Yes, I love them very much Noor, but mostly the kinds of dates that are not so sweet :) They are a very nutritious sweets, and I like them with sugarless coffee or tea. I also love to bake dates tarts with a special white sauce with cardamom (,")

Noor, I tasted them first when I was 10 I think... It were dried dates. And I didn't like them.
They were too sweet... and their sweetness reminds me honey (I don't like honey:-/)

I have been always suspecting that I just don't know how and when to eat them:
I eat fruits when I need freshness. I eat chocolate or cookies when I need something sweet - and this time I would also drink tea, because they are dry.

Dates don't fit as an alternative to oranges (which come without tea)... and don't fit as a substitute for cookies (with tea):) They most reasonable place for them in my diet I can think of is... instead of the main meal. Instead of potatoes may be?
I don't have such problem with figs though:) I just like figs.