Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email I guess the Indian culture of honoring cow as sacred/taboo (especially for Hindus) is not much of a trend nowadays. There are Hindus who consume beef, even in a tropical climate like Malaysia where the weather is warm and there’s plenty of choice food. Of course, there’s the argument why can’t eat beef, but can eat chicken, mutton, fish etc. After all, the rooster is symbol of Lord Muruga, and fish is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. That’s discrimination right? 🙂
We also see cattle breeders selling cows for the meat. And even restaurant owners like the folks below who have beef as part of the menu (they serve German food, so not much option I guess).
So, when it comes to making a living or doing what you have passion (like the cousins below), we can adapt and change according to needs. One can find literature saying that beef-eating was common in ancient India. And even now, India exports beef ( buffalo meat also) to many countries.
We can also talk about dharma – serving food for people is good deed. And if the customer wants to have a meal with beef or pork or whatever, is it the restaurant owner’s dharma to fulfill the need?
So, I wonder, why bother protesting over the cow head incidence in Shah Alam as insult to Hindus?
SHARING a passion for German cuisine, three cousins with no previous experience in the food and beverage industry decided to venture into business.
“We love German food especially the pork knuckles and we used to go out with our spouses to the different restaurants in town,” said Berlin Biergarten director Dr Kunalan, 37.
“Since we enjoy it so much, we thought why not just open up our own restaurant?” he said.
Together with his cousins Dr Loganathan and K. Vijayendran, the trio toyed with the idea of setting up a German restaurant with a more casual ambience that people could bring their family to.
“We usually bring our children with us and we wanted a place that looked more like a restaurant than a drinking place. We want people to come and appreciate the food,” said Dr Kunalan.
“Our wives thought we were crazy at first and they didn’t believe that we would do it. None of us have any experience in the business so we started learning as we went along,” said Dr Loganathan.
Dr Kunalan said they created the menu based on what they liked with input from their executive chef S. Panneer, 33, who is experienced in Western cuisine.
The roasted pork knuckles is synonymous with German cuisine and at the Berlin Biergarten, chef Panneer cooked up the Berlin Speciality Crispy Pork Knuckle, which is roasted with garlic and herbs. instead of being marinated with German beer.
What was intriguing about the dish was the bulb of roasted garlic served with the knuckle.
“Yes, the garlic can be eaten,” said Dr Kunalan with a laugh at my puzzled expression.
Instead of the pungent taste one would expect from biting into a whole clove of garlic, the roasted one was surprisingly soft to the bite and has a sweet fragrant taste.
Panneer explained that the garlic was also roasted with herbs together with the pork knuckle.
There was also a variety of German sausages to choose from like the traditional Bratwurst, which was served with sauerkraut and herbed button mushrooms, and the Chicken Black Pepper Sausage.
“We want to offer variety to our customers so they will also find chicken, beef and lamb sausages on our menu,” said Dr Kunalan.
For those who do not fancy digging into a meat dish, there was the vegetarian Berlin Pasta.
“It is cooked with five types of mushrooms with a vegetable broth,” said Panneer.
BERLIN BIERGARTEN, Soho KL Lot J-01-04, Solaris Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur (Tel: 03-6203 0958). Business hours: 11am to 11pm daily (until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays). Non-halal.
NOTE: This is not an advertisement for the restaurant. As always – SAY NO TO ALCOHOL!
IMHO,
Hindus who eat beef do so at their own preference, with their own understanding and set of beliefs on their way of life. Does protesting the cow head incident make them hypocrites? I don’t think so.
The incident happened with the sole purpose of infuriating the Hindu community. The act was deliberate, knowing that the majority of Hindus would be offended. They meant to insult Hindus, that is why we protest. Because we condemn the act of deliberately wanting to insult someone or some part of the community. It is not HOW they insulted that matters, it is their notion to insult that is being protested.
Plus, should anyone’s diet be a measure of their moral grounds?
Dear Friends,
I had asked this question to the spiritual organisation I attend this was the answer:
“Any form of meat, may it be goat,chicken, beef etc has high tama guna and through our sadhana we are moving towards saatvikta, hence its like going the opposite way.
Just like the proeprty of fire is to give heat similarly the property of cow is to attract 33 million different principle of god hence the cow is soo holy its is full of satvikta. Therefore consuming milk is good to increase the satva components in our body”
There are more articles to read on our body energy (Raja, Tama & Satva) & reasons of consuming meat.
http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/articles/id/spiritualresearch/spiritualscience/veg-or-non-veg
http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/articles/id/spiritualresearch/spiritualscience/sattva_raja_tama