No more meals for the masses

No more meals for the masses
Wheeling man ordered to quit roasting pigs
Originally published Friday, Feb. 15, 2008

By Nadia Malik
Daily Herald Staff Writer

A Wheeling man whose pig roasting attracted national attention after he was cited by village officials lost his case in court Thursday.
A judge ordered Amante Enad to stop roasting pigs for the masses since he is not licensed to do so.
Judge Joel Greenblatt said Enad will have to pay a $1,000 fine if he violates that order between now and his next hearing in September.
"At least it's all over," Enad said after the hearing Thursday afternoon at the Rolling Meadows courthouse. "I'm happy that it's all over."
Wheeling has been dealing with an influx of phone calls and e-mail messages since the story hit news outlets last week; many worried that officials had become some sort of barbecue police.
Several Philippine language newspaper and television representatives were on hand to cover Thursday's hearing because of the interest the story had garnered in that community.
Enad was officially written two citations on Jan. 25, but the whole situation has been ongoing since last year.
Serena Fried, a Wheeling health inspector, testified in court that the village received a complaint against Enad last July. Inspectors were back in August, and each time, Fried said, they noticed five roasters on Enad's property, which seemed to indicate a business.
Inspectors "explained that he was not allowed to serve food to the public," Fried said, on each of the occasions they visited the property in July, August and December.
In November, Beverly Slaby, also a health inspector for the village, said she found a roasted pig at Oriental Market in Wheeling during a routine inspection and saw that it was on sale. The owner said Enad had given him the pig to sell.
At that point, Enad signed a handwritten letter stating that he would cook only for his family and not the public.
However, he said in court that he gave the pig to his friend Norman Nunag, the owner of the market, and did not know it was going to be sold.
In January, the village found that Enad had cooked three pigs at one time for a Philippine fiesta at a church in Glenview. Two citations -- for running a business in a residential neighborhood and for catering food for mass consumption -- were issued to Enad after that point.
"Any time the public is served, we regulate it," Fried said.
Enad argued that he had asked about regulations for cooking for the public, and he was told he could cook for a church potluck.
"I'm not catering," he said, maintaining that he never asked for money for his food.
Enad said he wanted to continue his Filipino tradition of making lechon, or roast pork.
"We bring food that is cooked in our house," he said. "Why am I not allowed to do that?"
However, Steven Handler, prosecutor for the village, said the point is not to stop Enad from being able to practice his rights and traditions.
"We have a non-licensed, non-approved person cooking on a multiple of occasions food consumed by the public," Handler said. "The issue is the safety."
Greenblatt said the village has a right and duty to protect its residents from unauthorized preparation of food.
"I want you to celebrate your traditions; they're wonderful traditions," he said. "You cannot do it on such a mass scale in the manner in which you're doing it."
Greenblatt said Enad can still cook for his family, but any notion of catering from his home, even if he's not charging for his services, is prohibited.
"I'm sure you're a great cook," he said. "You must no longer engage in this enterprise."
Greenblatt said that if Enad has no other violations until Sept. 8, he will not have to pay the $1,000 fine.
Handler said the village's intent in prosecuting Enad was never to garner money from him.
"We just wanted it stopped," he said.
In a prepared statement, Wheeling officials said they were happy with the decision.
"At no time were the actions of the village personal with respect to Mr. Enad, his ethnic background or his religious beliefs," the statement said. "The village inspectors completely performed the duties of their job, which is to enforce state and local health codes."
After the hearing, Enad said he will continue to cook for his family.
"The worst thing would be if I could not cook any more," he said.