Ramadhan

Ramadhan is here! Wish all the fasting ones good luck. Sahur is always an important part of the whole process. But the content of it greatly differs between Malaysia, and other countries, say, Egypt. I remember once during the MIVP (Malaysia International Visitors Programme), in which I participated, it was during Ramadhan. There were quite a number of muslims in the programme. Mandarin Oriental, the hotel they stayed in, arranged a daily sahur package for them. One of the Egyptian participant told me that he was quite shocked when he was sent a whole tray of rice, chicken, vegetables, fish etc. He did not know what it was for. Sahur in Egypt, so I was told, is very decent. You have some fruits, milk, or something light. But that's it. Then you go to sleep. Breaking fast is the same thing. You have all these stalls (at the pasar juadah) selling a mountain of things, from cakes to whole dishes. And you can see hundreds of people swarming these places before breaking fast time. On the upper end, we see a blooming 'Ramadhan' business. All sorts of hotels and restaurants offer Ramadhan buffetts to entice customers. And it works, all the time. Most muslims that I talk to would be surprised. For them, Ramadhan is a personal thing, and is often celebrated with the family. Eating out is never the rule, it's always in the cozy home with homemade dishes.

I have a strong feeling that this reflects the society, their sense of solidarity, and of course, the awareness of gastronomic concerns. Malaysia, in this regard, is way behind. Especially on the latter, I think we need to have this public awareness going around. The importance of eating good food, of not eating nasi lemak at 3am at Ravi's etc. It'll take time though, slowly but surely.