TABUK - Many restaurant owners and workers are claiming that the bird flu has not affected the sales of Kabsa and other chicken-related dishes.
In spite of the bad publicity concerning the outbreak of the virus, chicken Kabsa still remains people's favorite, Al-Madinah reported. Sales of chicken are as normal as if there were no threat of the dreaded disease.
Hussein Ibrahim, a restaurant worker in Tabuk, said, "The sales of chicken-related food in the restaurant continue as normal. Despite bird flu, people are still eating the popular dish of chicken Kabsa. I do not think they are worried."
Hamed Al-Otaiwi, a customer said, "The last thing I care about is bird flu. I put my full faith in God. I think people should not listen to rumors about the outbreak of the disease here and I do not think that we should change our eating habits because of it."
Muqbil Al-Sharari, another customer said, "The only ones benefiting from the rumors are vinegar sellers. They started a rumor that if the chicken is dipped in vinegar for ten minutes it will kill the virus."
Badr Al-Khanani said that his family stopped eating chicken and eggs because of the rumors he had heard. Several were circulated in SMS messages. "I blame STC for allowing such messages to get circulated. I think police should trace the sources of the message and punish them," he said.
Muhammad Nader said it is impossible to change the attitude of Saudis when it comes to eating chicken as it is cheaper than meat and fish and so people will not give it up easily. "Bird flu does not exist in my dictionary and I do not care about it. I will not allow a rumor to change my eating habits," he added.
Al-Madinah visited several restaurants in Tabuk city and discovered that nothing has changed since the bird flu outbreak.
A shawarma storeowner told the newspaper that it is averaging 800 chicken shawarmas per day. He remarked, "It is strange because we thought that bird flu was going to destroy the business but the store continued to do good business and is crowded all the time. I know it would have been a different story had, God forbid, the disease entered the Kingdom. The Ministry of Agriculture is seriously monitoring the situation to ensure that the country remains safe from bird flu. That has instilled some trust and comfort within people's hearts."
© Arab News 2005
