HALAL

[email protected] Many roads are cloaked in new asphalt, yellow paint dominate the street landscape, a huge convention center is being built, hotels are booked, brand new police vehicles patrol the streets, banks and exporters are complaining while students are blissful about extended holidays… all these can only mean one thing: the 12th ASEAN summit is fast approaching.

There will be actually a series of meetings with the ten member states and the 2nd East Asia Summit will quickly follow with the Asean's six dialogue partners: China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand.

So many nationalities, so many visitors will be in Cebu and we are ready to welcome our most honored guests with the Cebuano brand of hospitality, with emphasis on food and drink. This will be that the first time that Cebu will host many high-ranking foreign dignitaries belonging to different races, cultures and religions.

Unfortunately, the usual foods on our fiesta tables may not be appropriate for our visitors for religious reasons.

It is the aim of this food columnist to introduce one of the cultures and religious customs of our delegates to avoid embarrassing situations. To assist me in the making of this article, I will quote literature from various sources, and borrow ideas - almost to the point of plagiarism, para sigurado! We are very familiar with Chinese, Japanese, and South Korea cuisine as restaurants serving these dishes flourish in Cebu. We even have Thailand and Vietnamese cuisines here with the presence of Krua Thai and Haiphong restaurants, respectively. But what do we know about the cuisine of Brunei? Fortunately, I was able to purchase a new book that describes some of the cuisines of Asean countries.

"The life of the average Bruneian revolves around his religion, Islam, with certain things as forbidden (haram), certain things tolerated but not encouraged (makruh) and certain things which fall under the embrace of Islam (halal)," Cultural Foods Around The World authors: Serraon-Claudio, Serranon- Joves and Jamorabo-Ruiz point-out.

The Arabic term islam, literally "surrender," illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam-that the believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islam) accepts "surrender to the will of Allah (Arabic: God). Islamic dietary laws are written in the Qur'an or Koran (literally, "reading" or "recitation") the holy book of Islam (Microsoft Encarta 2006).

Islam is one of the oldest organized religions to be established in the Philippines (before Magellan was born!). In 1380, Karim ul' Makdum, the first Islamic missionary to reach the Sulu Archipelago, brought Islam to what is now the Philippines.

Pork, the consumption of alcohol and eating meat not slaughtered under Islamic guidance are haram. Smoking and eating shellfish are considered makruh (Cultural Foods Around The World). There goes my smoking habit-tolerated but not encouraged!

Melissa Lopez further explained these concepts in an article "Moro Cuisine is no Moro-Moro," published in Cook, The Culinary Lifestyle Magazine. In this article, Chef Abdulatif "Tato" Sangcupan, Chef-in-Charge in Halal Cooking at Miascor Catering Services (NAIA), includes the following foods as also haram: blood and blood by-products, dead animals, carnivorous animals, birds of prey and land animals without external ears. And all the time I though it was only pork and pork by-products that are forbidden!

Food allowed are called halal (Arabic, "lawful") and this word usually refers to meat from animals that have been slaughtered in the ritual way prescribed by Islamic law. This is called the Zabihah ritual with the butcher facing east, towards Mecca, praying, before killing the animal.

In Malaysia, foods that are halal are labeled as halal. And when in doubt where to source ingredients, import na lang!

My favorite author, Doreen Fernandez, documented Filipino cuisine in the Muslim provinces of Mindanao. She recalled her visit to Marawi City, Lanao del Sur in Tikim, Essays on Philippine Food and Culture. They use turmeric (luya na dilaw, dulao, or kalawag) in Maranaw cuisine and the results are dishes like dalag, tinged with a bright color yellow. They also appreciate hotness in their food and they use palapa (a kind of relish with sili, garlic, ginger and wild onions) to spice up any dish. Lacy pancakes fried in the streets and long cylindrical sticky cakes called dudol surprised her.

Other spices used are the blue ginger (tikwas), lemon grass (salay) and sakurab, a shallot-like vegetable found only in the Lanao province. (Melissa Lopez in Cook, The Culinary Lifestyle Magazine) In Cebu today, the number of Muslim businessmen has increased and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has invited them in celebration of the Islamic festivals like the end of Ramadan called Eid-ul-Fitr in the South Reclamation Properties.

To become host to such a huge event such as the 12th ASEAN summit is not an easy task. Many of the comfort foods and drinks that we, Cebuanos, usually serve our friends and relatives are not suitable to some of the delegates to this international event.

When doubt exists, serve Guadalupe mangoes, sigurado halal gyud na!