Breaking the fast on the street

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

There is nothing more pleasurable than breaking the fast at home surrounded by family. Everyone rushes to the table when the adzan (call to prayer) is heard in the gathering dusk. Water or hot sweet tea is passed around, then tajil (snacks to break the fast) are enjoyed.

After the snacks, people either pray or immediately sit down to a big meal of delicious food specially prepared for Ramadhan. Either way, it is fun to be together with the people you love during the holy month.

That is why Indra, 29, always tries to break the fast at home with his wife and son, even though it takes over an hour to get from his office in West Jakarta to his house in Tangerang.

"By the time I get home it's already time to break the fast. So I usually buy water and sweets at the office before I leave for home," he said.

Though it is sometimes a battle to make it home to be with his family, Indra is luckier than thousands of others who are forced by circumstance to break the fast on the street.

A lot of it is to do with the cost of modern living. Some people work night shift or take a class after work, while others get caught in traffic jams or, simply live too far away from their offices.

They go to the food courts at local malls or restaurants, while the more affluent gather at hotels that offer sumptuous buffets at prices up to Rp 100,000.

But thousands of others choose to break the fast at the sidewalk stalls found across the city. Some must break their fast during the journey home, either with meals they prepared themselves or with snacks purchased from the hawkers who swarm the streets as dusk approaches.

"Well, of course it's cheaper than eating at the mall. Imagine how much I'd have to spend if I had to break the fast at the mall every day," said Reni as she broke the fast in the Blok M area.

The employee of a company in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, also said that sidewalk stalls offered a wide variety of food to choose from.

Drive around Bendungan Hilir, Cikini or Blok M and you will be amazed by the number of vendors, selling everything from fried chicken and satay to nasi padang and seafood.

Some vendors have a stall or a cart, others simply lay out their food on a table, usually snacks like kolak (fruit stewed in a coconut milk and palm sugar) and cendol (a sweet drink), which are sold in plastic bags.

Many vendors open in the morning, while others do not open until it is almost time to break the fast and the number of customers peaks.

Parlini, a vendor in the Bendungan Hilir market, opens her stall at 4 p.m. during Ramadhan, while the rest of the year he opens for business at lunchtime.

"It's usually crowded at the time of breaking the fast to around 7 p.m. I usually go home about 8 p.m. because there are no more customers," she explained, while preparing food for a customer.

For some people, however, it is not merely the low prices that draw them to a sidewalk stall to break their fast.

"I just like the atmosphere. It's crowded and hectic with everyone wanting to break the fast ... it's lively," said Evita, a postgraduate student who was breaking the fast at a stall in Fatmawati, South Jakarta.

At Bendungan Hilir, for example, there is a small trickle of customers at about 4 p.m. and everything is relatively quiet.

But about 5 p.m., people start to arrive in droves. Most of them have just finished work, and come either alone or with a group of colleagues.

"I usually break the fast at home, but we had a lot of work to do at the office. So we decided to break the fast together here," said Winjun, who works at the nearby Supreme Audit Body.

At about 5:30 p.m., Winjun and his friends started to order some dishes at the seafood stall they were seated at. Soon, large plates of shrimp, clams, crabs and fish were placed in front of them.

Half an hour later, the adzan was heard and the market was galvanized into action. Customers broke the fast and waiters served the food. And when they could grab a moment, the waiters took their turn to break the fast, sitting near stoves with stray cats waiting to pounce on fallen morsels.

But as soon as more customers arrived, the waiters quickly stood up to serve them before later continuing their own meals. It was Ramadhan, after all, a once-a-year business opportunity that must not be passed up.