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NRI weddings in Punjab without chicken dishes due bird flu


Bird flu scare: Punjabi weddings axe chicken

Local caterers say they are requested by the hosts not to prepare any chicken dish or use eggs; fish, mutton preferred


Ludhiana, February 27
Amrita Chaudhry
express India

THE latest casualty of the bird flu scare is the culinary fare at Punjabi weddings and parties. Imagine a Punjabi wedding without its due share of tandoori chicken and butter chicken!

But as they say, prevention is better than cure, and for now, chicken has been axed from the menu of wedding parties.

Says Amarjit Singh of Manjit Caterers, ‘‘When the scare spread last year too, the organisers told us not to use eggs or chicken. It is the same this time. At all the weddings that I have catered for recently, the hosts opt for fish and mutton rather than chicken.’’

Amarjit highlights that during this time of the year, many NRI families come to Punjab to solemnise weddings. ‘‘The NRIs spend very lavishly and want great food too. Earlier, chicken would be a major item on the menu, including the snacks and the main course. Now, we caterers have to devise new and different recipes in place of chicken. Most puddings use eggs too, but now we have to do without them. The problem is that while we have many options for puddings, doing without chicken altogether is not an easy task.’’

Adds H R Malik, another caterer, ‘‘I have the contract for catering in major places in PAU like the Parker House, the Faculty club and so on. I have observed that while on an individual level people still do not mind eating chicken, but when it comes to parties and collective gatherings, people prefer to stay away. We tell people that it is okay to avoid tandoori chicken, for this dish is not cooked at the required 70 degree Celsius, but other chicken dishes are safe to eat. Yet the scare is there,’’ he points out.

Broiler down to Rs 20 a kg, still no takers
The prices of chicken and eggs continued to fall today. Broiler, which was earlier available at about Rs 45, is not available for Rs 20. Even then, there are few buyers for it. However, the cost of processed chicken items like chicken balls, chicken lollipops and the like remains constant. Says Balwinder Singh, an NRI from Canada who has come to the city to solemnise the wedding of this daughter, ‘‘We are really in a fix. For us Jat Sikhs, no wedding, party or even a family get-together is complete without chicken dishes. I know that the our relatives are also aware of the bird flu, but still a wedding menu without chicken seems incomplete.’’


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