By Moustafa Fathy and Shima’a Ra’ouf
Do not think, dear citizen, that the competition between Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafiq ended when the Islamist candidate became President. The struggle is still ongoing in the market for Ramadan dates.
Moustafa Ramadan, a date vendor, said that date sellers gave their products nicknames in order to increase sales and encourage customers to purchase the date that represents their preferred ideological persuasion.
A quick stroll through the market shows the different options available. We have not forgotten our martyrs, they are honoured in the date market with the ‘Martyrs’ date setting you back EGP 16.25 per kilo, the highest price on the market.
There is more though – ‘Fify Abdouh’ cost EGP 11.75 per kilo while ‘Tahrir’ goes cheaply for only EGP 6.75. ‘January 25th’ dates fit in everyone’s budget at EGP 5 per kilo. The political dried delicacies are not cheap but stay true to results with ‘Morsy’ besting ‘Shafiq’, the former costing EGP 11.25 per kilo while the latter going for only EGP 10.25.
As for the quality, ‘Morsy’ is the clear winner compared to ‘Shafiq’, but neither can compete with ‘Fify Abdouh’.
’January 25th’ dates lead in sales, followed by ‘Tahrir’ and ‘Morsy’ with ‘Shafiq’ again coming in last.
