Humor is a good way to get insight into cultures – what’s funny shows what’s important. Here are a few jokes circulating through Oman social media pertaining to food issues during Ramadan. I should be clear that there are no jokes about Ramadan itself, but about, for example, food for Iftar and who to have Iftar with. At the end are are few typical images of Iftar in a scenic place.

Joke about the differences in choices between Iftar on the first day of Ramadan and the last day.

Joke about the difference between Iftar alone (in a strange place) and with your mom

Stills from a video which makes fun of how prepared food is sold in front of shops for Iftar. Many bakeries and restaurants set up small tables with tents to sell samosas/ sambosas (fried triangles of filo dough filled with cheese, meat or vegetables; or a thicker, pyramid shaped dough filled with spiced mixed vegetables, meat or potatoes and fried) and sweets, but in this video a tailoring shop and a tire store have also set up tables to sell food.

Stills from a video making fun of issues of hospitality – people who insist on someone having Iftar/ a meal/ tea with them – this is one of several with the same theme. It opens with a man (A) inviting another man who refuses (B). The video them cuts to a movie scene in which a man who resembles B is trying to get away from a man who resembles A, the two fight and A eventually wins. The last scene is A and B eating in A’s house.  (Note the headscarves show that these are not Omanis, but there are Omani videos with the same theme of forced hospitality)

Iftar in a scenic place – the top left image is from Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat