Excerpt:
Ramadan – the Islamic month of fasting from the break of dawn to sunset – is known as a time of restraint from food and drink for Muslims around the world.
But despite the lack of daytime meals during the fasting season that started July 9 this year, there's a surge in business for grocers who serve Connecticut's 150,000 Muslims – 35,000 in central Connecticut, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
On Tuesday evening at Cosmos International, a West Hartford store that sells South Asian and Middle Eastern groceries, Hazim Alnuami, 25, stocked up on beans and yogurt for both his evening meal to break the fast, and his pre-dawn breakfast.