Food for thought

We are what we eat, and we need to regain the passion and dignity for our food industry once more, so we can truly be proud of our culture to ‘makan’.

COMMENT

What to eat?

That’s the prize question we ask ourselves every mealtime, every day. And yet, it seems that no matter what our choices may be, a majority of the time we are left with a bitter taste in our mouths.

Gone are the days where an eating place, be it a fancy restaurant or a modest hawker stall, would live up to its fame and serve quality food to its loyal customers. The shopping mall culture has taken over the honest to goodness stalls-under-the-trees type eateries that the older generations used to frequent.

Places that used to serve simple dishes with a minimal menu, and yet the passion to cook by the shop owners would leave us begging for more.

What happened to these places?

These days, if it isn’t turned into some money-making franchise, the cooking is being left to the foreigners. Don’t get me wrong, I do not blame the foreign workers for the lack of quality in the dishes as they are not familiar with the way these dishes are supposed to taste.

Even if they follow a recipe, without an experienced palate, they cannot do the food justice.

The coming Ramadan brings the annual challenge for consumers to avoid being cheated of their money. Each stall at the Pasar Ramadan will boast to be the best, the most authentic, and the tastiest selection of delicacies.

Blinded by our hunger from the day’s fast, we buy into their advertisements. That is until we break our fast and relieve our hunger with tasteless, undercooked and overpriced lies.

Of course, not all these stalls are guilty of this, but most of them are simply trying to make quick ‘duit raya’, and as customers, there is really no way of telling the quality of the food as they all look the same.

Perhaps as business owners, they are forced to place such a pricey tag on their goods because they share the dilemma that customers do, which is the rising prices in groceries.

Terrible customer service

Whether you eat outside or cook at home, food is expensive here in Malaysia. If we were to compare dollar for dollar, food is cheaper in the UK than it is in our country.

Look at the lunch money children bring to school these days. In the 1990’s, RM1 was more than enough for a luxurious bowl of laksa, a drink and a chocolate bun, with change to keep in our piggy bank.

Yet merely six years on in secondary school, RM5 was barely enough to get you full. By the time we entered college, we started to invent creative ways to improve our instant noodles recipe.

Another problem when eating out is the terrible customer service that is quickly becoming the norm here. Inattentive waiters that speak very little English or Malay, constantly mixing up our orders after making the diners wait for a long time.

This is hardly fair considering the service tax is a compulsory addition to our total bill. Perhaps if Malaysia had a tipping culture, the restaurants would be forced to train their employees better, and the waiters would have a better incentive to earn their tips.

Customers too should realize they have the power to correct this, and should vote with their wallets.

The food industry plays such an important role not only in our daily affairs and the tourism industry, it is also a main cultural definition.

We are what we eat, and we need to regain the passion and dignity for our food industry once more, so we can truly be proud of our culture to ‘makan’.

Elza Irdalynna writes about art, love, and other things she pretends to understand. She is also an FMT columnist.