Author: Abdullah Bandar
Date: 11-27-05 21:39
My sweet, pretty ladies and handsome gentlemen friends,
I have a very important question to ask. Aren’t you not tired of eating?. I mean, after spending 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 years of gobbling, and munching, and chomping please don’t tell me that you aren’t tired. Haven’t you develop this dislike of food you have been seeing for all these years?
Come on, don’t tell me you have nothing to complain about how these provisions are prepared the way they are, how the taste haven’t changed for so long but for the worse, and how similar they look in ages, or may be deteriorating!
I have this one particular protest about the way food prepared in this country I have been living in for long that I call home at this moment in time.
Malaysian fares are so MIXED, as mixed as the people itself, that they often lost the original texture, color, and taste. Most of the time, what’s left on these potions are colors so grey, so murky, sometimes I had imagined them as, ……..emm, I don’t have to tell you.
Just look at the rojak. For those not accustomed, rojak is a mixture of local fruits like guava, unripe mango, and amra (kedondong, I don’t know the English name for it) and vegetables like cucumber, carrot, or sengkuang (again, I don’t know the English name for it), each split into pieces the size of a third of your middle finger (sorry gals and guys) and all mixed evenly with a soy based dark sauce. Some ground peanut sprinkled over it. People love and they eat it everywhere. I love it too but not without a gripe.
I mean, why do they mix it so badly. There is even a version of it with end fix ‘ulek’ so it becomes ‘Rojak Ulek’. Well gals and guys, that word in indonesian Malay really means to turn it around and around until all wrapped up with what ever base being uleked with, in this case it is the soy sauce.
I mean, why don’t they set the fruity and vege potions on one side and the sauce on another so you can see which one is which. Say if you want to taste the mango first and the cucumber second you can always find where they are.
I guess there is a parallel between the people, the Malaysian, and the rojak they love. Malaysians are so mix, no matter you can still today distinguish between a Malay, a Chinese, and an Indian, they are not as pure as spring water. I have a Malay friend whose grandfather or grandmother or thereabouts are mixed with Chinese and Europeans. Countless other Malay friends have roots in Arab, Indian, and Punjabi people. I also know there are many Chinese in Penang who are descendents of Europeans. I am myself a Malay, but who knows who my great, great grandparents were, they could be Portuguese or African.
I have just talked about the rojak and I have not touched on the rending and the laksa. I know, you may disagree with me if I say things bad about these mouth watering dishes, but facts are facts alright. These people are just not tired of mixing and mixing and continue to do so, so long as any of the components of this food resembles its original form.
You know what, I am going to start a revolution on food. I am going to declare war on those who keep on mixing and mixing and destroying the original flavor of fruit or vegetable or meat or chicken or fish God gives us. If they want to improve the taste of food, fine. But how can you say a plate so mixed, so color less, taste good? I don’t understand.
My pretty lady friends and handsome guys, next time you go home, please, just tell your mama or your spouse to take it easy when it comes to mixing, can you?
Now back to you, what do you think of the food available in your respective place, my dear friends? I especially like to hear, you know, the critical part of them.
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