Halal turkeys
*sigh* This is so typical of Malaysians...aping the West, so that finding a halal source of a poultry that's typically associated with Christian holidays (i.e. Christmas and Thanksgiving) becomes an issue.
From theSun:
Halal turkey prices soar
Eunice Au
PETALING JAYA (Dec 21, 2007): If halal turkey was hard to find in local stores last Christmas, there is ample to go around this year.
However, consumers will have to fork out a lot more for the meat, which is imported from Australia by one company.
A check with the Giant hypermarket showed that prices of halal turkey had increased by 50-70%. A spokesman for Giant said prices had risen from RM16-RM20 per kilogramme last year to RM28-RM30 per kilogramme this year. However, he said he could not say for certain what had caused the jump.
Checks with other supermarkets showed that the price of turkey that is not certified halal, which is available in Isetan and Jaya Jusco, is also about the same.
While the Australian dollar has strengthened against the ringgit, this is only by about 6.5% compared with December last year.
Last year, following a circular from the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) on Dec 7, 2006 which stated that imported turkey at that time was not halal, many hotels and restaurants nationwide had to pull the item from their Christmas menu. ...article continues.
I remember about 11-12 years ago our friends gave us their old microwave/convection oven (the dad is a doctor and the mum was a real estate agent, so they had a bit of money) because it wasn't big enough to thaw a turkey in so they were getting a new one. Looks like lots of other people are jumping on the bandwagon. Roast turkey isn't even the sort of thing that would show up in Malaysian cuisine - way too dry.
posted by xenobiologista @ 22:53
3 Comments:
"Christian holidays (i.e. Christmas and Thanksgiving)"
Your own Westernization is showing through. Thanksgiving is a secular American holiday, not a Christian one. It was invented in the 1860s by Abraham Lincoln in order to help foster some sort of national unity, and then it had the whole Pilgrims/Indians myth shoehorned in about 40 years later.
That's not really a sign of Westernization....it's common "knowledge" (or in this case common fallacy, if you're right). Most people, including those outside the US who know of it from TV, assume that it was originally an American religious holiday.
It's still very much a secular holiday, not really religious at all. Jewish families celebrate it with the same routines as everyone else, visiting with relatives and having a turkey dinner.
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