On 1 March 2025, long queues formed outside bakeries in Istanbul for hot Ramadan pide to take home for iftar. Türkiye Gazetesi reported that customers converged in the final minutes before the evening call to prayer; lines also formed for sweets. Anyone wishing to avoid the wait could buy bread in the morning, but many chose freshness instead.
Customer Dilek Demirci described the pide queue as a Ramadan custom and said hot bread was indispensable at her iftar table. The practical shortcut was obvious, yet demand intensified as sunset approached. Waiting was not an accidental inconvenience here: it synchronized the bread's arrival from the oven with the communal moment when the day's fast ended.