The Brouhaha of Bak-Kut-Teh Halal

Now even food is put into the boiling pot of controversy and about to become, like all other things in the so called melting pot of 1Malaysia - become a hot politicised, made a sensitive racist and religious issue.

Apparently the efforts of Madam Tourism to entice visitors to Bolehland is to promote its rich cuizine diversity. The Fabulous Food 1Malaysia attempt to catalogue the many types of food, has hit some controversy with regard to those that qualify as 'halal' (kosher) and those that are outright 'haram' ('banned') - at least by the name of the food.

The Bak Kut Teh (BKT) name is a popular herbal soupy dish of the Chinese with pork and a concoction of herbs as the main ingredients served with steam rice and sometimes with yew ca kui a kind of oil fried flour dough. The herbs are supposed to be good for health. But then if it's often the greasy fatty pork that ends up in it, it would cancel out any medicinal value right?

Its popularity even spreading beyond the Chinese community has made it an indisputable BolehLand dish. It has found also its way even in Vietnam where the locals are taking a delight in it with vegetable being a widely used ingredient!

Some think BKT is heavenly while others think it reminds them of eating something rancid or medicinal, the odour even worse than the king of fruits, the durian or the missing unwashed socks!

BolehLand fellos being the adventure sought is game on trying anything that is edible including the Malays as long as its halal, with preference a halal certificate displayed on the eateries so that they can also relish the food of other communities with no worries of going to hell or worse being arrested by the religious authorities such as Jakim! Yes, it's sometimes very dangerous to eat (not necessarily related to hygiene or health!), besides doing other things like enjoying in a pub, in BolehLand.

So as with many dishes, there is an interchange of ingredients to cater to different tastes. And for BKT, pork has been replaced with chicken long ago to 'halal-fied' it so that Muslims can also enjoy it and at the same time improve their health!

And the way out is to name it Bak-Kut-Teh Halal, something that reflects the ingenuity of BolehLand fellos. Just add an extra name everything 'kau tim'.

Not so to the Jakim fellos. See story below.

It's odd that this BKT Halal name is being singled out as controversial. Wan Ton Mee (WTM) remains unchanged and Muslim eateries are using it still even though the ingredient is everything else except using the original ingredient which is braised pork (babi) with minced pork for the wanton filling! If Jakim take offence the dish origin is associated with pork, then they should have forbidden Malay eateries to even use WTM in their stall. Perhaps call it Wan Kilo Mee since BolehLand has gone metric! Perhaps it's the 'Wan' there which is also a Malay name that saved the ori Wan Ton Mee retaining it's name even if the original ingredients have been replaced.

And there have been many Chinese restaurants offering 'halal' dim sum which was not a contentious issue as BKT. And everyone knows dim sum is a Chinese highly 'babi-fied' dish with oink, oink here and pork pork there in their many 'dim sums'

What about chow kuew teow, wat tan hoe, cantonese and hokkien fried which are now popularly offered in the Malay warongs (eateries) too?

Chinese cooking their curry dishes have also used pork particularly wild boar to make rendangs. Is Jakim going to ban them from calling their dish curry babi?!

Will changing the name makes it a less local or hala dish? It's like calling the hamburger a 'doughnut' and it should not matter what it's called right as long as it has ingredients that constitute it as 'hamburger'!

But then one looses the essence of names in food dishes! Even calling it chick-kut-teh if chicken is used or beef-kut-teh if cow will still let the dish be attached to the original recipe!

If the word seems to sound too associated with babi then 'barbecue' sounds rather piggish and if you hold a barbecue does it mean the meats are 'babi-fied' haram?! And if no pork is used but chicken, lamb or beef do you call it ayam-cue, kambing-cue or lembu-cue so that it doesn't sound too 'porky'?

Cocktail is a concoction of different spirits and beverages and it can be called anything and everything. After all if having too much of a cocktail makes one forget his senses anyway even if the person can't remember the strange name it makes no difference.

So, why are we going 'cocktail' on the name of the BKT halal dish! Let's not create a brouhaha on bak-kut-teh pehleaseee.

There are now sparkling grape juice, beverages being drunk from champaign and wine glasses - it's like going 'cai' on entertainment. You know being like a vegetarian, make believe you are enjoying not missing out on the goodness of meat so you eat vegetable based 'meats' prawns and meat-look alike cai!

So you toast on sparkling red grape juice served in champagne glasses in a make belief pleasure of a 'Moet & Chandon' (which is really an excellent champagne though!).

Nothing seems to escape these orthodox fellos in BolehLand! They should ban eating with chopsticks as it's associated with the Chinese using it to pick food including babi!

Is the BKT Halal issue going to blow up into another sensitive religious issue, as if there are not enough problems and controversies in BolehLand already?

Call it Herb-Kut-Teh? And depending on the ingredient call it Chick-Kut-Teh for chicken, Biri-kut-Teh short form for kambing/biri-biri (goat/lamb) and Lembu-kut-teh for beef, no?

But then to those stubborn purist the 'kut' and 'teh' still retains the 'babi-fied' association and connotation. So change the 'kut' to 'ko' instead but retain 'teh' as it sound acceptable 'teh' as in tea. Which will resolve it not taking on the original spelling but yet sounds like it, looks like it and taste like it too minus porky in it of course!

So if a Malay BKT will be called 'Bumi-Ko-Teh', the Mamak will take on 'Ma-Ko-Teh' and the Indian effort 'Tambi-Ko-Teh'? Sounds good enuf for Jakim?

If it sounds offensive because it sounds is still too 'haram', perhaps call it 'F5e Soup or F5e Special? That would be great as the recent missing F5e jet engine is uniquely BolehLand. Eating it will really 'hilang' (lose) all your aches and pains! Wouldn't that be really a 1fab of a new name and uniquely reflects 1Malaysia right? Your woes and aches disappear, go missing after consuming it!

After all there is already topedo soup and gearbox generally accepted names for rather exotic Malay soup dishes, yah!

Heard at a warong
Customer: Want something to 'hilang' my stress. What's your house special ?
Waiter: F5e Biasa (Basic) and F5e Special
Customer: What's the difference Biasa and Special?
Waiter: Biasa one piece chicken; Special you get two pieces.
Customer: Harga? (Cost?)
Waiter: Biasa only RM5; Special RM10
Customer: Ok Special
Waiter to chef: Satu F5e Soup Special for table no1!

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Jakim: Use another name for bak kut teh halal
THE use of the term bak kut teh halal will not only confuse Muslims but it is also against fiqah (Islamic way of life and practices), reported Utusan Malaysia.
The daily quoted Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) deputy director-general Lokman Abdul Rahman as saying that bak kut teh could not be deemed halal because it still carried an “illegal name” under Islamic law.
He stressed that the dish would not be issued any halal certificate based on procedures set by Jakim.
“There may be people who will apply for the certificate but Jakim will not certify the food as halal because it is very clear that it does not comply with Islamic law.
“We are worried that the Muslim community will misunderstand that the food is halal if we issue the certificate,” he said.
Lokman said the name bak kut teh referred to soup and pork used to prepare the dish.
“My recommendation is for the relevant parties to use another name for bak kut teh halal,” he said.
He was commenting on bak kut teh halal introduced at the Fabulous Food 1Malaysia — Malaysia Restaurant Food Festival ceremony at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Bak kut teh halal ingredients include chicken, seafood and vegetables, in place of pork, which is normally used for the dish.
Marriot Hotel executive chef Zaffar Abdul Samad said the dish was 100% halal in terms of its recipe and ingredients.
Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia secretary-general Datuk Dr Maamor Osman also disagreed with the introduction of bak kut teh halal.
“I am worried that misusing the term will slowly reduce the disinclination of Muslims towards pork. I hope Jakim can take strict measures to ensure that the food does not get halal certification,” he said.