Rendang babi, the most trending topic in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, at this very moment.
What happens when a man tried to innovate by combining a recipe from a particular race (or culture?) that is proud of its cuisine as ‘halal’ in Indonesia, a Muslim country, with pork?
Rendang babi, is pork cooked with rendang, spices that known originally come from Minang people, which is identically are Muslim people. (Note: only the spices, not the pork).
Rendang uses coconut milk and a mixture of various typical spices that are mashed including chilli, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, ginger, garlic, onion and various other spices. It’s called rendang sapi when cooked with beef (the most traditional cuisine of Minang people) and it’s called rendang telur if cooked with egg, or rendang jengkol if cooked with dog fruit.
The most known rendang comes from Padang, a city in West Sumatra, Indonesia. That’s where the term Restoran Padang comes from, a restaurant that sells Padang cuisine and is well known for its rendang among other dishes. There’s a saying that ‘If you are looking for ‘halal’ food, Restoran Padang is the answer, no matter where you go in this world’.
In case some readers wondering what’s the meaning of ‘halal’, here’s a brief explanation is taken from Wikipedia: Halal (/həˈlɑːl/; Arabic: حلال, ḥalāl) is an Arabic word that translates to “permissible” in English. In the Quran, the word ‘halal’ is contrasted with ‘haram’ (forbidden). And I guess everyone understands that pork is ‘haram’, especially for Muslims.
Indonesia is a country known as a Muslim country with ± 90% of its people being Muslim. So, what happens when a man tried to innovate by combining a recipe from a particular race (or culture?) that is proud of its cuisine as ‘halal’ in Indonesia, a Muslim country, with pork? and more importantly, he tried to sell the combined dish using some of the Minang languages for the label but also put a mark telling the customer that the dishes are ‘non-halal’ in his advertisement?
Here’s what happened:
First, he got reported by some people and then get a sudden visit from policemen. Second, He is being brought to the police station and being questioned and had to make a clarification. Later, he had to apologize to everyone through the media even though his business already closed about two years ago. I hope he’s not going to end up in jail (which is suggested by some people) or fined and get some bad record in the police station. Just saying.
“The use of Minangkabau identity in the menu of non-halal Padang dishes is clearly unusual and unacceptable. For that, we ask the owner to apologize for his impudence in using Minang’s name and identity with a menu of pork and non-halal dishes,” said Guspardi, one of the parliament members in the government of Indonesia from West Sumatra. He also requested the owner immediately close the business.
“This should not have happened, because Padang cuisine or Minang cuisine is identical to halal food in accordance with its philosophy and customs which are based on Islam and ABS-SBK. It is clear that all dishes using the Padang name are halal food.” said the governor of West Sumatra, Buya Mahyeldi.
“Honestly, I am deeply disappointed that there are people who make Padang pork rice, what’s the name called? Babiambo. The meaning of ‘ambo’ is ‘I/me’, I’m a pig.” said John Kenedy Azis, a member of the People’s Representative Council for the West Sumatra district. He also asks the restaurant to be closed or change its name yesterday (10 Jun 2022).
And many more similar or harder criticism which rooted from one ignorant human posted about his criticism on twitter.
None of the person above admit the fact that, although Minang people and Padang city are majority Muslim people, there are also some of them that aren’t Muslim. Nor do they knows that the business was closed already about two years ago when they judge and speak their mind.
Of course, there are also some different views come from different people. For example, a Minang chef, Dian, expressed his views on his Instagram account that there’s nothing wrong with non-halal Padang foods, especially since it’s clearly stated that it’s non-halal which is clear that the market share is non-Muslim consumers and this is something legal.
That’s one of the story happening in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia at this very moment.
I personally love rendang. I also love nasi padang (nasi means rice) for some reasons. It’s a good choice when you are tight on budget but craves food that is rich in flavours. It’s tasty. For me, a pack of nasi padang was enough for lunch and dinner when I’m too lazy to cook my own food. However, some of the dishes are a little bit too oily, and too much coconut milk either which wasn’t good for health. That’s why I don’t consume them often out of health considerations. And oh, many people do cook rendang babi at home sometimes, including my sister in law and we enjoy it a lot.
If rendang or any other cuisines could speak, I guess they will said that ‘I don't have religion and I'm fine with it, thank you’.
