Blessed fruits

The question was simple and straightforward: Date or olive?

The answer came swift: either or neither!

This question may not mean much in a different culture, or at least seem very odd as one is salty the other is sweet; they are not even one of the same kind, or alternatives to each other. But in Turkey everybody gets the message instantly; the question was about which fruit should be preferred to break the fast. And no, the question was not about the holiness rating of the two, or which one was mentioned more in the Quran; it was a TV health show, and again the answer was on the health risk or benefit basis of breaking the fast with one of those alternatives. Of course, both fruits have obvious benefits, but also feature risks such as containing too much salt or are high on the glycemic index, besides having good qualities like being high antioxidants or rich in super fibers. 

For most Turks, olives are indispensable elements on tables; no daily breakfast is complete without black olives. Similarly, no sahur, the meal before dawn, or iftar, the meal to break the fast, is complete without olives. As olives are grown in Turkey, and already have been in the culture of these lands even before the arrival of Islam, it is in our veins. On the other hand, the date is something we never had until the 1980s.

It was not grown in Turkey, but had to be imported. Both naturally and as a political choice, Turkey was a totally self-sustained country, so food was not imported, partly because of self-sufficiency and partly due to a lack of foreign currency. Only a few items with special permission could be imported and only if they were crucial to Turkish culture, like coffee. Only after the 1980s, when consumer goods imports were allowed, did we...