A time TO FEAST
IF THE FESTIVAL THAT MARKS THE END OF RAMADAN –EID AL-FITR – COULD BE DESCRIBED AS A FEELING, IT WOULD BE “COMMUNITY”.
After a month of fasting from sun up to sun down, Eid symbolises breaking that fast in the most generous way. For Saadiyah Hendricks, who started her blog Sadie’s Bubble of Yum as a way of sharing her passion with others, this sentiment is especially close to her heart. In her family, as in many Muslim families, Eid is a reason to go above and beyond in the kitchen. “It’s all about the food, and there’s always a bit of anxiety a few days beforehand because you know you have to have everything ready,” she says. Before the Covid pandemic, a large part of Eid was taking plates of food to your neighbours. “Growing up, I remember everyone in the neighbourhood knew my family would be baking biscuits and other sweet things and they would informally place their orders. So each morning there I was, this little girl walking to the neighbours with tins of biscuits.”
Saadiyah’s love of baking grew as she learned to make all kinds of sweet treats with her mother, Shoneez Marks, in the two-week preparation time leading up to Eid. “I ended up with a massive sweet tooth!” she laughs. Ultimately, she was put in charge of all desserts for family gatherings and events, which eventually sparked the idea for a blog. “I was always the go-to person. For Eid, my mother would make all the mains and then she would say to me, ‘Saadiyah,
