There is no love sincerer than the love of food.
~George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)
Food is one the most important aspects of Malaysia and its people. To merely say we love food is a massive understatment.
For many of us, life revolves around food. Here is a pretty average example of a typical Malaysian’s day* – make up for breakfast, think about what and where to eat for lunch, meet up with friends for lunch, buy snacks for tea after lunch, work as you have tea, buy groceries to cook dinner on the way home from work, relax before cooking dinner, have dinner while watching the news on television, go out to meet friends to have supper and chill, go to sleep wondering what to have for breakfast.
So when it comes to eating, it is decidedly sad for one to attend a college that offers little variety to a Malaysian student. There are less than a dozen ‘restaurants’ to choose from and YES that is ‘limited’ options for a Malaysian. It is the most annoying thing in the world when 5 of us try to have lunch together and everyone wants to eat somewhere else for one reason or another.
"I don’t like the food there!"
"This place is cheaper!"
"They always get my order wrong!"
Honestly, it’s almost enough to make me want to sit on the lot of them until they decide on a restaurant to eat at. You don’t want to annoy a hungry fat girl who got a C- for ‘Communications Research & Methods’. The only thing you want to do is feed her.
Personally, I blame the government and parents for instilling this absolute greed and need for variety concerning our daily nourishment. As such, they must take personal responsibility of gorging us with food as we pursue our higher education by making sure that nothing less than 2-3 dozen eateries can be found within a 100 feet radius of the college. Its the only solution for a Malaysian students consumption woe.
In a country where Asian and western and every other cuisine in between coincide, no one can blame us for having developed a taste for extreme variety especially as food is made available more and more hours of the day. Only when foreigners arrive and allow themselves to be sucked into the culture that is our food can they truly appreciate the unbreakable bond every Malaysian has with food.
Craving fish ball soup or cantonese fried noodles? Instant version is available at the supermarket or if you look hard enough, there will be a restaurant with a menu to serve you. Want rice topped with malay dishes at 2am? Drive down to the little malay shop in the corner. Fancy thosai or bread with dhal at 5am before work? Your friendly local mamak will be happy to accomadate! Feel like a burger or spicy fried chicken? McDonalds or Kentucky fried chicken is open 24/7.
Oh! I have to go now – it’s lunchtime. Now should I have chicken rice, curry noodle or a burger?
*The author is known to make gross and unfounded exagerations and anything said should be regarded as nothing more than humorous and light-hearted reading.