Masti Point

I have spent two years in New York among my Vegetarian and Fruitarian friends. To some I was a horror-film-character come alive, all I did was to tell them what Eid Ul Azha means to us.

For Muslim students, it’s hard to explain some of our religious concepts to Americans. In a place where religion is not a good word and where New York Times’ front page paints us “bad” every day, it’s tricky to highlight the line between being a potential mass murderer and feeling obligated to perform religious practices dutifully. Sacrificing cattle in the name of Allah? Giving away part of it? Slaughtering in Islamic way to render the animal fit to eat? Why bother when you can just buy steaks and chops?

Americans today are getting increasingly allergic to their consumer culture. Nobody likes being lied to. Sadly, entire food production in USA is controlled by corporations that manipulate information about their products and use carefully constructed language to market products in any way that suits them. The control is so complete that many young children have no clue where their food comes from. People have too many choices, sadly not where it actually matters, but on ready-to-eat super market shelves.

Educated middleclass though is very conscious about what kind of food reaches their tables, in two different ways. One group is super-health-conscious Organic food buyers, many of which grow their own food naturally; and the ones in denial about the laws of survival, privileged enough to turn Vegetarian and Fruitarians.

Majority of Vegetarians refuse to eat animal products because they hate the way animals are raised at gigantic farms. To farmers and breeders, animals have no soul, only flesh to offer. Sadly, these force-fed animals live and die only for our delectable pleasure. Vegetarians of course have a solid reason not to be part of such cruel practice, but my favorite chef Anthony Bourdain sees this as sheer arrogance and disrespect towards the less privileged people on Earth.

Bourdain trots the Globe in order to learn values that diverse cultures have to offer each other. As a result, he is very vocal about how Americans must learn to pay due respect to a living creature that gave life for them. In his shows and books he has repeatedly shared how the entire animal, bones and organs can be turned into nourishing deliciousness, the only way in his opinion to pay due respect to Nature in return.

People like him bring cultures closer. He mocks people openly who insist that they don’t want to see the face of their food; that’s right, the steak had a body and a lovely face a day ago! And that exactly is the spirit behind the practice of Qurbani in our religion, buy, pamper, feed and decorate a naturally adult animal before you offer its life for Allah. Slaughter it yourself with a sharp knife, observe how harsh it is to take away a life, and know all along the greatness of life and life Giver. Respect!