ASUCD Pantry to offer Ramadan-themed items through March 19

The food bank is offering dates, maamoul and other foods in order to provide more culturally conscious offerings

By KHADEEJAH KHAN — campus@theaggie.org

Aside from the normal fare students might find when visiting The Pantry at the Memorial Union, visitors can now find new special items for Ramadan.

Part of an effort to incorporate more culturally relevant items to students, the on-campus food bank is offering a series of Ramdan items through March 19. The limited-time items include oatmeal cups, milk boxes, granola bars, maamoul (Middle Eastern butter cookies), dried mango, dates, soft-prepackaged croissants, Biscoff Cookies, instant ramen noodles and Ensure Vanilla Drink. These items can be accessed upon request by asking attendants at The Pantry. 

The Pantry is a student-run unit of ASUCD, providing students with food and other basic essentials like hygiene products. Students can order items from The Pantry in advance through their website, or visit in person at the Memorial Union, Room 177. The Pantry is open on weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends from 12:15 to 2 p.m.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, during which Muslims fast from sunup to sundown. At the time of sunset, Muslims break their fast with dates.

Pantry Unit Director Andie Tarabzooni, a fourth-year economics and communication double major, aimed to ensure that all items were meaningful and beneficial for fasting students. 

“Each thing had a purpose when we were choosing them,” Tarabzooni said. “What we ended up going for was a pre-made kit or box that you could pick up which has dates and traditional food that you could break your fast with. It mainly focuses on the fact that your glucose levels are pretty low after fasting for a long day.”

Tarabzooni also recognizes that months like Ramadan carry memories of culture, family and home for students across campus. They hope that through providing cultural items, The Pantry can address food insecurity while making students feel seen. 

“I think it's really important to us to create a space where everyone feels included, because it's one thing to be food insecure and not be able to access food, but I feel like being able to be represented within food is important,” Tarabzooni said. “It brings me a certain amount of warmth to know that people might just have more emotions connected to it.”

The Pantry consulted student organizations like the Muslim Student Association (MSA) to ensure that offerings were relevant and beneficial for students observing Ramadan. MSA Secretary Aliza Shahab, a fourth-year managerial economics major, said that she is grateful to have been a part of the process.

“This means a lot for our students who have to be on campus during Ramadan and who are really struggling to find spaces that provide resources during this month, because Muslims are spiritually and academically really busy,” Shahab said.

ASUCD Senator Jenna Younes, a fourth-year managerial economics major, was also consulted in the process of choosing items. She expressed her hope that The Pantry’s offerings — alongside on-campus events like the ASUCD Iftar — will help Muslim students find community throughout the month.

“The Pantry’s offerings were chosen very intentionally to make sure students have access to foods that they might have eaten with their families and loved ones during Ramadan,” Younes said. “Ramadan is a time for community-building on the UC Davis campus. There is always something happening.”

This month’s Ramadan offerings are not the first time The Pantry has provided culturally themed items. For Lunar New Year in February, they stocked egg tarts, sesame oil, fortune cookies, meat floss, Hi-Chew candies, matcha red bean cake, Meiji Chocorooms, soy sauce packets, ginger root and mung bean.

The Pantry has also offered cultural snacks at the Mobile Pantry, their pop-up food cart. For winter quarter, the Mobile Pantry can be found every Tuesday at the Student Community Center (SCC) and Thursdays at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC). 

Tarabzooni hopes to keep the cultural food offerings around. They are currently asking students visiting The Pantry to suggest foods they would like to see stocked in the future, in an effort to better represent the student population.

“We're trying to also just make [The Pantry] a more inclusive space in general, because it's not like people's culture just goes away the second a holiday ends,” Tarabzooni said. “If people do have ideas at any point, we still want [them] to be shared.”

Written by: Khadeejah Khan — campus@theaggie.org