Dates now feel ubiquitous on Ramadan dinner tables among the Malay (and the wider Muslim Malaysian) community. Not only that, more often than not, they break fast with the fruits first.
Just the other day, somebody spotted me breaking my fast with something else (a glass of water), and the person commented how unusual my behavior was.
I found that comment very peculiar. Contrary the person’s assertion, I feel date-eating had never been normal in Malaysia. I remember a time when dates were not even at all popular. It was not even available in the Malaysian mass market easily unlike now. The Yusuf Taiyoob trend, in particular, is really a recent phenomenon appearing in the early 2010s.
I myself first tasted dates not in Malaysia, but at a mosque in the United States in the early 2000s. There was a large Arab community—Iraqis, likely due to the Gulf Wars—and they loved their dates.
That comment made me wonder, how and when did dates start to become popular?
I know how it became popular: many would tell you it is religiously preferable to break fast with fresh dates. It is sunnah, which means extra pahala, or merit for those practicing it. And during Ramadan, Mulims believe everything good has a big multiplier assigned to it, unlike normal times when one good deed is considered one. Do not ask me about how the scorecard works.
So when?
I figured, the best way to know when dates became popular in Malaysia, and to prove whether I was right (that is mass date consumption being a relatively recent phenomenon in Malaysia), is to look at trade data over the years.
Here, two public databases are helpful. First, the International Trade Center, a body under both the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. Second, the UN Comtrade Database. Unfortunately, the best I could get was data all the way back from 1989.
So, when did dates first becoming popular in Malaysia (within the confines of Ramadan)?
I will let the graph talk.
The chart suggests date consumption grew in popularity (within its own context) over time. More supply means more could consume it: at the very least, date import volume grew at a faster rate than population growth.
Specifically, 1989 date imports were approximately 440 g/person. It rose to 480 g/person in 2000. An increase, but not too much. But it surge to 640 g/person in 2010 and then 700 g/person in 2020. There was a big jump between 2000 and 2010. I think that says something.
Things changed some time in the 2000s or the 2010s, which coincided with the rise of Tunisia as an exporter to Malaysia. Prior to that event, China, Iran and Egypt were the biggest suppliers. Both China and Egypt have fallen off the rung since the last decade.
With that, I think I can say in the 1990s, it was not that popular. That justifies my experience. It is not me that is unusual. It is the community that has changed.
I also suspect date consumption was popular among rich Malays first, way way before. The culture became popular with masses later partly due to religious exhortation/advisory (sunnah) and a version of conspicuous consumption at work: a Veblenian way of saying rich religious people eat it, and if I eat it, I would be seen as a rich religious person too. This is probably harder to prove.
Finally, it is good to put the rising popularity of dates into context. These date imports are small compared to other (foreign) fruits. For instance, nearly 170,000MT oranges (citruses really), 150,000MT apples and 50,000MT grapes and the likes were imported in 2020. Compare that to the 2020 dates imports of 22,500MT.
Still, 2020 date imports were bigger than bananas. But Malaysians do grow bananas locally. So, it is not a proper comparison.
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