Malaysian Food (^_^)

Malaysian Food



Malaysia is one of the South-East Asia countries. Malaysia can be divided into two parts, West Malaysia and East Malaysia. West Malaysia or Peninsula Malaysia is attached with Asia Continent. Meanwhile, East Malaysia is appended with the Borneo Island, separated apart from West Malaysia by The South China Sea. Malaysia or better known as Tanah Melayu before 1957 was once conquered by Britain, Holland and Japan. One of the reasons why Tanah Melayu was conquered for the past 5 decades was because of its geographic coordinate.

During the conquest of Britain, thousands of immigrants from India and China were taken into Tanah Melayu. Some of the immigrants went back to their own country. However, some of them were not went back to their own country, but stayed and became the citizen of Tanah Melayu. As a result, not only the number of inhabitants of Tanah Melayu increased, but new customs and cultures were also introduced. One of the important aspects of customs and cultures is food.

In this day and age, Malaysia is well known as a multicultural country. There are more than a hundred of races in Malaysia, resulting in the existence sort of foods that symbolise each race. Some of the main ethnic groups or races in Malaysia are Malay, Chinese and Indian.

In Kelantan, one of the states of West Malaysia, Nasi Kerabu is very famous amongst the local. In Malay, ‘Nasi’ means rice. Meanwhile, ‘Kerabu’ is not much different than salad. It is a mixture of salt, onion, slices of cucumbers and other ingredients. Nasi Kerabu is special because the rice is coloured with blue.

Terengganu is one of the East Coast’s States of Peninsula Malaysia. If Kelantan is very popular with Nasi Kerabu, Terengganu is very popular with Nasi Dagang. In Malay, the word ‘dagang’ means business or something that is related to it. It is called Nasi Dagang because in the ancient time, the local used to sell it from one place to another.

Pulau Pinang or Penang, Pahang and Johor are other states of West Malaysia. Penang is located at the north, meanwhile Johor is situated at the south and Pahang at the east. Although there is a difference with the location, but there is a common among these three states. They are popular with ‘Laksa’. We have Laksa Penang, Laksa Johor and Laksa Pahang. Laksa looks like spaghetti or noodle. However, Laksa is white because it is made from rice flour. Laksa is eaten with its special sauce made from fish. Laksa Penang is sour, Laksa Pahang is sweet and Laksa Johor is a little bit spicy.

Another instance of Malaysian foods is curry which is originated from the Indian. Curry is very spicy and usually we eat curry with rice or Roti Canai. ‘Roti’ is a Malay word and means bread.

Abundance of many kinds of foods make Malaysia is distinctive than other countries. Nonetheless, it becomes one of the attractions of Malaysia and indirectly helps the better growth of Malaysia economy.