Arab states waste heaps of food during Ramadan

AS MUSLIMS HAVE for centuries, Ahmed Toufiq broke his Ramadan fast by nibbling a date while the call to prayer echoed across the Nile. Then he turned to the heaping plates in front of him. He made short work of a fragrant lentil soup, but his pace slowed as he picked through salads and scooped dips with steaming pita bread. When he walked outside for a cigarette 20 minutes after sunset, a server collected half a plate of untouched kebab and rice. ?Before iftar, you feel like you want to eat for two,? he said.

Arab states waste a lot of food. A study in 2016 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, our sister company, found that Saudi Arabia bins 427kg per person annually, triple the average in Europe and North America. Some may chalk this up to traditions of hospitality: even a ?light lunch? in Cairo or Beirut leaves guests in a torpor. The reasons are more varied, though. Half of the fruits and vegetables grown in Egypt are never eaten because they are often moved to market in open-air trucks and wilt quickly in the heat.? .. Source

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