A charity in Karachi is serving up a rare treat for the city's Muslim residents ahead of their fast for the holy month of Ramazan — ostrich meat.

Expensive and seldom eaten in the country, ostrich is deemed exotic by many Pakistanis.

Volunteers stewed the red meat in cauldrons and served it in a chickpea curry to more than 500 residents before dawn broke on Tuesday, the first day of fasting.

“Keeping in view of this deprivation, (wealthy) people supported us and like the previous year, we offered those dishes which even a middle class person cannot afford, let alone the poor,” said Zafar Abbas, the general secretary of the Jafaria Disaster Management Cell Welfare Foundation.

Abbas said the plan is to offer deer and other expensive cuisine in coming days during Ramazan, when practising Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and smoking during daylight hours.

The move is likely to be welcomed by those who stuffed themselves with ostrich meat.

“It felt very nice. I had never eaten (ostrich),” said van driver Mohammad Hussain. “It was so wholesome that I feel no need to eat for the next two days.”