening it was how much money had been spent on it: the heavy, high-quality coverstock, the glossy pages, the stylised Ramadan-themed photographs, the calligraphy on the front, the elegant graphic design and layout. My experienced eye detected a very expensive piece of design and printing indeed, to say nothing of the costs of mailing and distribution. How could so much money have been spent on this piece of print advertising Ramadan dinners, when food is becoming more expensive and some families are counting every penny? This was my immediate reaction. My secondary reaction, which began to form more slowly, came after some reflection and actually looking through the pages of this booklet. Even to a Ramadan ‘novice' like myself, the whole idea of the expensive fixed price Ramadan iftar seems in contradiction with the basic spirit of the month. The price for an iftar dinner at any of this hotel's restaurants is LE185 per person, not including service charge and taxes. This means that a couple having dinner could easily spend over LE500 when it is all said and done, and I won't even try to calculate the costs for a family of four. The fasting aspect of the month seems to make some people focus on having a surfeit of food and eating it all night long, rather than on the act of abstaining. But surely it is not about indulging yourself at the end of the 14-hour fasting day with exotic cuisine or expensive treats. Sharing simple food at home is arguably the best way to retain the state of appreciation for our blessings. Although I may have only a basic understanding of Ramadan, it is clear to me that along with being a month for increased worship and remembrance of God, it is also a time of temporary self-sacrifice and discipline of the appetites (all kinds), in the name of increasing our compassion and understanding for others, especially those who might have fewer resources. For this reason one wonderful feature of Ramadan in Egypt is the ma'edat al-rahman (table of mercy), a table that is set up by an individual, organisation or business to provide iftar meals to the needy every night of the month. These tables can be seen throughout Cairo's neighbourhoods. Although there may be those who set up these tables in their constituencies for less-than-altruistic reasons, at least in the end some people of limited means are able to break their fast. But who benefits from spending LE500 on an iftar for two at a five-star hotel, other than the lucky consumer? How far could this money be stretched, if it was not being dropped into the pockets of a multi-national hotel chain? And who was this booklet printed for? For the affluent Egyptians of the wealthy and aspirational classes, who have money to burn and want to show off their status by breaking their fast with something fancier than basilla wa roz (peas and rice)? Or is it to appeal to the transient international tourists, a category of person highly likely not to choose to travel to Egypt during Ramadan anyway? Or perhaps for Egypt's expatriate community? It is almost certainly not aimed at the average Egyptian citizen, who would not dream of such an extravagant expenditure, considering the many other pressing material concerns of life. That said, I do not begrudge any corporation the right to capitalise on a seasonal event to create a new marketing angle, or to invest in slick advertising pieces, as it is in the nature of a corporation to want to help the bottom line. Nor do I begrudge the right of financially able Egyptians to spend their disposable income on overpriced hotel-restaurant food. And I am aware that Egypt's international hotel chains employ thousands of Egyptians and account for the purchasing of billions of pounds worth of Egyptian food, textiles, furniture and more. It is neither new nor original for an observer of Egypt to note the vast discrepancy in the incomes and spending ability between Egypt's various social classes. This is one of the easier targets for the observer of Egypt to hit, whether foreign or Egyptian. And another article decrying the commercialisation and trivialisation of Ramadan is a bit tiresome too. And finally, I am neither an economist, nor political analyst, nor social scientist, except in the most informal of ways. But I could not help wanting to share my observation that there is something cynical about an international hotel chain advertising an "Italian-inspired Ramadan" in a blatant attempt to try and tie their portfolio of restaurants into the Ramadan theme. No more cynical of course, than the annual attempts by retailers in America to manipulate consumers into overspending during the Christmas holiday that ostensibly marks the birthday of Jesus. I can not help but feel that Ramadan should be exempt from becoming a tool of consumerism and the cynical predations of advertisers and marketers. [email protected] Debbie is an American writer living in Cairo.
