My Sinchew
By Mohsin Abdullah
We credit Bandung for it. As if the birth place of Mee Bandung and Sirap Bandung is Bandung Indonesia .Then there’s Mee Java. Yes, you can’t get it in Java.
The same goes for Rojak Singapore. A potpourri (for want of a better word) of salad, eggs, meat, crab, squid etc and served with thick peanut and chilli gravy. It’s not Singaporean , can’t be found or hard to find in Singapore but we give the honour to Singapore. Why? Don’t ask me.
Naming dishes using the names of towns and cities has always been the case and will always be the case. Hence, we have Ipoh kway teow, Penang nasi kandar, Tanjung Malim pau etc. But these delicacies can be found in the places they are named after (and all over Malaysia also ). So that can be considered normal.
But calling a dish after the name of places outside Malaysia where the dish can’t be found in the first place , as in the case of Mee and Sirap Bandung, Rojak Singapore is,well, different. But still considered “normal”. At least to us Malaysians. Biasa lah.
However Bandung and Singapore are not exactly basking in the glory of the noodles, the pink sweet drink and the rojak. But they are not complaining either.Perhaps they are not aware of their names being used. What ever. Important thing is they are not making noise or “demanding copy right charges”.
But should the dish somehow gets blamed for some illness, surely they will disassociate themselves in a jiffy. That ought to keep our food handlers on their toes all the time. Keep it clean and hygienic. Bagus.
Right now I’m sure many of us are aware of the controversy between us (Malaysia) and Singapore regarding, of all things, food. We, Singapore say, are claiming as ours their cuisine, dishes or simply food. In other words, they say Malaysia say chicken rice, chilli crabs just to name two, originated in Malaysia. This to them is wrong. They say the birth place of chicken rice and chilli crabs is the republic of Singapore.
I am not going to try to reason that out. We can argue till the cows come home or in this case till the crabs walk straight. I don’t know about chilli crabs. But as for chicken rice… well, some stalls in Kuala Lumpur’s Kampung Baru and other parts of the city have signs announcing out loud that they serve “sedap Nasi Ayam Singapura”.
Now isn’t that acknowledging Singapore as the place as far as chicken rice is concerned ?
Anyway I don’t know what’s the difference between Nasi Ayam Singapura and the other nasi ayams. But then I’m no gourmet. But I love the (halal) Hainanese chicken rice. Prepared by members of the Chinese community. I’m not sure if the chicken rice Singapore are claiming to be theirs is the Hainanese chicken rice .Now we hear of Malacca staking a claim that the state is the birth site of the Hainanese chicken rice. Shouldn’t it be Hainan China ? But as I have not been there, I don’t know if Hainanese chicken rice is available in the Hainan region.
Anyway the controversy continues. It all started when our Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen, Tourism Minister, was said to have said Malaysia is to lay claim top several dishes synonymous with the country’s identity as tourism products. She named nasi lemak, laksa, bak kut teh hainanese chicken rice, chilli crabs. And many more. Of course when that erupted into the current, controversy ,Ng claimed she was misunderstood. Whatever it is she ought to get us out of this mess.
Bad enough we been accused of stealing Indonesian culture. Now we stand accused of stealing Singapore’s food pulak…
(By MOHSIN ABDULLAH, MySinchew)
By Mohsin Abdullah
Let’s talk food today. For starters, Mee Bandung .No I am not referring it as appetiser (it’s too heavy). Mee Bandung is a main dish. Noodles with gravy or kuah cooked Malay style. But the most mouth watering Mee Bandung, is not in Bandung Indonesia. In fact you can’t get Mee Bandung in Bandung or the whole of Indonesia for that matter. Ask Indonesians in Indonesia what Mee Bandung is chances are they won’t be able to give you an answer. Unless they have come to Malaysia. Or live here.
So the most tasty Mee Bandung it is said, is in Muar Johore. Don’t take my word for it as I am just echoing some folks. But the point here is the (Mee) Bandung is not Bandung Indonesia. So too is Sirap Bandung. A sweet cold drink pink in colour as the result of mixing red syrub and evaporated milk. You cannot get it in Bandung Indonesia. Only in Malaysia but some how we deem it nice just as the noodles dish to associate it with the Indonesian city of Bandung.
So the most tasty Mee Bandung it is said, is in Muar Johore. Don’t take my word for it as I am just echoing some folks. But the point here is the (Mee) Bandung is not Bandung Indonesia. So too is Sirap Bandung. A sweet cold drink pink in colour as the result of mixing red syrub and evaporated milk. You cannot get it in Bandung Indonesia. Only in Malaysia but some how we deem it nice just as the noodles dish to associate it with the Indonesian city of Bandung.
We credit Bandung for it. As if the birth place of Mee Bandung and Sirap Bandung is Bandung Indonesia .Then there’s Mee Java. Yes, you can’t get it in Java.
The same goes for Rojak Singapore. A potpourri (for want of a better word) of salad, eggs, meat, crab, squid etc and served with thick peanut and chilli gravy. It’s not Singaporean , can’t be found or hard to find in Singapore but we give the honour to Singapore. Why? Don’t ask me.
Naming dishes using the names of towns and cities has always been the case and will always be the case. Hence, we have Ipoh kway teow, Penang nasi kandar, Tanjung Malim pau etc. But these delicacies can be found in the places they are named after (and all over Malaysia also ). So that can be considered normal.
But calling a dish after the name of places outside Malaysia where the dish can’t be found in the first place , as in the case of Mee and Sirap Bandung, Rojak Singapore is,well, different. But still considered “normal”. At least to us Malaysians. Biasa lah.
However Bandung and Singapore are not exactly basking in the glory of the noodles, the pink sweet drink and the rojak. But they are not complaining either.Perhaps they are not aware of their names being used. What ever. Important thing is they are not making noise or “demanding copy right charges”.
But should the dish somehow gets blamed for some illness, surely they will disassociate themselves in a jiffy. That ought to keep our food handlers on their toes all the time. Keep it clean and hygienic. Bagus.
Right now I’m sure many of us are aware of the controversy between us (Malaysia) and Singapore regarding, of all things, food. We, Singapore say, are claiming as ours their cuisine, dishes or simply food. In other words, they say Malaysia say chicken rice, chilli crabs just to name two, originated in Malaysia. This to them is wrong. They say the birth place of chicken rice and chilli crabs is the republic of Singapore.
I am not going to try to reason that out. We can argue till the cows come home or in this case till the crabs walk straight. I don’t know about chilli crabs. But as for chicken rice… well, some stalls in Kuala Lumpur’s Kampung Baru and other parts of the city have signs announcing out loud that they serve “sedap Nasi Ayam Singapura”.
Now isn’t that acknowledging Singapore as the place as far as chicken rice is concerned ?
Anyway I don’t know what’s the difference between Nasi Ayam Singapura and the other nasi ayams. But then I’m no gourmet. But I love the (halal) Hainanese chicken rice. Prepared by members of the Chinese community. I’m not sure if the chicken rice Singapore are claiming to be theirs is the Hainanese chicken rice .Now we hear of Malacca staking a claim that the state is the birth site of the Hainanese chicken rice. Shouldn’t it be Hainan China ? But as I have not been there, I don’t know if Hainanese chicken rice is available in the Hainan region.
Anyway the controversy continues. It all started when our Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen, Tourism Minister, was said to have said Malaysia is to lay claim top several dishes synonymous with the country’s identity as tourism products. She named nasi lemak, laksa, bak kut teh hainanese chicken rice, chilli crabs. And many more. Of course when that erupted into the current, controversy ,Ng claimed she was misunderstood. Whatever it is she ought to get us out of this mess.
Bad enough we been accused of stealing Indonesian culture. Now we stand accused of stealing Singapore’s food pulak…
(By MOHSIN ABDULLAH, MySinchew)
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