The holy month of Ramadan, which is observed and celebrated in the privacy of homes, mosques, and halal restaurants in the Metroplex, is a mystery for many people living outside of Muslim communities. But an annual food festival is aiming to demystify this season, which includes introspection, prayer, and fasting. DFW transplants and Houston natives Faraz Ahmed and his wife Ambreen Hamed founded the Texas Suhoor Fest in an effort to make Ramadan accessible to all.
Though it is not the couple’s day job, this also isn’t their first rodeo. The pair catalyzed their passion for community building around halal food, which follows Muslim tenets around how particular meats and its byproducts, and alcohol are not consumed, and how animals are raised, treated, blessed and slaughtered before eating, through their Instagram account the Halal Palate. “When we moved to Dallas [three] years ago, we realized that within the Dallas area, for Ramadan, there [are] no events,” Ahmed says. “We took the opportunity to bring something to the Dallas community that we grew up having in Houston, because we just knew that the community deserves that and we feel like it will be so well received.“
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The couple hosted their first DFW event, the Dallas Grand Suhoor Festival, in March 2023, anchored on the morning suhoor meal that takes place after prayers and just before sunrise when fasting begins during Ramadan.Over 10,000 attended, and it sold out in under four hours. On its heels, they followed through with the Texas Halal Fest in Frisco last November at the Frisco RoughRiders Stadium with over 20,000 attendees.
In 2024, the original Suhoor event is rebranded as the Texas Suhoor Fest (no relationship to the DFW Suhoor Fest), and will be held at the multipurpose fields of University of Texas in Dallas from 11 p.m. through 6 a.m. on Saturday, March 23.
The Texas Suhoor Fest is a free event, including parking, as Ramadan is “a very ummah (community) oriented event,” Ahmed tells Eater Dallas. “For people to break bread with their community is looked upon in a very good light. It’s considered a good deed in Islam.” This extends to the global Muslim community as a portion of the proceeds from this event is benefitting Palestine through the help of Baitulmaal, a Dallas headquartered humanitarian aid organization. A simple RSVP is required to get free mobile tickets.
The festival showcases a variety of halal food vendors not only from the Metroplex, but from all corners of Texas. These include established restaurants, such as Yemeni chain Hadramout, food trucks such as Houston’s Abu Omar Halal (now a coast-to-coast shawarma chain), and Austin’s South African truck, Egoli Peri-Peri & Curry Bowl.
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The festival’s offerings push the limit of what halal food is. Visitors can expect not only options like Indonesian food from Angel Touch Kitchen and kopi buns from Malaysian chain Pappa Roti, but also all-halal versions of American favorites like Texas barbecue from Smokey D’s, gourmet hot dogs from Loco Dogs and Gordo’s Dogs, and pizza and pasta from Tutto Halal Cucina Italiana. Up-and-coming businesses such as Frisco chai cafe Hold My Chai and Abu Sauce (a mobile mocktail bar) also get the chance to showcase what they add to the halal food scene. To help festival-goers stay awake and get through all the food choices, Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co.’s truck is driving up at night.
Ahmed stresses how it “is important for the community to come together in a diverse fashion and learn about each other’s differences and similarities.” Texas Suhoor Fest is here for “good vibes, good food and a good time,” he adds.
