Malaysian Cuisine: Making Sense of Southeast Asia’s Most Complicated Food Culture(s)
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If you ask ten people in Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Johor Baru the question of “what is Malaysian food?” you might get ten different answers. In a vastly diverse country where the melting pot never melted, each village, district, or neighborhood might have its own distinct cuisine- from a dozen versions of Malay-Chinese, to the Mamak Malay-Indians, to the ethnic Malays themselves, and that’s not even mentioning the countless tribes of Borneo; sixty percent of the Malaysian landmass in the provinces of Sabah and Sarawak. In this video, our goal is to find the common themes, to try the iconic specialties and to make sense of the concept of Malaysian food- whatever that actually means.
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0:00 – Introduction
1:20 – The Melting Pot that Never Melted
4:05 – Nasi Lemak
8:14 – Breakfast
10:10 – The Golden Peninsula
12:16 – Kopitiam
13:58 – Laksa and Beef Soup
19:34 – Malacca
21:04 – Curry
23:51 – Itik Salai Masthar
26:34 – Masak Lemak with Smoked Duck and Beef
31:20 – The Oldest Recipe
33:46 – Ikan Bakar Malacca
36:41 – Borneo
39:41 – The Best Meal We Didn’t See Coming
44:10 – Linopot
49:54 – The Reason for the Problems
54:37 – Roti Canai
1:00:33 – Malaysia
1:02:26 – Bak Kut Teh
1:06:13 – Last Thoughts
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Video Credits:
29 Comments
Location pins:
1) Nasi Lemak: https://maps.app.goo.gl/FmT73LrXBFLEAE4Q7
2) Kopitiam: https://maps.app.goo.gl/nNHGKSSGjkpNfJcw9
3) Smoked Duck Curry: https://maps.app.goo.gl/C98azFYmb9rH1ouT7
4) Ikan Bakar: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pPbZyiFANTagDzMt6
5) Sabah Linopot: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ha7azjEW5xBjN7pe8
6) Roti Canai: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZkVyyf9iDjVtuJSF8
7) Bak Kut Teh: https://maps.app.goo.gl/cce35ugSnbPEFrRD8
Nice, new OTR!
Great video!
I hope you can do a Filipino food video again but in the Philippines. Come to Iloilo and Western Visayas as we have the best Filipino food.
Ah, the evening is saved. And already a teaser for the next episode 😀.
Most of malay not eat chinese and indian food because not halal
I long ago got into etymology by the Swedish word "Hökare", the english equivalent to Hawker, anyone here know the original meaning of the english word? The German word would be "Hocher" I think…
I have an explanation for the Swedish origin and want to compare it to see if the common origin is from a very early age or, of the age when Europe was populated by different tribes, and the word was common and adopted in many branches of germanic languages.
PS. By a coincident I am a Master Tinsmith… 😊
Malaysia 🇲🇾🎉
You sd do one episode on Ipoh.. The food culture is different
Very underrated cuisine, because it's the best in the world but is overshadowed by Thai and Vietnamese in western countries. World needs to learn more about how incredible the food is in Malaysia.
NASI LEMAK = NASI UDUK
NASI KANDAR = NASI PADANG
CENDOL = DAWET
Just watch the intro, save this for another more 'focus' session i.e treadmill 😅
Yumyum malaysian food!!❤❤❤
I wish someone could study Malaysian eating culture , because I believe Malaysian have unique eat out culture and routine
I loved this but it left me wanting to see you make more video's on Malaysian food, soon.
Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ipoh was not really the right place to learn about Malaysian cuisine…if you heard people to go to this places just ignore it…what they mean actually they wanna you to find only their "race" type of food area…because they are majority in those places…what race i dont need to mention you will know by yourself… i can say its one of the reason why foreigner didnt know any about Malaysian food in general…so bias & driven you to only certain group of people…reality in Malaysia…what you saw on the net vs reality, huge different….
That Sabah/Bornean segment in particular was special.
I hope to try that myself when in KL soon.
I'm a Malaysian living in California. I think what you are struggling with in describing Malaysia… is that the "seperate-ness" (that you've taken pains to mention on more than one occasion) is actually called integration – where everyone brings something to the table. As one of your other commenters aptly described it, integration is more of a salad than a melting pot… which would be assimilation. Because of its position on the trade routes, the mix of races has been around for longer than most parts of the world. The Malay language itself is an old trader/pirate lingua franca. They have had the time to learn how to live together. As such, the cultures have also borrowed from each other while still holding on to their own unique cultural profile. Sure, there has been and is a tension like in a tango… but part of the Malaysian 'special sauce or dressing' as it were, is the ability of not just living with each other… but also celebrating each other. And the food is only one reflection of that. The multiculturalism that works there is still a huge struggle in America. Cheers and adventure on!
I'm from Klang and that bak kut teh you had is very different from the ones in Klang.
It should be dark, fatty, rich in herbal flavor, and definitely not garnished with cilantro.
There are lots restaurant doing their own thing but the Kepong one is way off.
My friend from Kepong was wondering why do people like bak kut teh until he actually tried it from Klang and realized he's been eating the wrong one all this time.
When you live in equatorial region where plants , fruit tree and herbs are easy to grow and in abundant , there are so much spices , exotic taste and aroma of cuisines can be derived from them. Fresh ingredients are the key component and commonly all the leaves for the cuisine, fruits , ginger , bird eye chilli etc. can be found around malaysian household compound, where they grew their own herbs
I wanna,go to the Sabah food place…
1. Nasi Kukus Ayam Goreng Berempah
2. Nasi Kerabu
3. Nasi Dagang
4. Nasi Kak Wok
5. Daging Kerutuk
6. Itik Serati Kerutuk
7. Nasi Berlauk
8. Laksam
9. Kuih Akok
10. Keropok Lekor
11. Serunding Kampung Laut
next time if you come to Malaysia go find this food…Kelantan & Terengganu state…go to place people barely speak English…only that you will know the food is authentic 😌
On behalf of all the poor boys out there, thank you for allowing us to know about all the cool things in the world. Even if I get to travel ever (not likely considering I've never had a job better than prep cook) I'd never make it to even 5% of the places you show us.
U seemed to like Malaysian fusion cuisines but kept comparing non culinary stuff to Thailand, being better than Malaysia?Like Malaysia is inferior, not as safe as Thailand and people not as friendly as Thailand? Well for one thing are very approachable, we don't throw smiles at complete strangers like we are up to 'something' unless ur a sales person at a store or something. Only sex workers at some seedy areas would do that … you won't find Malaysians greet you 'ur so handsome' 😊 Malaysians are polite but cautious and respectful
Woohoo finallyyy…was a little bit nervous of how we'll come across, or hearing that we're unoriginal or something haha… but as usual you guys do the research and told the story well. Love the writing. And how you can't resist getting the cempedak goreng lol hope it was worth it (some places put too much batter imo). And also how you still ate that bak kut teh with gusto even after 6(?) meals in! Champions! Hope you guys have recovered and looking forward to the next video
You mean AMERICAN THAI & VIETNAMESE food! There is almost nothing Asian in those "famous" Thai or Vietnamese foods that are so popular according to you. Those are just the Sweetened versions of what Westerners think about either Thai,Viet, even Chinese. Malaysian food is SPICY and real That & Vietnamese are also Spicy.
Malaysia is not a melting pot. We're a mosiac artwork. 😍
59:01
The real origin of teh tarik is hot tea water then mixed with fresh cow's milk, it's the same as in India… when this tea water dish was introduced to the Malay community, the Malays didn't like to drink hot and bubbling drinks, they would pour a little bit on a small plate, let it cool a little, then drink it, over time it changed by drawing the hot water until it foamed, then it became teh tarik, while fresh milk was replaced with condensed milk because it was difficult to get fresh milk and many water makers realized that condensed milk made teh tarik water more foamy and many people were interested in it
I think it's perhaps the most underrated cuisine there is. I spent six months there and loved the food, such flavours and diversity. My SIL who had travelled a lot in SE Asia asked my favourite cuisine and was a bit dubious when I said Malaysian. When she came back from KL & Penang she said she now understood.
It's not Chinese Malay. It's Chinese Malaysian. Chinese is the ethnicity and Malaysian is the Nationality. Chinese Malay is a different thing altogether.