Satays, Grills and Barbecues

Barbecuing is such a familiar occupation for warm summer evenings, especially in countries where summer does not last all the year round, that no home seems complete without its paraphernalia. In the tropics, where sundown is always around six o ‘clock and evenings generally dry and fresh, the barbecue cult has never really caught on, perhaps because we have been grilling our food over glowing charcoal for millennia. Only where tourists gather will you find that the barbecue has become forever fashionable. I know this because I no longer have to explain that satays are the same as kebabs. Whichever label is attached to these skewers loaded with marinated meat or vegetables, and regardless of how many empty skewers are sitting on the edge of people’s plates when they’ve finished, an Asian will regard satays as a mere snack if they are not eaten with rice.