Watch out for the pigs!

By Anis Albasha

There is no doubt that food plays an inextricable role in our daily lives. George Bernard Shaw said that “There is no sincerer love than the love of food!” Yet, food culture is one of the challenges faced by those who live abroad and who have different ‘food’ backgrounds. As Arab Muslims who were born and raised in Yemen, dealing with the European cuisine was not easy and has been an arduous task.

At the beginning, I thought that the issue of food differences would be difficult mainly because of the language. It is true that what is considered edible or even delectable in a society might be considered inedible and unpalatable in another one. However, I was sure that there would be many foodstuffs we -as human beings- can consume with no problem. I was thinking that, whether in Yemen or in Germany, food products such as bread, cheese, flour or milk would remain the same so we could always go with those familiar choices until we improve our German language and get used to the new surroundings. Well, that way of thinking turned out to be wrong and I have discovered that this issue was more inconvenient than what I thought. The problem is, not only did we have to coop with the different taste and flavors of the European cuisine, but we also have to deal with the unfamiliar ways of preparing, cooking and serving food.

When it comes to eating, people have two options; whether to eat at a restaurant or to eat at home. In Germany, there are many foreign restaurants such as Turkish, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Indian as well as the global fast food restaurant chains like McDonald's, Kentucky and Pizza Hut. If we decide to eat at a restaurant, we would usually go with the Arab/Muslim restaurants where pork is not served and the meat is slaughtered according to the Islamic way ‘Halal’. The word ‘Halal’ simply mains that the animal was killed by a knife and all blood is drained from the carcass. On the other hand, if we have to eat at a non-Arab/Muslim restaurant, we would then order vegetarian dishes or fish. Though we had to remove ‘fish’ as an option after we had eaten it once at a restaurant with sweet cream! 

You can click Here to read the full story about the fish experience!

In fact, not only we refrain from eating ‘unhalal’ meat because of our religious belief, but we cannot abide the idea of eating any kind of meat that still has blood inside. So, if we had meat which is supposed to be Halal and we found out that there was blood inside it, which indicates that the carcass was killed by stunning, we would immediately feel uncomfortable. As for the pork, it is stated clearly in the Quran, the holy book of Muslims that “Say, I do not find within that which was revealed to me ‘anything’ forbidden to one who would eat it unless it be a dead animal, or blood spelled out, or the flesh of swine ” 6:145. Surprising as it may be, we have met some Europeans who not only don’t like to eat pork, but they also prefer to have Halal meat instead. According to those people who have tried both Halal and unhalal meat, the former tastes much better. 

Eating at home simply means bringing grocery, which is not an easy task. The strange ingredients of most food products make a normal grocery shopping even harder for us. For instance, if my wife asks me to bring something from the supermarket, it would take me quite a while before I get what she wants. When she calls me and wonders that I am still in the supermarket, I always respond by saying “Honey, I am sure that the thing you want is here, but I haven’t found it yet!” Each time I go to the supermarket to buy something, I have to go through certain steps. First, I have to find the sector that contains the product I am looking for. Second, due to the great variation of the products, it takes time to find the required stuff because I have to walk through different aisles and look through many shelves.

When I finally find the required product, I then have to peruse the ingredients to make sure that the components are compatible with those we used to know in our country as well as to ensure that these ingredients do not include unwanted substances such as pig derivatives or alcohol. Nevertheless, many times I thought that I got the food products I was looking for and later at home we found out that they just resemble the groceries we used to know. However, this huge diversity of food products in German supermarkets makes grocery shopping a bit funny for us. For example, in our country, we have only two kinds of flour, white flour and brown one. The variation of this product lies only in the quality of its origin. But here in Germany, there are dozens of flour types in the supermarkets and each type can be used for a specific purpose. Moreover, these flour types have strange names such as, flour 405 or flour 505 which sounds like we were talking about certain types of military missiles! Moreover, when I go to buy some eggs, I wish that I had a poultry expert who can explain to me the characteristics of the different types of German eggs displayed in the shelves!

many types of flour in all supermarkets

Eggs!

As time passed, grocery shopping has become easier and I have started to distinguish between the different types of food products. However, the issue of the pig derivatives remained annoying and complicated. I was already aware that pork derivatives and alcohol might be found in many food products. Therefore, I have looked these words up in the German dictionary so by reading the ingredients; I would be able to tell if they contain pig derivatives or alcohol. I have also learned some helping hints on this regard such as, the cheap products are more likely to contain pork derivatives while the expensive products -usually- do not contain pork gelatin. However, I have found that pork derivatives and alcohol are included in some food products I never thought they would contain these substances such as bread, fruit juice and chocolates. I even saw a plain white cheese which contains pork fats while the name of this cheese in German is pork cheese ‘schinken käse’!

Types of chocolates with a large proportion of alcohol

Salad with pork

As a result, pork’s issue has become an obsession that chases me every time I go to the supermarket to buy something. I became more skeptical and I started to scrutinize the ingredients of all the products even if they were just chewing gum or yogurt. That’s why learning German was so helpful. The more German I picked up, the easier it becomes when handling the food issue and I started to feel more confident. One time, my wife and I were shopping for some stuff when we felt tired and hungry. I then went to fetch some snacks so we could have them with some coffee and then continue our shopping. In similar situations, I usually go with things I already knew such as butter croissant, biscuits or chocolates. But at that time, I thought it might be nice to try something different. So I took one quick look at the pastries placed in the shelves and decided to go with what looked to me like a ‘cheesy’ croissant with small scattered brown pieces that looked delicious.

My wife and I got some coffee and we started to eat. But I got the feeling that the taste of the new croissant was a little bit unfamiliar. Yet, I continued eating silently. But my wife held the croissant in her hand, looked at it doubtfully before she asked me, "Are you sure that this croissant is with cheese?" I shook my head with confidence and I continued biting and sipping. Unlike me, my wife remained skeptical. She didn’t like the croissant, but she was very tired so she ate it without finishing it though. Later that day and just before I went to sleep, a sudden thought struck me. I vaguely remembered that there was a word written next to that croissant we ate this morning, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Then I started thinking of those small brown pieces that were placed in the croissants we had. Is it possible that those pieces were not cheese but were in fact….pieces of pork??

Then my stomach muscles began to contract. I looked at my wife who was sleeping peacefully, should I tell her that she was right and we might had pork croissant this morning! The very next day I went to the place where I bought the croissants. Unfortunately, in a small font next to the croissant shelve, it was written that the croissant contains two things: cheese, which was good news and it meant that I was half right. And it also contains pork which explained the unfamiliar and the unpalatable taste I retroactively felt then! That incident taught me that overconfidence is not always good and I have become more careful since then. But at that very moment I had another problem, how could I tell my wife that I made her eat not unhalal meat but pork!

To conclude, Moving from one culture to another is not an easy experience. Those who come from different cultural backgrounds have to deal with many challenges and to exert great efforts to adjust with the new surroundings where everything sounds unfamiliar. Food culture is a challenge that requires time and efforts before getting accustomed to it. Though we do seem to be making some headway in coping with the food differences, becoming totally adapted to the new food culture would always be a strenuous and a challenging task.