The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Iftar has become an integral part of Ramadan in the UAE, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of men who work behind the scenes.

It is a humongous task to whip up an Iftar of this scale. Over 350 chefs, 180 stewards and more than 400 support staff are what it takes to cook this grand feast on a daily basis. And the amount of ingredients are mind-boggling: 7,000kg of rice, 12,000kg of chicken and around 20,000kg of vegetables every day.

An executive chef, Karsten Gottschalk from Germany, said cooking the Iftar is a "truly special experience" for the entire team. "It is a great community endeavour. The end consumers are VIPs. They are fasting men and women who have not had a drop of water all day. The smiles on their face when they open the Iftar packets are our biggest reward," said Gottschalk, who has been working with the Armed Forces Officers Club since 2012.

Another executive chef, Georges Gebrayel, who has been with the kitchen since 2004 when the Iftar started, said the kitchen has grown over the years corresponding to the increase in the number of guests. "It is a challenging job. What is important is to make sure our taste and portions are consistent. We have to ensure the food is kept warm and fresh till it is delivered to thousands of people. We follow the highest standards of safety and hygiene in the kitchen," said Gebrayel.

Culinary action

"It is a spiritual experience in itself," said Rimon Wasli, who has been cooking the Ramadan Iftar at the club since the last nine years.

By12pm, the smell of rice and masala is wafting in the air as the staff start packing the food into individual containers. Each Iftar box contains biryani with 0.5kg chicken or lamb, vegetable saloona, salad, an apple, dates and fruit juice.

Iftar is still hours away and the food packets are moved into heated containers that maintain temperatures above 63 degrees.

Each one of the containers are labelled with tent numbers for the caterers to know where it should be served. A fleet of 15 generator-controlled trucks transport the food from the kitchen to the tents before 4pm.

And now it is the turn of a well-organised team of caterers to organise lines of Iftar packets in the 12 air-conditioned tents. Each of these tents can accommodate nearly 1,500 people.

"The biggest challenge is to make sure the Iftar packets are ready and all tents and the garden outside have enough supplies," said a volunteer.

Source: Khaleej Times