Indian rojak, anyone?

Ok, I do not intend to make your stomach churn. We all know about the unfortunate incident at Geylang Serai Indian Rojak stall where 2 persons have died and more than 100 people have taken ill after consuming the contaminated indian rojak. The culprits, after checks by NEA (National Environment Agency) were raw food being contaminated as well as prawn fritters not properly cooked. It was caused by a bacteria called Vibrio Parahaemolyticus.

When I flipped opened the newspaper this morning, I read the interview with the stall owner and saw the market's spring cleaning exercise. Saw a photo of a rodent as well. The place is infested with these pests. I shuddered at its sheer size (of the rodent). BTW, I think one of my buddies, who is terribly afraid of big fat rats, will definitely scream at the sight of that photo.

While the authorities and the public came down hard on the stall owner, and while the lives of some of the victims are still at stake, perhaps we should calm down and not react too vehemently.

After this episode, the business of the entire place Geylang Serai Market will be seriously affected. The more than 100 hawker stalls and wet market stalls will see lesser patrons. They have a lot of cleaning up to do (hygiene-wise and reputation-wise). For that matter, all the stalls selling indian rojak in Singapore will see the popularity of the dish nosedive. The livelihood of the hawkers will be at stake, even more so at this time when the economy is bad.

The outbreak will see strong reactions from the victims and their families. Some may even sue the stall owner, or berate him. I would say, let the authorities deal with him. He may not even be able to start selling his rojak ever again after this incident. And he will be guilt-ridden for life, for the lost lives he has indirectly caused. But what happened has already happened. We can only take our own precautions as and when necessary. It happened, it happens. This may be just an isolated case.

Coming back to this dish. What I liked about indian rojak is, the fried everything, the fried dough fritters, bean curds, assortment of boiled potatoes, prawn fritters, cuttlefish, hard boiled eggs, fishcake, and cucumber mixed with a sweet thick, spicy chilli peanut sauce. I even like the raw onions and green chillies. I remember those days when we were younger, sometimes my parents would buy this rojak home for us. Usually if mom did not cook, we would have "tabao" packed meals like chicken/duck rice, or wanton noodles, or nasi lemak, or hokkien mee or "cai fun" (mixed veg rice) etc.. Having a side dish (like indian rojak, chinese rojak, ngoh hiang or satay) to go with these main meals were rare. So when we did have the sides sometimes, we really appreciated the little extras. Indian rojak was one of those indulgences when we were kids.

I do not think Indian Rojak will be totally wiped out due to this incident. Life will return to normal, people may forget this incident soon, and continue eating this local dish. Let's move on.