A large consignment of Sudanese beef arrived just in time for Ramadan, and quickly sold-out. Gamal Nkrumah tracks down the elusive, inexpensive delicacy Grass-fed Sudanese beef has emerged as an all-time favourite among Cairene diners this Ramadan. The Ramadan iftar is a particularly meaty meal, and the purely organic variety is a most palatable way to break the fast. It is in this context that the government decided to present low-income groups with a special Ramadan surprise by flooding the market with inexpensive Sudanese meat. Indeed, no less than two ministers welcomed the first consignment of Sudanese meat at Cairo international airport. Last Thursday morning, Supply Minister Hassan Khedr, International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul-Naga and Sudanese Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed Abdul-Halim lined up on the Cairo airport tarmac to greet the first batch of Sudanese beef. The long-awaited consignment of Sudanese meat was treated like a visiting foreign dignitary and given the red carpet treatment. As the first plane packed with Sudanese beef touched the runway, it was given a standing ovation by bystanders. The ministers rushed towards the EgyptAir cargo plane to catch the first glimpse of the meat. A brimming Sudanese ambassador looked on, proudly inspecting the precious cargo. Public reaction, however, was mixed. Initially, there was unrestrained jubilation. Everyone, it seems, was happy about the quality. "It is tastier than anything I have had before. It is delicious, succulent and juicy. Thanks to Sudanese beef, the stews this Ramadan have been especially delectable," Cairo University student Adham Abdel- Qader told Al-Ahram Weekly. Heba Ammar, a housewife from the Cairene suburb of Maadi, readily concurred. "Come over for iftar tonight. I'll be serving kebab halla as the main dish, using Sudanese beef," she offered. The problem, however, was that there was not enough of the beef to go around. The Sudanese meat is only being sold in designated government cooperative stores, and nowhere else. And the co- ops quickly ran out of the meat. "I suspect that Sudanese beef is being sold to relatives and close friends by the people who run the cooperatives," complained Ahmed Abdallah, a retired teacher. "The Sudanese beef quickly disappeared from the shelves. By the third day of Ramadan, there was no Sudanese beef to be found. What are we going to do for the rest of the month? It is unfair -- they whetted our appetites. Now, we'll have to make do with the tasteless beef imported from God knows where," a frustrated Abdallah said. Umm Mahmoud, an elderly widow from Imbaba, bitterly complained that, "a mafia is in charge of the cooperatives. They are mean and greedy. They should not treat us like this in Ramadan of all months. Is not Ramadan the month of charity and goodwill? The government must punish the mafia. The government is responsible, and these people must be brought to book." As he searched in vain for the Sudanese meat, Sami El-Dessouqi, an exasperated father of five, wondered "how it is that the cooperatives have ran- out of Sudanese beef. Did people buy 200 tonnes in two days? I wanted my children to eat beef and not chicken for iftar. I cannot afford to have them eat the exorbitantly-priced imported Australian and South American beef," he explained. "Besides, I was told that Sudanese meat tastes a lot better than even our own baladi (locally-produced) beef." Managers of the government cooperatives had only one credible explanation for the rapid disappearance of the Sudanese beef from the cooperatives' shelves. "Supply far exceeded demand," Hassan Tolba, who runs a cooperative in Giza, told the Weekly. "The Sudanese meat we were allocated was sold out on the third day of Ramadan." For one thing, he said, the Sudanese beef was only sold in the evenings. People had been queuing up outside the cooperatives from early morning. "We couldn't cope with the demand," Tolba repeated. A number of fights broke out in and around cooperatives. In some instances, police and security forces were called upon to intervene. "People should not be permitted to buy Sudanese meat without their government-issued ration cards," one prospective Sudanese meat buyer suggested. "The supply of Sudanese meat should be rationed. Each family should only be allowed to buy a specified amount of Sudanese beef so that there is enough meat for everyone." The chief reason for the Sudanese beef's popularity is that it costs far less than the other meat on the market. Sudanese beef is now sold at the price of LE15.5/kg, while other meat on the market costs in the range of LE35-40/kg. The meat was also popular because Sudanese cattle are not given growth-enhancing hormones or animal bi-products, or fed on antibiotics and hormonal implants. The pastures in Sudan where animals graze usually have no artificial fertilisers, pesticides or chemicals sprayed onto them as well. These facts were highly publicised by the state-owned press to counter claims made by Egyptian meat merchants with a vested interest in importing South American and Australian beef. With officials literally singing the praises of Sudanese meat, public demand for Sudanese beef soared. "We have done what was required of us. We have honoured our end of the bargain. We are not responsible for the disappearance of the Sudanese meat from the shelves," Fouad Ibrahim, the economic attaché at the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo, told Al- Ahram Weekly. "This is a domestic Egyptian problem that must be resolved by the Egyptians." It is too soon to tell exactly what happened to the 200 tonnes of Sudanese meat. The public, meanwhile, is hungry for a credible explanation.
