TAPE as an Alcohol-Contained Dish and Its Popularity in an 80%+ Moslem-Population Country

Hello guys! Coming back again here with me, Ari!

I don’t know why I have this idea to write down what’s in my head. So here I am for it!

I have been thinking about TAPE (fermented sticky rice dish), lol foods are inside my head the whole time haha. But anyway, yeah, I mean it contains alcohol and it’s culturally popular in my country, Indonesia. Let me give you a little bit of context.

So, Indonesia is a country with more than 80% Muslims population out of 268+ million people. Can you imagine how big that number is?!

But how come food contains alcohol like this is popular and allowed to consume?

• What is TAPE?

Okay, let me take you back.

TAPE (pronounced TA ‘a as in bar’ and PE ‘e as in pen’) is usually served as a dessert or after eating meal. You can eat it just like that, or you can make it into drinks as well. In my village, Adiraja – Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia, local communities will make this dish in particular ceremonies e.g. wedding party, eid al-fitr, and other traditional events.

This specific dish has a sweet taste, no wonder people love this. Actually, there are two types of TAPE; sticky rice and casava. Some people will make it wrapped with banana leaves (traditional one), where now people also can use plastic. I rather choose the traditional one though. It’s hygiene and environmentally friendly, and WAY tastier. That is pretty much what TAPE is. In case you need the recipe, I will provide it later. Alright, I think you get enough of my very poor skill in describing things haha.

• Questions!

What makes me concern – well, not that concern actually hah – is that the amount of alcohol in each serving. I don’t know if it’s just me who is fairly adequate at math or what, but I think if there’s alcohol in there (let’s say there’s 5% each) and people still eat it (even for more, like 20 times because they can’t resist its delicacy), it means there’s a certain amount of tolerable alcohol to consume, and a potential that people will get drunk by eating it. In fact, Muslims in Indonesia are allowed to consume this.

I don’t know what it’s like scientifically in chemistry, I’m a bit confused:

(1) if I consume a drink with 5% of alcohol in it, will it be 25% when I drink at the 5th time?

(2) regardless the amount of how many percent of alcohol will be, if I only drink once and the alcohol is just about 50 ml, it will count as I drink 250 ml of alcohol when I drink it 5 times, right?

{to be continued}