Pop quiz: It’s the morning of Eid al-Fitr at the mosque, marking the end of Ramadan. After 30 days of fasting, it’s time to indulge in your first meal during daylight hours. What do you reach for?
As soon as Eid prayers are over, Saagar Shaikh is on a mission: “My eyes scan the room, and I’m looking for the nearest Krispy Kreme box, because that’s what I’m conditioned to do,” said the actor, who currently stars in the comedy series “Deli Boys” on Hulu.
Across the United States, Eid runs on Dunkin’ — or Krispy Kreme or a local bakery, depending on where your mosque caters from. As congregants mingle with friends and family, nearby tables heave with dozens of boxes of chocolate-frosted, glazed or jelly-stuffed pastries.
“It’s not Eid unless there’s doughnuts,” said Sharaf Mowjood, a producer for CBS News. “This is just the beginning — that doughnut sets the tone for the rest of the day.”
Like many American religious communities, Muslims across the country have gravitated toward those orbs of fried dough: They’re cheap, easy to cater in large quantities early in the morning — and nothing pairs more beautifully with that hallowed first morning coffee in 30 days. They’re also often halal-friendly.
Mr. Shaikh thinks it’s odd that major doughnut companies don’t seem to acknowledge a bump in sales on these two days each year. “Don’t they question that? Don’t they want to capitalize on it?”
(While Krispy Kreme UK has seized on the marketing opportunity with Eid packaging and limited edition flavors like baklava bliss and mango-passion fruit, its stateside counterparts have yet to publicly acknowledge the holiday.)
Across the Muslim world, each culture serves its own preferred sweet treats on Eid. African Americans might have bean pies, South Asians prefer sheer khorma, North Africans delight in assida, and ma’amoul is popular throughout the Arab world. But at American mosques, which serve the most diverse religious community in the country, doughnuts are the perfect crowd pleaser.
“I think there are familiar ties to the idea of fried dough across so many cultures,” said Zaynab Issa, the author of the upcoming cookbook “Third Culture Cooking: Classic Recipes for a New Generation” and a contributor to New York Times Cooking.
“Fried dough is universally loved,” she added, nodding to South Asian gulab jamun, Middle Eastern luqaimat, and East African mandazi and kalimati. “On Eid, when so many cultures are converging, it makes sense.”
Other artisanal bakers around the country fry up their own specialty Eid confections. In Frisco, Texas, Detour Doughnuts serves Eid doughnuts shaped like crescent moons and stars in flavors like date crème brûlée and pistachio-rose. Sohayla Shahsavand, the Milwaukee-based owner of Saffron Bakes, assembles Eid doughnut bouquets with mini lemon-rose-pistachio hoops. And Raised Doughnuts in Seattle will be selling its rosewater doughnut holes over Eid weekend.
Every Eid, Moe’s Doughs, a halal bakery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, delivers green and white glazed, sugared, old-fashioned, and sprinkled pastries to mosques throughout the area. “It’s about bringing people together, living together in peace, harmony and happiness,” said Hossam Saleh, whose father, Mohamed, founded Moe’s Doughs in 2014. “That’s what Islam is all about.”
Doughnuts are so central to American Eid celebrations that this year, Nabiha Haider, the founder of the children’s clothing brand Lil Deenies, introduced pajamas emblazoned with “Donut Forget My Eid Donut.”
“I was thinking, what are symbols for Ramadan and Eid? You have lanterns, dates, milk, but what is something that explores the American Muslim identity?” Ms. Haider said. “What do you see at every masjid on Eid day? You see everyone bringing in boxes and boxes of doughnuts.”
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