Food in Malaysia

The Fascinating History of Malaysian Food

Malaysia is the home of multiple ethnicities which found its roots during the colonial times where hundreds and thousands of immigrants arrived here to find an honest living in this prosperous land. The migrants’ mostly Chinese working in the tin mines and the Indians placed along the rubber estates brought along with them their cultures not forgetting rich culinary heritages. The cultures go along fine with their cooking where unusual traditional gathering usual accompanied by exotic mouth watering cuisine, that make up the Malaysian food recipes.
As time goes by, these cooking are somehow assimilated with the Malaysian local customs thus giving birth to much more diverse and uniquely different types of cooking not found anywhere else in the world. Malaysian foods which have its origin in India are the tasty ‘mee Mamak’ and ‘rojak Mamak’. The word mamak means uncle in Tamil, so the Indian muslim community locally are referred to as mamak. The curries served in ‘mamak’ restaurants are definitely Indian but yet different than those found in India. All these Malaysian Indian cooking are not found in India itself simply because the original recipes have been Malaysianize, improvised using locally available ingredients which is much cheaper and tastier.
Chinese cuisine in Malaysia is mainly Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese, and Hakka (of different dialect group). The same thing can be said with the Malaysian Chinese cuisine like the ‘Yong taufu’ and ‘Su’un, the Chinese immigrants can’t find the ingredients for their original recipes from China so they decided to replace it with cheaper alternative sources commonly found in Malaysia like the ‘buah keluak’ and ‘kayu manis’. Other Malaysian local pride cooking which originated from abroad is the like of the popular ‘laksa’ which is a kind of thick rice noodles. It can be found almost everywhere in Malaysia and even has its own sub version in ‘laksa Johor’, ‘laksa Kedah’ and ‘laksa Penang’.
Other Malaysian gourmets particularly the rice based which is the Malaysian staple diet can be traced to our neighbouring countries such in Indonesia and Thailand like the ‘soto’ and ‘nasi kerabu’ of Johor and Kelantan respectively. These cooking are being cook up with the influence of border communities centuries ago like in Golok when the people started to interact and barter together especially goods at the border town marketplaces.
Malay cuisine is typically spicy and as varied as the spices used. The origin of Malay food is linked to the history of Indian and Middle Eastern migration to the country, Curried dishes and kueh (Malaysian cakes) are the main and popular favourite of Malaysians. Each state in Malaysia has its native specialty.
Nyonya food, also referred to as Straits Chinese food or Lauk Embok Embok, is an interesting amalgamation of Chinese and Malay dishes thought to have originated from the Peranakan (Straits Chinese) of Malacca over 400 years ago. Nyonya Food originates from the Peranakans or Baba and Nyonyas. Baba and Nyonya refer to early Chinese migrants who came to the Malay Peninsula from the 18th century to 19th century. This was the result of inter-marriages between Chinese immigrants and local Malays, which produced a unique culture. Here, the ladies are called nyonyas and the men babas. It uses mainly Chinese ingredients but blends them with South-East Asian spices such as coconut milk, lemon grass, turmeric, screwpine leaves, chillies and sambal.
The arrivals of these Chinese and Indian migrants certainly spice up the Malaysian culinary scenes. Without them, Malaysian cooking and Malaysian food recipes will not be as colourful and wonderful as they’re today.

Malaysian Food Traditions and Festivals

As Malaysia is a multicultural society, there are many traditions and festivals that are celebrated with grand festivity. Nearly 50% of the Malay population is constituted by the Muslims; therefore the major Islamic events are connected with Ramadan. Scrumptious desserts and dishes are prepared in this month. One of the most prominent Malaysian festival where abundant varieties of the Malay cuisines is known as the Hari Raya Puasa, which marks the end of Ramadan and there are three days of celebrations. Hari Raya Haji another traditional festival marks the completion of the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) with two-day feast of cakes and sweets. The Chinese New Year, which is celebrated in January or February in Malaysia, is welcomed in with dances, parades, grand Malaysian cuisine’s being served all over and much good cheer. There is a tradition in Malaysia of serving exotic Malaysian dishes in all of its festivals; even the traditional festivals are greeted with lip-licking spicy Malaysian food. These Malaysian cuisines which are served during festivals especially during open houses enable us to learn about each other’s food and therefore, helps unite Malaysian. Food served during social gatherings such as weddings and birthdays helps Malaysian bond over the food provided.

In a usual Malaysian household, it is the norm for a family or a group of friends to sit around a table with various dishes, helping themselves to the spread. It fosters a closer sense of friendship whilst at the same time enabling diners to try different dishes than if they were to eat alone. Food etiquettes are also exchanged during the course of the meal. The Malays, Chinese and Indians practice different eating habits. They differ from the way of eating and type of food they consume. Firstly, the Malays uses only three fingers to eat while the Chinese uses chopsticks and the Indians uses all five fingers to eat.

Malays, being Muslims, eat only food that is halal, which are cows, lambs, deer and chicken must be slaughtered by a Muslim according to the Islamic rites. Pork or pork by-products are forbidden. A finger bowl is used for washing before and after. Traditionally, Malays eat with their right hand even if they are left-handed because it is considered taboo to eat with the left hand. The left hand, it is understood, is reserved for an unmentionable personal use.

The Chinese have no food prohibitions. Food is eaten with chopsticks. Everyone reaches out for choicest morsel with his chopsticks. So, be quick or use a fork or spoon when dining out with Chinese. When finished, set your chopsticks on the table or on the chopstick-rest provided. Placing them parallel on top of your bowl is considered a sign of bad luck. Also, don’t use chopsticks to spear food, and don’t stick chopsticks into a bowl of cooked rice. Indians places great emphasis on ‘clean food’, which are parts of lambs, chicken and fish such as feet, fins and offal are not eaten. Most Indians are Hindus. They do not eat beef as the animal is venerated in Hinduism because it gives milk, works on the field, gives manure for fuel and fertiliser and so on. Therefore, we can be united by understanding each other better through sharing and adopting each other’s food culture.
Another evidence of food being the medium of bonding that can be seen is in mamak stalls. These stalls are popular among teenagers and young adults as it opens until late at night and it provides a relaxing environment to converse with friends while enjoying the local delicacies such as roti canai, mee goreng, the tarik and etc.
Malaysian cuisine as a tourist attraction

Food has been found to be an attribute whereby tourists perceive the attractiveness of a destination. Food related tourism can allow tourists to achieve the desired goals of relaxation. Food and beverage as destination products can either act as a primary or secondary motivators that add value to the image of a destination. Malaysian cuisine certainly proves to be just that.

There are also lots of places in Malaysia that are famous for their local delicacies. These delicious foods not only bring fame to these places but also attract a significant number of tourists. For example Kajang Satay, Sarawak Laksa, Kelantanese Nasi Dagang, Sabahan Hinava and many more.

Penang is known as the food capital of Malaysia. It is recognised as having the Best Street Food in Asia by TIME magazine in 2004, citing that "nowhere else can such great tasting food be so cheap". Besides Penang, Ipoh has also become a favourite destination for tourists having some of the best Malaysian cuisine. Ipoh offers a variety of delicious food as well as beverages. Signature Ipoh dishes includes Bean Spout Chicken, Ipoh Hor Fun, Salted Chicken, Curry Noodle, Dim Sum and Ipoh White Coffee.