By pure coincidence our first day in Iran was also the first day of Ramadan, a month long fast observed by Muslims.

I was nervous about travelling in a country where food might not be available during daylight hours because I get extremely grumpy and irrational a little moody if I don’t eat for hours at a time.

Fortunately, ramadan (or ramazan) was not a problem as a Western traveller and certainly no reason to delay a visit to a Muslim country.

Ramadan is a month long period during which Muslims fast during daylight hours. Some people are excepted, for example, children, the elderly, pregnant women, the sick,  and travellers (if you go over 20 km, so we were told).

My apprehension about being in Iran during ramadan was misplaced.  As a Westerner and non-Muslim, no-one expected that we would observe ramadan, and people would often go out of their way to slip us food or direct us to a restaurant that served food during the day. However, it was appreciated that we did not eat or drink in public out of respect for those who were fasting.

It was also relatively easy to find food during daylight hours in ramadan, at least in the cities that we visited.

While restaurants close during the day, most hotels continue to keep their restaurants open for breakfast and lunch.

Midrange hotels usually put on a large breakfast buffet from about 7am - 10am. It would not have been difficult to eat enough food at the buffet to fill up all day. Budget hotels also offered their normal breakfast even after the sun came up.

The safest bet for lunch was restaurants in hotels. We were surprised to see that they were quite popular, with more Iranians eating there than tourists (I assumed this was under the traveller exception although I was surprised at the number of Iranians we met who were not observing ramadan).  Our biggest problem with lunch was not finding somewhere that was open, but finding somewhere that served vegetarian food. This is not a ramadan specific problem!

As ramadan began in mid September this year (it’s determined on a lunar calendar so the  dates vary), darkness fell by 6.30pm and most restaurants and teahouses would open at this time or by 7pm at the latest. This meant that dinner was always available at a “normal” hour.

Something which surprised me about ramadan was that all fresh food stores like fruit sellers, bakeries, bread sellers, sweet shops, butchers and mini-markets remained open throughout the day. This made it very easy for us to buy our own food and eat it back at our hotel. We often took up this option for lunch.

We had read that one benefit to being vegetarian during ramadan was that a special vegetable soup called ash was often served on the streets after dark to celebrate the breaking of the fast. Ash is a soup normally eaten at breakfast, although during ramadan it is also served at night.

However, our visions of huge soup tureens lining the streets of Iran were repeatedly dashed. The only time we had a confirmed ash sighting was on our last night in Iran (when we were already promised to a vegetarian restaurant).

We were also warned that there are multiple types of ash. The vegetarian version is green and has kidney beans and white noodles. It may also be called ash sabzi. I tried a version of this soup at breakfast but it left me disappointed - the flavour was buttery rather than savoury and the ingredients were gloopy.

Overall, travelling in ramadan was not a big deal and no reason to delay a visit, but there were a couple of factors that impacted on our trip:

• All local restaurants and teahouses close during the day. This meant that after a long morning of sight-seeing we couldn’t relax over a tea overlooking a beautiful bridge or square, and so we often ended up spending the late afternoon back in our hotel room.
• Many businesses close early during ramandan (afterall, everyone has been up since 4am to have breakfast and can’t eat for over 12 hours). This affected Government and postal services, but it also applied to shops in souqs. Again, this meant we often ended up spending the afternoon at our hotel relaxing.
• As a general rule, you should not eat or drink in public during ramadan out of respect for the locals who are fasting. Some tourist attractions will make an exception and allow tourists to drink water if they are subtle.
•  Not being able to drink water in public during the day was the hardest part of ramadan for me. Even in September Iran is quite warm (low 30s). After a few hours of sightseeing in the sun we were very thirsty. This is another good reason to plan to spend the afternoon in your hotel room so that you don’t become de-hydrated.

Travelling during ramadan is not difficult or inconvenient and the few additional annoyances are counterbalanced by the opportunity to experience an Islamic country during an important religious period. The real challenge for vegetarians travelling in Iran is finding non-meaty food - ramadan is a breeze by comparison.

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