I was looking at some snapshots of food that I took when I went for overseas trips, and began to think about the food that Muslims eat in Singapore. Aren’t we too preoccupied with these exclusiveness of Halal food products? I understand the modern and new age Singapore Muslims are more cautious about what goes into our body. But my question is - must there be a Halal logo to ensure what we eat is good for us? Halal logo merely officiates that the food is Halal but it doesn’t tell if it’s good for consumers. If we were to read the ingredients and maybe do a little research on the food companies, it will do us a lot of good rather than being overly-dependent on the Halal logo. Why? Because not all Halal food is good for our body. If these non-Halal certified companies don’t produce pork related products or non-meat products, does that mean we can’t eat their food products too? E.g organic vegetables or soy sauce or organic milk?
I remember when I was young, I simply can’t recall any of those tidbits that I ate bore any Halal logos. For daily my school breakfast, my mom would buy an unbranded plain white bread and spread her homemade kaya or on some days she will buy a sugar donut from our neighbourhood bakery ran by a Chinese neighbour. During Hari Raya, my mom baked cookies using butter that has no Halal label, and the unbranded flour was bought from a provision shop. And my then favourite gold coin chocolates or the whiterabbit candies also had no Halal logos. It seems our lives back then were simpler and less complicated.
I often travel overseas for business trips with a couple of non-Muslim colleagues. Many a times, I had a hard time locating Halal eateries in some countries like Russia and US, given the unfamiliarv territories. I usually go to the ginormous supermarkets and look for Kosher and organic food products. I scanned through the ingredients and did a quick check on the internet, and voila! I had a healthy organic meal. Aside from the lunch meetings and arranged dinners that was specified with Halal or vegetarian labels, it wasn’t difficult to find good healthy meal. It takes a little more effort to read up more and we can actually eat consciously too. In other countries, Muslims don’t have the privilege of having Halal labels in food products. In fact, some of the food products in Singapore were written in Arabic but they are not even Halal. What I’m trying to say here is - are Singapore Muslims too dependent on this Halal stamp, and are we becoming lazy?
Halal food also doesn’t mean healthy food. In fact majority of the Halal food that we have at local eateries are mostly unhealthy. High MSG content, high in sugar, high in transfat, high in cholesterol, high in adverse food colourings, etc. Maybe Halal Yong Tau Fu is not too bad but the soup is still high in MSG. So, are Muslims eating healthily?
Besides, Halal food are ultra over-priced. Ridiculously! I am extremely displeased to pay a bowl of Halal mee rebus that doesn’t have any traces of meat except a quarter of an egg had cost me $3.50, while my Chinese friend who had a bowl of Lor Mee with slices of meat had only cost $2.50? Aper ni?! As long there is a Halal logo, stall vendors leap to mark up their food prices just because it is Halal? Malays always like to compare to the Chinese, but can I compare the Muslim food prices to the Chinese too? Macam gini boleh terkopak la duit. Please don’t take advantage of these Halal branding and do price ur food reasonably.
What Muslims should be concern is about eating healthy food with a conscious effort to search and find food products that can be consumed and does not contain any non-halal food stuff. If Halal food are overly-priced, Muslims should source out alternative healthy but affordable food that are reasonably priced. Having said that we should also care about the well-being of our loved ones and make sure that they eat healthy food. Not necessarily only vegetables or fruits diet or organic food because these can be expensive. But instead use less oil less, fats, less salt and no MSG.
Islam’s holistic approach to health include treating our bodies with respect and nourishing them not only with faith but also with lawful and nutritious food. According to the Quran, a major part of living is implementing a suitable diet that comprised of wholesome food that benefits both physical and spiritual health.
MUIS should make a conscious effort to encourage Muslims to eat healthily and not merely eating Halal food only. From what I see, most of the asatizahs on the streets nowadays are obscenely growing sideways. And they don’t look like they exercise at all. If we want to be a better Muslim community, let’s start from the leaders as role models, what say you?
“Eat of the good things which We have provided for you” (Quran 2:173)
“Eat of what is lawful and wholesome on the earth” (Quran 2:168)
No comments:
Post a Comment