![]() ![]() You can trace our Chinese Sabahans and their travels from Tuaran Mee, Beaufort Mee, all the way to Tenom Mee. In soto, rojak and nasi kuning I see Sabah’s Indonesian influence. Rice, which determines the annual life cycle of farmers and leads to Kaamatan. Hinava, which is similar to umai in Sarawak and kinilaw from neighbouring Philippines. I see wild losun, tuhau and pucuk ubi carefully plucked from the land. When I look at a carefully laid plate of KadazanDusun food I see forest, rivers and paddy fields. My grandmother still has a small orchard behind their home that produces well. That’s where I learned very early on that food comes from the land. At the foot of my maternal grandparents’ home in Keningau my late grandfather had a cattle ranch that we had to drive through to get to the house. ![]() In KK, all forms of noodles and noodle soups were my family’s staples when having breakfast out. ![]() The first dish I remember eating as a toddler was ngau chap (beef ball noodle soup) in Luyang. How does any diverse society attach symbols to a nation in order to find a sense of temporal belonging? Can a single dish be tasked with not only representing, but uniting Malaysia and gasp - even bridging the South China Sea? It’s such a loaded question - is it worth pursuing? I’m going in but first, flashback. It’s adored by consensus but how does one actually take a vote was my question. Nasi lemak is the unofficial official dish of Malaysia by way of popular culture. Does a dish become a ‘national dish’ when it is available widespread? Is there a ‘national dish’? What does it mean to be a nation? Many East Malaysians think of nasi lemak as a national dish but generally accept it being from Peninsular Malaysia. Maybe I have.Īmongst the impassioned replies there were some good questions in the mix. My fault for getting too philosophical in public, people now think I’ve blasphemed. While some people caught my intended meaning, the Twitter grapevine had varied interpretations of what I had written. ![]()
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