The month of Ramadan is a busy time for those women who prepare food at home for vending. These self-employed, professional cooks work hard to generate extra income for their families and themselves. “I have been vending food for the last two years and as the mother of four children, I am supporting my family. I work hard during the month of Ramadan as I have many orders and supply women with food delicacies,” said Umm Khadija. “I offer my services to women who are working in banks and offices where there are women's branches or sections and also in the past to teachers when the schools were open during Ramadan,” she added Umm Salma shares a similar story. However, she does not visit offices to look for customers, but rather cooks for particular families with working womenfolk. “I am adept at cooking Saudi dishes and presently I am preparing a full Iftar table for a lady doctor who works full-time in a government hospital and is unable to do the cooking after a hard day's work. The dishes include soup, sambosas, dessert, and pastries. The lady provides me with the ingredients and I charge her SR2,000 for the entire month of Ramadan.” Some women buy from these cooks because they consider the food to be more hygienic and better prepared than that offered by take-away restaurants. “I hired a Palestinian cook who, except for weekends, cooks for me. She charges me SR150 a day for cooking five or six dishes, but I don't hesitate to pay as the health and hygiene issue, which is of prime importance, is guaranteed,” said Abeer Khalid, an Egyptian national in Jeddah. Most of the women who are professional cooks reside in Hejaz, that is, Makkah, Jeddah and the surrounding areas, and they are usually low-income Palestinian, Syrian and Saudi nationals for whom cooking is the only way to earn a living. These ladies wake up early in the morning and all day long to prepare food despite fasting themselves. They visit the women's branches of banks and offices or beauty parlors where women employees buy from them. When they are not able to visit many places in a day, they hire drivers who do the work for them, and many women office workers send their drivers to the homes of these cooks to collect the food. “Sambosa is sold for one riyal per piece and women often buy fifty riyals worth so they can store the sambosa for two or three days. I can earn one or two thousand riyals a week, but it involves careful organizing, preparing, distributing and, of course, endless effort. I even have to pay the driver who helps me in delivering the food. In a day I am able to cater to approximately 10-12 families,” said Khadija “We do not sell every day; one day we prepare, cook and freeze items and the next day we deliver them according to the schedule. Sometimes we cook for long hours standing in the heat of kitchen despite fasting, but we believe that we work with a strong faith while fasting. And also it is a means of getting blessings by feeding people and helpibg them break their fast with delicious things,” she added Many women who work in offices all day are delighted to be helped by these cooks. “Providing healthy food for families is just as important in Ramadan as it is at other times of the year. Additionally, it is a great way to help female entrepreneurs in our region, especially those women who have to work from home. Cooking and catering for others can be the start of their lives as businesswomen,” said Muna Abu Sulayman, a well-known television personality. A municipal official from Makkah, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said women in Riyadh do not usually cook food at home to sell. However, women in Hejaz do and the food is usually clean and healthy. These women not only work on an individual basis but sometimes also in collaboration with some restaurants. As many people who sell items illegally have their goods confiscated or are even deported if they are caught by the municipality, Saudi Gazette asked an official if there were restrictions on women cooking food at home to sell. “There are no specific laws concerning the delivering of food (commercially), but the punishment that might be meted out is the confiscation of their goods and materials,” he said.
