CAIRO - Owners of certain food and beverage shops in Cairo take the holy month of Ramadan as a good chance for renovating their facilities in order to get ready for Eid el-fitr, a three-day feast that comes after thirty days of fasting. All koshari and fish shops are covered in darkness because demand for their foodstuffs is very low during Ramadan, which started in Egypt last week. Other food and coffee shops, which are closed during daytime, burst into life after sunset, when the Muslims sit down for the iftar meal with which they break their daily fast. However, shops that sell koshari – a delicious Egyptian recipe – come to a standstill during the holy month. "Ramadan temporarily throws us out of business. We give all the workers a paid annual leave and use this holy month as a good opportunity for repainting and refurbishing the whole shop after a year of hard work," says Emmarah Abdul Rahman, a koshari shop owner in the capital, said. This brief business stoppage is a good chance to buy the annual stock of the 16 ingredients from which koshari is made. "These ingridents include rice, macaroni, lentils, chickpeas, garlic, onions, cooking oil, and spices, Emmarah said, adding that the prices of these items usually go down during Ramadan. During the month of fasting, people are no longer going for fish preferring to have foul and falafel, or traditional food for iftar, said the owner of a seafood resturant in the popular Cairo district of Hadayek el-Qubba. "That is why we close during Ramadan," Ali Hamed said as an army of workers forged ahead to renovate his shop before Eid el-Fitr. Hamed said that he allowed no worker to eat or smoke in public while renovating his shop. Mohamed el-Saaedi, owner of a sugar cane juice shop in Cairo, said that he starts working after sunset to observe and respect the fasting month of Ramadan. "No one drinks sugar cane juice during the day," el-Saaedi said, adding that he opens his shop just a little before sunset to sell tamardin, hibiscus, and liquorice to customers. These three traditional drinks are the most well-known elements of iftar in Ramadan, he said. “Demands for these drinks is usually good after sunset and the sales continue to dawn, said el-Saaedi. During the holy month, Muslims are required to abstain from food, drink and sex from dawn until dusk as life slips into a lower gear during the day, and activity peaks between "iftar", the breaking of the fast at sunset, and "sohour," the last meal of the day before sunrise. Once the sun goes down, Haj Ahmed el-Sheshaashi of Cairo said that his coffee shop opens only in the evening. After Iftar, el-Sheshaashi said, the coffe shop bustls with activity with residents drinking tea, coffee, and smoking shisha for a few hours of peace and calm with their families and friends. However, Hassan Mahrous, the owner of a liver and susage sandwitch stand, said that his business is badly affected by Ramadan. "No one eats liver or susage sandwitches either for Iftar, or suhur because they are very spicy and make customers very thirsty during the day," Mahrous said, adding that he closes down his stall during Ramadan and spends the whole month with his famil in Suhag. Adli Tewfiq, owner of a small ice-cream stand in Giza, said that he would not work during the day in respect to Ramadan. As the call to prayer goes out at dusk, customers gather in Tewfiq's shop to plunge into platters of ice-cream.
