Ramadan fasting causes many to gain weight

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Several years ago, I had the good fortune to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Morocco, and was surprised to see how devout Muslims made the sun-up to sun-down fasting more bearable.

At my university, students would stay up all hours of the night, eating, smoking, and playing soccer, and would sleep as much as possible while the sun was up– when they couldn’t eat.

At sunset, we all sat down for a meal called iftar, literally “break-fast,” where generous portions of delicious traditional food was served. I was surprised to hear from my Moroccan friends that some people actually gain weight during this month of fasting, as a result of overindulging during iftar and at night.

[Over at National Geographic News, they’ve put together a short video about the dangers of overeating during Ramadan; go ahead, take a look.]

Lest this should all sound much too pleasant and not at all like a sacrifice, I urge you to give fasting a shot. As one who’s tried it many times (and succeeded only occasionally), I can assure you it’s quite a bit harder than it sounds. Sadly, yesterday marked the end of Ramadan, the Eid al-Fitr, so you may have to wait till next year, when Ramadan starts on August 22.

Any Ramadan-observers out there have experience with gaining weight during the holy month?

Killer Chili

by Scott Carmichael on

The Times has a sad story of a young British man who died in his sleep after eating some Chili sauce as part of a dare.

The 33 year old man had prepared the chili sauce using peppers from a family garden, and challenged his brother to see who could eat the concoction.

Before going to bed, he started to have a bad reaction to the sauce, and by morning, he was dead. Toxicology reports are being conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

The “hotness” level of food is determined by the Scoville scale which measures the amount of dilution required until the heat can no longer be detected. At 1,040,000, the Bhut Jolokia Chili is the hottest thing you can find in nature (up to 400 times hotter than your average Jalapeño pepper). When it comes to bottled products, “The Source” is without a doubt the hottest thing you can find (over 7 million Scoville units). Products like this require you to sign a waiver, and they are only used as an ingredient for large batches of food, not as a sauce for pouring on your steak.

Eiffel Tower fun facts in an Arby’s kid’s meal

by Jamie Rhein on

Sometimes travel facts come in the most unusual places. Yesterday at Arby’s my son received a fold out book on the Eiffel Tower in his kid’s meal. Very cool.

I learned a few things myself by folding the book out. Along with the standard info about the tower, such as when it was built (1889) and how tall it is (1063 feet), there are out of the ordinary details that people may not know.

Here are a few:

  • There are 18,000 pieces in the tower
  • Each year four tons of wipes, 10,000 doses of detergent, 25,000 garbage bags and 400 liters of metal cleaning solution are used to keep the tower clean.
  • It takes 50 tons of paint to repaint it about every five years.
  • When it was first built a lot of people thought it was ugly. This icon that now represents romance, at least I think it does, was to be torn down after 20 years.

Other Arby’s travel oriented books are:

  • Egyptian Pyramids
  • The Colosseum
  • The Statue of Liberty

The Eiffel Tower is book 4 of the 4.

Where spices come from. A tour of a spice plantation in Goa

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’re in a region of the world where spices are grown, take in a tour of a spice plantation. On last Tuesday’s episode of Bizarre Foods, Andrew Zimmern went to a one in Goa.

Here is a video of a tour of a spice plantation in Goa (there are several) that points out the highlights of the various spices and how they are grown. The text captions tell what you’re seeing. Along with the close-up shots, are views of the entire plants. In the mix, there is a demonstration of how to climb a tree, and the food shots will make you hungry.

Here is a link Goa’s spice plantations. Make sure that food is part of the bargain. You are guaranteed shopping time.

It’s burčák season in Prague! Try it, with caution

by Jeffrey White on

This weekend I was in Prague, happy to be reminded, thanks to signs hung in pretty much every bar and cafe window, that it’s once again bur?ák season!

Huh? you say.

From now into November, most drinking holes outside of seedy herna, or gambling, bars will be offering bur?ák, which is barely fermented wine.

If Beaujolais is the French answer to early wine, bur?ák — pronounced, more or less, bore-chuck — is the Czechs’, though you really can’t compare the two. Some describe bur?ák as having a taste much like orange juice. The white version is cloudy in the glass (to me it looks like pear juice), and while I don’t get a lot of orange taste, it definitely reminds one of fruit. It’s sweet, somewhat refreshing, and very drinkable.

That’s why you’ve got to be careful: It’s very easy to overdue it on a drink that taste good and doesn’t appear to be that alcoholic (hey, it’s only partially fermented, right?)

Don’t let bur?ák’s sweet taste and benign appearance fool you. Glasses are still around 5-8 percent alcohol (though fully fermented wine usually hovers around 11-12 percent). And bur?ák is one of those odd drinks (actually, I can’t think of another one like it) that actually gets more alcoholic as it sits on the table. It is fermenting right in front of your eyes. So the pitcher that you gamely order up is going to be more alcoholic by the time you reach the bottom.

But that’s only one reason to be careful. Really, it is not a good idea to have so much of this stuff, uh, fermenting in your stomach. Now, people will tell you that it is a myth that bur?ák continues fermenting in the blood stream. Maybe it is scientifically impossible. But I know what my stomach feels like a few hours after 4-5 good-size glasses of the stuff. It’s unsettled, to put it mildly.

I don’t want to imply that bur?ák is some kind of unique drink; many European countries mark the early grape harvest with their own versions. In Germany, where I live, feder weisen, which is quite similar to bur?ák, is currently in most establishments. But bur?ák does have a unique taste, and if nothing else it’s a reminder of how, in Europe at least, we mark the change in seasons less by meteorological and arboreal observation as by the food and drink that begins showing up in the places where we like to eat and drink.

The stuff is here one day, and gone before you know it.