Manama: A restaurant in Saudi Arabia has stirred controversy after it named a dish on its menu ‘Adam & Eve’.
Angry Saudis said the restaurant in the western city of Madinah has trespassed local norms and traditions by giving a “highly inappropriate” name to a dish.
“We live in a world filled with odd and bizarre events and action,” Gazi Al Mutairi, a professor at the Islamic University, said. “Oddities have expanded to include all aspects of life, including bizarre names to dishes in order to attract customers and draw on people’s curiosity,” he said, quoted by local daily Okaz on Thursday.
He said that using the names of the first two people on earth (according to religious beliefs) for a dish was degrading to their status.
“There will be numerous interpretations of the significance of the name, each according to their own angle of looking at things. There is a need to refine the tastes of people and to manage their feelings, and the authorities should step in so that names are carefully selected. This is not a free-for-all,” he said.
A municipality ministry officer, however said restaurants were free to name the dishes on their menus.
“They have the right to choose the names of their food and beverages without consulting the ministry,” he said. “The municipality makes a move only when it believes the name is inappropriate,” he said.
Online commentators were however divided over the merit of the name.
“If someone does not like this dish, will he criticise Adam and Eve? There must be action against this restaurant,” Abu Mashari argued.
However, another commentator Khalloodi said he did not mind the name.
“There is nothing wrong with the name, and the names of Adam and Eve are widely available,” he said. “I am afraid some people will now seek fatwas before they name their food and drinks.”
Another commenter said people should focus on significant issues instead of wasting their time on such trivial matters.
Rasah said: “Other nations are looking for advanced medicine to cure all kinds of illnesses and save humanity and promote technology and space science, while we are wasting our time foolishly on what can and cannot be done.”
