Malaysia Adventure in 2008

What is Halal?

Halal is an Islamic word found frequently in Malaysia meaning "permissible". I first found the word on a microwave oven in the employee lounge meaning that the microwave oven was clean and was permissible to use for cooking in accordance to the Islamic law. It also meant that the microwave had not been contaminated by prohibitive food such as pork and no prohibitive food should enter the microwave oven.

Muslims do not eat pork, ducks, amphibians like frogs and some crabs which live on sand or mud. Crabs from the deep oceans are considered OK as long as they don't touch the bottom. There is a longer list of prohibitive food items but this is a starter.

Halal can further describe how the food was prepared and in what manner did the animal or the poultry were slaughtered. To conduct business in Muslim countries, for example the McDonald restaurant chain had to come up with a specially prepared chicken McNugget to comply with the local law.

Halal is similar to the Hebrew word "kosher" frequently found in the U.S.

In the above photo, the microwave oven on the left had the label "non-Halal" so you can cook anything in it. In the U.S., we could use a Halal oven to stop some office workers to cook salty fish in the employee lounge. The smell and the fume from the fish was known to drive some people out of the building :-).

I did ask more questions about Halal ... What if someone mistakenly cook pork in the Halal oven? Will they have to throw the equipment away when the rule was violated? I was told that the misuse would be treated as an issue of lack of mutual respect. It wasn't that the halal microwave was mistakenly used but was it an ill intent act ......

I learned quite a bit on this topic. If you want to study more about "halal", click here as a start.

What about serving pork in the public?

Yesterday over lunch, I had the opportunity to try the world famous Malaysian Bak Kut Tea 肉骨茶 which was prepared with a secret Chinese herb recipe; golden mushrooms; tofu; clams; sea asparagus; and a lot of pork in a red hot boiling clay pot. The food was YUMMY and cost only US$3. But 肉骨茶 has pork in it and so it is definitely non-Halal. Muslim couldn't walk near to the restaurant. To protect the residents, the Malaysia government issued limited licenses for this kind of restaurant in the residential area.

Click the "Play" button below to watch a boiling pot of 肉骨茶.

Is Char Siu then an endangered specie in a Muslim country?

Is Char Siu being endangered in a Muslim country? So the curious me went out to investigate and took pictures of some 'illegal' char siu hanging in a shopping mall food court. What you actually see now was "Chicken Char Siu" which looked like pork char siu but someone will have to explain to me how chicken meat could be stretched this long?

Washing hands in the public?

Public hand washing facilities are common in food courts and in restaurants. It is especially convenient to folks who eat with their fingers like the Indians, Malays and Chinese. More importantly, the facility actually allows the patrons to clean their hands AFTER eating. During one of my first dinners in Malaysia, I witnessed a restaurant patron who ate with his fingers in extreme speed and flexibility. I didn't take any photos because it was not considered polite to snap pictures. The hand wash facility should be made more popular in the West to promote cleanliness and hygiene.

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