Cuisine of Southeast Asia
Let's face it; I'm really bad at blogging about our trips. I'm going to try a new approach to writing about them, so let's see how it goes. The first of a few about our recent trip to Malaysia, Singapore, and the Island of Bintan will concern something that Chris and I are both passionate about: food. Nothing can tell you more about a culture than the types of food a person can eat. For example, here are some questions we ask about food.
1. Is it halal? ("Halal" is a term used for anything that is lawful in Islam. Pertaining to food, it mostly refers to the process of how animals are killed for meat, "dhabiha," or what has touched the food. The opposite of "halal" is "haram." Pork products, alcohol, and carnivorous animals are definitely "haram.") In our recent travels, most of our food was "halal" because Malaysia and Indonesia are Muslim countries. Singapore's Muslim population is about 15%. Everything in Kuwait must be halal-certified, especially if it's imported.
2. Is it local? Has it been grown/prepared/produced/raised/killed in this region and is it used in traditional foods? We don't always ask this question because it's often very obvious. In Malaysia, they use a lot of tapioca, which is a starch from the cassava plant. It made its way from South America all the way to Southeast Asia via the Spanish and Portuguese colonial periods. We ate slices of cassava fried like chips, and sweet treats that were made of tapioca flour and coconut steamed together inside hollowed bamboo shell.
3. Is it fresh? In third-world countries, freshness is everything. Especially in humid, hot weather countries, it is highly undesirable to eat food that has been sitting out all day. An opposing argument could be that some foods are most desirable after being cured for weeks, or that there is a risk of food-borne illness from eating fresh fruits and vegetables. I usually have only three strict rules to eating in other countries: no peels/rinds, no drinking tap water, or I see someone else eating it and s/he hasn't dropped dead. They're simple rules, really. On our visit, we enjoyed piping hot Singaporean noodles, super fresh sushi, and a buffet of tropical fruits prepared in snacks and drinks.
1. Is it halal? ("Halal" is a term used for anything that is lawful in Islam. Pertaining to food, it mostly refers to the process of how animals are killed for meat, "dhabiha," or what has touched the food. The opposite of "halal" is "haram." Pork products, alcohol, and carnivorous animals are definitely "haram.") In our recent travels, most of our food was "halal" because Malaysia and Indonesia are Muslim countries. Singapore's Muslim population is about 15%. Everything in Kuwait must be halal-certified, especially if it's imported.
2. Is it local? Has it been grown/prepared/produced/raised/killed in this region and is it used in traditional foods? We don't always ask this question because it's often very obvious. In Malaysia, they use a lot of tapioca, which is a starch from the cassava plant. It made its way from South America all the way to Southeast Asia via the Spanish and Portuguese colonial periods. We ate slices of cassava fried like chips, and sweet treats that were made of tapioca flour and coconut steamed together inside hollowed bamboo shell.
3. Is it fresh? In third-world countries, freshness is everything. Especially in humid, hot weather countries, it is highly undesirable to eat food that has been sitting out all day. An opposing argument could be that some foods are most desirable after being cured for weeks, or that there is a risk of food-borne illness from eating fresh fruits and vegetables. I usually have only three strict rules to eating in other countries: no peels/rinds, no drinking tap water, or I see someone else eating it and s/he hasn't dropped dead. They're simple rules, really. On our visit, we enjoyed piping hot Singaporean noodles, super fresh sushi, and a buffet of tropical fruits prepared in snacks and drinks.
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