Meat Your True Love
At the heart of celebrations, be it birthdays, Christmas or Hari Raya, is food. Amidst the twinkling, multi-coloured lights and the balik kampung songs, we are always most excited by the thought of an infinite spread on the table. The casserole dish filled with not casserole, but rendang chicken partnered up with a big bowl of lemang, or the tray of messily sauced pasta surrounded by pots of Thousand Island-topped salad. Sometimes, it’s a platter of chai choy (a vegetarian dish) that sits next to the deliciously dark, braised chicken and mushrooms, which is always the first to be wiped out. But the one dish everyone looks forward to the most, the one that embodies celebrations in its entirety, is the roast. It can be different meats at different occasions but roast meats always make it to join the army of food on the table and they almost always become the focus. It is usually the suckling pig that garners the most ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ at wedding dinners, the whole lamb roasted at a Hari Raya open house that people eagerly wait in line for, and it’s only the RM300 turkey that gets the grand entrance and an honorary carving session at Christmas dinners.
But beyond the enticing glamour of a glossy roast, I think the real reason roast meats are integral to celebrations is its instinctively loving nature. These delights have a great deal to teach us about love and after all, isn’t anything and everything we celebrate about bringing together the people we love?
Here are four life lessons to take away the next time you take away your roast meat.
Be Thankful
When you devour a roast, be it chicken, lamb, duck, beef or pork, do you ever think about it as a living, breathing animal? I know we try our best not to, but these animals did lay down their lives to satisfy our bellies, and the least we could do is to give it our respect and eat every part of it. Perhaps that’s why roasting a whole animal feels befitting at celebrations — it reminds us to be thankful for all that someone — or something — else has done for us.
Be Honest
Roast meats are simple, honest fare. They will almost never try to pretend to be something they’re not with the façade of fancy plating, or hide behind the delicious distraction of complicated sauces and dips. They are who they are — crispy skin, fat, flesh and all. When was the last time we learnt to be completely honest with ourselves? Try it — people might just love you for it.
Be Patient
From the process of marinating the meat to the moment it goes under the fire, to the slow cooking process, roasts tend to take hours. A gorgeous roast is the result of one who has laboured over it for a long time. Good food takes time, so never take it for granted and remember that it takes love and patience to feed people.
Be a Spreader of Joy
Quintessentially communal, there is always enough roast meat to go around. It’s a celebratory dish made for the coming together of a family, friends or simply people you love. Perhaps that’s also the reason people associate roast meats with the taste of comfort — because of the people who eat it with you. The next time you celebrate an occasion and that glistening roast meat is present, look around to see those happy faces. I hope it was you who brought the roast, and along with it, a sliver (or mountain) of sheer joy.
In honour of all that roast meats have done for us, here’s a guide to the eight best places you can ‘meat’ your true love.
