The Sustainability of Malaysia Heritage Foods Among the Millennials
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The Sustainability of Malaysia Heritage Foods Among The Millennials Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shahrim Ab. Karim Suhaila Abdul Ghafar Faculty Of Food Science And Technology Universiti Putra Malaysia Contents 1. Malaysian Heritage Foods 7. Current Eating Behaviour of The Young Generations In Malaysia 2. Where Do Our Heritage Foods Come From? 8. Eating Outside The Home 3. Common Heritage Foods Enjoyed 9. Factors Contributed To Eating Out By Every Malaysian 10. Fast Food 4. Malaysian Food Identity 11. Convenience Food 5. Kitchen Activities In The Past 12. Factors Influencing the Fast Food & 6. What’s Cooking? Convenience Food Consumption Contents 13. The Impact of Young Generation’s Current Eating Habit 14. What Can We Do?? 15. Conclusion Malaysian Heritage Foods Malaysia is famous for being the home to heterogeneous mix of races and ethnic groups which comprises of Malay, Chinese, and Indian, and some other minority groups. This makes Malaysia as a country that is rich with cultures and traditions which can be seen through its heritage foods. Food heritage is associated with classical and traditional foods that are continuously practiced by all generations without major alteration of the original flavours. It can also be reflected from the environment history, belief, ideology and food technology of society in an era or period of time (Utusan, 2010). Where Do Our Heritage Foods Come From? The Melaka Empire Acculturation and assimilation of multiple ethnics The introduction of herbs and spices from foreign traders Common Heritage Foods Enjoyed by Malaysians Malay Foods . Rich with herbs like lemongrass, tamarind, dried and fresh chilies, ginger and garlic. Malay dishes can be distinguished into a few methods of cooking namely masak merah (tomato sauce), masak lemak (coconut milk), masak asam (sourish tamarind) and masak pedas (spicy). Popular dishes that cannot be missed are such as nasi lemak (coconut milk steamed rice), sambal belacan (shrimp paste with pounded chilies), beef rendang (dried curry) and serunding (beef floss). Satay, or barbequs meat on a stick, is originated from Malay cuisine has presence in restaurants all over the world today. MaClahiy nFeoseods Nasi Lemak Beef Rendang Satay Chinese Foods . Chinese foods has been assimilated with local cuisines. In China itself, Chinese are divided into so many provinces namely the Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, Hainan, Teochew and so forth. In Malaysian, Cantonese food makes the most presence with its stir fry and steaming method. Chinese dishes such as dim sum, sweet and sour dishes, char siew (sweet barbecued pork),bak kut teh (herbal soup) are a few popular dishes. Steamboat or fondue is also widely available and can be a great experience. Chinese Foods Hainanese Chicken Rice Char Kuey Teow Fish Ball Soup Indian foods . Indian food has very much integrated northern Indian and southern Indian cuisines when they reach Malaysian shores. Popular for their curries, banana leaf rice and breads such as chapati, naan and roti (prata in some countries). Indian food has also been assimilated with Malay food through their mix marriages of Indian Malay. The result is Mamak food, which cannot be found in India, itself. Indian Roti Canai Chicken Curry Nasi Kandar Malaysian Food Identity • Malaysian cuisines is a smorgasbord of cuisines originating from the various ethnic and cultural communities that have lived and live in Malaysia such as the Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankan, Peranakan, Portuguese, and Kadazan, Dusun, Iban and Indonesian communities. • Although these cultural communities are proud of their traditional cuisines and continue to preserve their culinary heritage and traditions, the food has evolved and adapted to the Malaysian environment – adding new, hybridized, delicious dishes to the existing traditional cuisines of the communities. • Thus, food identity in Malaysia is gradually being formed through acculturation (food knowledge, social interaction and media) of the foodways (preparation and consumption). Curry Mee or Curry Laksa shows the perfect example of Malaysian cuisine. It is a dish consisting of noodles in thick coconut milk based curry broth, flavoured with chilli, spices, lemongrass, galangal and served with meat, seafood, tofu and vegetables. The curry laksa is made of ingredients commonly found in traditional dishes of the three main ethnic groups in Peninsular Malaysia. It is a hybrid dish made through the fusion of elements from different cuisines but the elements and flavours of each cuisine (Chinese noodles, Indian curry and Malay herbs) are still discernible in spite of being fused together in the dish. Malay Cuisine It is an amalgam of traditional dishes from Thailand, with strong influences from places like Sumatra and Java. One of the characteristics of the traditional Malay food is their distinctive spicy and aromatic flavours. It is also often described as spicy and flavourful as it utilizes a melting pot of spices and herbs where rice is the staple food, balancing the spicy cuisine of this region. Hot chilies, sour tamarind, pungent shrimp paste and fragrant coconut milk are common ingredients of Malay cuisine whereby various other ingredients such as onion, garlic, lemon grass, turmeric, and ginger are combined to develop a pounded paste called rempah. Rich coconut milk is often used to give a creamy texture to Malay cuisine and ingredients normally used to give that irresistible fragrance include gingerbuds, pandan leaves and cinnamon. Geographical region The northern states are known for their hot and spicy food (Sharif, et al., 2013). The Malay cuisine in southern states are known for its rich, hot and sour taste (Sharif et al., 2012). Javanese influences – mee rebus jawa, mee bandung,satay and lontong (Muhammad, Zahari, Sharif, & Abdullah, 2016; Sharif et al., 2012). Minangkabau influences – masak lemak cili api is a popular Malay traditional food in Negeri Sembilan (Sharif et al., 2012). The central regions are recognized by its rich gravy. The eastern states are more associated with sweet yet rich with glutinous rice (Sharif, et al., 2013). Thailand influences – Kelantan and Terengganu were under the influence of Siamese monarchy in the past (Sharif, et al., 2015a). Kitchen Activities In The Past Processing Food Ingredients The cooking process starts with the washing of all the ingredients and then placing them in the central kitchen area. The designated tools are used to grind chillies, rasp coconuts, pound spices Coconut rasper and cook rice. Some tools require the person to sit on them while working, such as the coconut rasper. Rice and other dry ingredients are usually stored in the covered Tempayan or Jar while wet ones are used instantly. Tempayan Cooking Cooking area is the most important area for food preparation. Dapur Kongkong or hearth acts as a stove. The mixture of soil and salt is poured on the surface as the heat insulator and to prevent the occurrence of Dapur kongkong fungi/mold. It consists of three parts, a Sabak (furnace) and two Tungku (riser stone with double horizontal rod iron). Women would stand in front of Dapur Kongkong, or sit on Bendul or sill while waiting. Bendul Food Preparation The central kitchen area will be cleaned once the cooking is done. Tikar mengkuang Tikar Mengkuang or Pandanus mat will be laid while eating. The dishes and cups are taken out from the Para or shelves. It has two-door leaves and a built-in cantilever protruding through the kitchen wall. Para Storing After each meal, cleaned utensils have to be kept or stored in Para or shelves. However, larger utensils such as pan, pot or kettle is kept at a store room where they are mounted on the Pemidang dinding and alang Pemidang Dinding (wall stud) and Alang (truss) with nails. Others are stored in the Peran or Attic. The Peran is a mezzanine floor between kitchen and a roof. Peran The remaining of the food is kept in Almari. Almari is a free-standing shelved cabinet which is supported by four posts and closed by two door leaves, which is covered by micro hollow metal wire for air circulation. Almari What’s Cooking? • Many heritage food ingredients are no longer available in its traditional form (Sharif et al., 2015a). • Some ingredients come in a different shape while some in a modern packaging. The innovations of heritage food ingredients involve technology development and adoption where modernization extensively shapes the production, processing and the distribution (Sharif, Nor, Zahari, & Muhammad, 2015b). • For instance, today's younger generations can simply use food colouring such as green food colouring to achieve desired colour when making Malay traditional food or kuih while in the past, the older generations have to grind the screw pine using mortar and pestle to obtain the green colour extract. VS • The modern eating utensils such as paper and plastic also has promoted the consumption of convenience food. Nasi impit and ketupat (rice or glutinous rice wrapped in leaves) is now easily available in the market as it comes in various packet form and they just need to be boiled before consumption. • The improvisation of traditional cooking equipment like mortar and pestle, and wooden kitchen, to the modern cooking equipment such as gas stoves, oven, mixer, and stainless-steel pot, has facilitate the young generations in preparing and cooking food for their family. Current Eating Behaviour of The Young Generations In Malaysia Eating outside the home Convenience food Fast food Eating Outside The Home • Eating out can be defined as the consumption of all food that takes place outside the home (Pawan, Langgat, & Marzuki, 2014). • Ali and Abdullah (2012) suggested that the practices of young generations’ eating behaviour can be distinguished through dining place, time of eating, type of food and the eateries themselves. Factors Contributed To Eating Out 1.Multiple income • It means higher purchasing power and disposable income to spend on various things that they might households not able to afford before, such as eating out.