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Compassion behind cooking iftar meals
Bountiful blessings: A man prepares meals for iftar at Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta on May 7
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ountiful blessings: A man prepares meals for iftar at Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta on May 7. Thousands of meals are distributed every day for people who break their fast at the mosque.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
Iftar chefs and their assistants consider it n act of compassion to serve those performing their religious devotion during the fasting month while they fast themselves. As Muslims, they believe God will reward them for their service.
Some even choose to stay in the mosque canteen, sleeping on sofas or anywhere possible during the month of Ramadan, which is predicted to end on June 5.
Every Ramadan, the Istiqlal Grand Mosque provides free iftar meals for 3,500 people from Monday to Thursday and 4,500 people from Friday to Sunday.
Kitchenhand Iyang Dedi said he chose to leave his wife and two children in Bogor, West Java, and stays at the Istiqlal canteen throughout the month of Ramadan.
Iyang is used to taking short rests and it is not a big issue for him sleeping on a sofa or any corner of the canteen.
“Tonight, I’ll need to help another chef to prepare sahur [predawn meal] for the mosque employees,” Iyang said recently.
For Iyang’s bosses, chef Astri Wardani and her colleagues, preparing meals every day for people who break the fast is a compassion.
Astri, the mother of two, has worked as the only female chef at the canteen owned by the largest mosque in Southeast Asia. She regularly comes to the kitchen from her home in Salemba, Central Jakarta at 8 a.m. and leaves the place by 4 p.m.
Sharing iftar food is a tradition that the management of the Istiqlal Mosque has kept for 20 years. The mosque has been a popular place for Muslims in Jakarta to break the fast since it was still in construction in the 1970s.
Over the last four years, iftar has been prepared by eight food vendors, one of which is the mosque canteen. Previously, the meals were solely organized by the canteen as it is situated in the mosque’s complex.
Istiqlal Mosque protocol and tourist service unit head, Abu Hurairah Abdul Salam, said the eight vendors were working together to ensure the quality of the food and that it was served on time.
“We want to maintain the quality of the food. The management decides the dishes for them to cook. So the taste might be different from one another,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Each day, the food menu is different. Every Saturday, the meal is white rice with opor ayam (chicken in a coconut milk stew), tofu, stir-fried chayote, green chili paste, banana and dates. Every Sunday it is white rice with egg curry, perkedel kentang (fried potato patties), jackfruit curry, green chili paste, banana and dates.
Abu said the management had allocated around Rp 2 billion (US$138,000) for iftar meal this year. It is all sourced from the donations made by the public, government institutions, private and state-owned companies, and foreign aid.
Thousands of people flocked to the mosque for Saturday’s iftar. Some bought food and snacks from hawkers to bring inside the mosque.
Rahmat Abdullah, 33, along with his family experienced iftar together at Istiqlal for the first time.
Living in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, Rahmat — a public servant at the Law and Human Rights Ministry — is aware that the mosque provides free iftar every year.
“I just want to show my kids the essence of breaking the fast in the mosque, as they usually break the fast at home,” the father of three told the Post.
On that day, chef Astri along with two other chefs and two kitchenhands had to prepare 1,000 boxes of meals as ordered by the management following Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan’s scheduled visit to the mosque for iftar and tarawih (evening prayers during Ramadan).
The canteen usually prepares 500 boxes of meals each day from Monday until Thursday, and 700 boxes from Friday until Sunday.
“All of a sudden, my boss asked us to increase the number of meals. Fortunately, it went smoothly,” Astri said after finishing cooking and calling it a day.
The 38-year-old claimed she did not find many problems and difficulties in cooking the meals while she was fasting too.
“On normal days, we prepare 500 daily meals for the mosque’s staff. That’s why we’re used to it,” she said.
“The main challenge may be food testing [during fasting],” Astri joked, adding that she had memorized all the seasoning and flavoring.
After the iftar meals were ready, canteen workers packed them in cardboard boxes and aimed to finish before 5 p.m.
The canteen’s courier immediately takes the meals to the mosque, where hundreds of volunteers help distribute them to people in the mosque.
The activity takes around eight hours in total.
During Ramadan, some canteen staff work every day. Some go back home after work, while some others decide to stay over at the canteen to prepare for the next day’s cooking.
According to the canteen’s iftar coordinator, Hasanuddin, as many as 11 canteen workers worked from Monday to Thursday, and 16 from Friday to Sunday.
He is aware of the hard work put in by workers in the canteen during Ramadan, and canteen workers get extra income every 15 days as part of the iftar program. Hasanuddin declined to mention the figure.
“Indeed, we need them. They are happy to be here. Praise the Lord, they’re all still healthy,” he said. (das)
