'Meet Your Neighbour' project brings strangers together for Ramadan dinner

When he first came to Canada from Turkey more than a decade ago,OlcaySekibecame used to observingRamadanalone with his family.

"It's a tradition inRamadanforMuslimfamilies to host other families or people," Seki said in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning."But I never really felt the need to invite people over because I was fasting."

• 'Meet Your Neighbour'project brings people to Ramadan dinners

A project called 'Meet Your Neighbour'is aiming to change that, encouraging Muslim families across the provinceto welcome non-Muslim neighbours to their dinner tables to help break the fast and learn more about Ramadan.

Theholymonthis defined by prayer, fasting, charitablegiving and self-accountability and it's marked by thepractice of adaily fast from dawn to sunset. At the end of the day, the fast is broken with the Iftarmeal.

Seki gotinvolved with the project four years ago and says it's changed the way the father of three looks athow the experience of Ramadan can be shared.

"I thoughtin Turkeythat Ramadan was for Muslims only, but then I came to realize the more time I spent with different guests at my house, Ramadan is actually very Canadian in a sense, very universal," Seki said.

A Ramadan feast

His family now hosts as many as 15 guests at his houseduring the month of Ramadan to take part in the Iftar.

On Friday, they prepared a meal for guests with a menu that's hard to resist, including:

• Lentil soup
• Spring mix salad
• Carrot salad with yogurt sauce
• Brek(baked filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo)
• Rice
• Karnyark(eggplants stuffed with ground beef and vegetables)
• HomemadeRamadanpide (a special flat round bread)
• Turkish coffee served with Baklava withwalnuts

For Lily Leung, a Catholic pastry chef living in Toronto, getting to celebrate Ramadanwith Seki and his family this week was an opportunity to learn about a different culture and religion.

"I'm always very interested in world religion," Leung said. "I find it very interesting and as they invite me, I get to know more about food and through food I know more about the culture and the people."

Sekisaidat first, sharing a dinner table with strangers can start off somewhat awkwardly, but it's always rewarding in the end.

"Not only my guests learn from our culture and how we observe Ramadan. I get to learn a lot from them too," Seki said.

"It's a really nice experience, although you don't know the people that you're hosting," he said,adding that his children are often the first to break the ice.

The 'Meet Your Neighbour' project aims to "build bridges between communities"and help people experience other cultures, according to its website.

Anyone interested in participating in the project can visitthe websiteto sign up as a host or guest.