Cutting food waste is a delicious way of saving money, helping to feed the world and protect the planet.
– Tristram Stuart, English author and environmental campaigner
Ramadan is one of those most-anticipated occasions for hawkers because it means that their businesses would be well-patronised by shoppers and those who want food and drinks for the breaking of the fast.
They would diligently prepare their food starting in the morning and they would arrive at their stalls a few hours before the breaking of the fast.
From then on, they would be swarmed by people, mainly those coming back from their workplaces after office hours, who hope to buy delicacies for iftar.
While that still remains the case, however there is trepidation among the hawkers because there is always the possibility that there won’t be enough visitors coming to their stalls.
A number of people in Kuching, mainly those in the northern part, are saying that this time around, there are just too many Ramadan bazaars.
This, along with the fact that the location of the bazaar clusters is situated in close proximity to each other has seemingly caused traffic (in terms of visitors) to be diverted or divided.
Take northern Kuching, there is a Ramadan bazaar every few kilometres starting from Satok until Matang Jaya. This doesn’t include bazaars in the greater Petra Jaya area.
Essentially the people are spoilt for choice in terms of gastronomy in the fasting month – it seems that opportunities are everywhere for the hawker community to make a living.
But then again, this might not be the case – because in the end, there’s only so many people who are buying dishes at a bazaar and with so many bazaars to choose from, some would be deprived of patrons.
It has been a case of having too much of a good thing, according to the hawkers.
But then again, there are possible explanations too on why there is less people buying food at their establishments.
One such possibility is due to many tightening their belts compared to the previous years.
This could be because this year, there is no “windfall” or “durian runtuh” in Malay in the form of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) special withdrawals.
The public has to make do with the monthly wage to spread out on expenditures for the whole month and also the upcoming Aidilfitri celebration.
Whereas this time last year, the federal government had allowed a special EPF withdrawal for the amount of RM10,000. This had helped the local economy significantly.
Another is due to the fact that the children had just returned to school last week – which is the start of their academic calendar.
It meant that parents had to part with a significant chunk of their money to buy school necessities such as uniforms, shoes and stationery this month.
It also means that whatever they are left with, have to be spent prudently to ensure their livelihood.
There are many who prefer to have home-cooked meals for breaking of fast this time. It has to be said that buying groceries have also become a rather expensive affair.
Being someone who seldom cooked and preferred to have meals outside, I was stunned by the impossibly high prices of groceries ranging from biscuits, canned foods and cereals.
Although there are price-controlled items such as eggs, beef, chicken and dried goods, everyone is feeling the pinch.
The ever-expanding cost of items have also been passed to the consumers by hawkers, including at Ramadan bazaars.
In Kuching a few years ago, the price of packed rice with chicken sold in bazaars was somewhere in the range of RM5 to RM8, depending on the dish type and portion size.
It meant that, more often than not, one could only spend RM10 for food and beverage for their meal even after squeezing in some traditional kuih for dessert.
Nowadays, be ready to pay top dollar for food. A packed rice with chicken is usually sold at RM10 or more.
On top of that, a beverage along with a small pack of traditional kuih would set a customer back at least RM5 or more.
That marks a 50 per cent increase in average spending for a meal. This is felt by patrons, hence the home-cooked meals.
In essence, it is not smooth sailing for those in the food business where soaring food prices along with less than convenient timing in the local economy have put a damper on their own Aidilfitri preparations.
Hopefully, as we are about to enter the second part of the holy month, things would turn out better and that they can at least have some merriment during the upcoming festive occasion.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
