During Ramadan, Restaurant Workers Juggle Fasting and Faith

"You don't understand," said Khalida Djeriou, who has worked as a server across New York City ever since immigrating from Algeria in 2013. "In this situation, even parsley looks delicious." Often ignored in the pandemic's up-and-down, zig-and-zag, here-and-gone restaurant policies is a higher mandate that applies to 4 million people nationwide. They are tasked by God with a directive that is both centuries-old and recognized by pandemic CDC tweets: Ramadan, the ninth month of Islam's lunar calendar, which marks the revelation of the Koran to the prophet Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel with broad, month-long, dawn-to-sunset fasts that end with a three-day festival called Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast.