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.