Malaysian Street Food Joints
Kaula Lumpur City Gallery has miniature replicas of Malaysian street food joints. Street food joints are not unique to Malaysia or East and south-east Asia, for that matter. But in these regions, they certainly have a unique flavor, and I mean that literally. They are a treat for your sensory organs, not just your mouth, but also your eyes and nose. You are not always sure of what it is that is cooked or deep-fried in front of you. But your senses alert you in their own ways of instant hunger and desire to eat. Celebrating the Asian street food culture through exhibits at the museum, therefore, is certainly warranted.
My friends and relatives who know me well at this point will quickly say that I have now been deviating from my usual honesty and sincerity(!), just to please the readers with what they want to hear. Unfortunately, this is partially true. The problem is that my taste buds and the rest of the digestive system at this point are fully Westernized. I have learned the hard way that exploring local street cuisines does not add any spice to my desire for traveling. I can’t sacrifice other enjoyments of the trip.
But why am I whining about it? These days, appreciating detailed deviations from the norms (which the right-wingers call wonkishness) is considered eclectic. I, therefore, want to vent my frustration about the treatment I receive from my friends and relatives on both sides of the world (and both sides of the aisle, just so also to include my leftist friends). One can be white and complain about spicy Asian food. That is well-accepted or assumed. But it is not acceptable to both be brown and complain about spices in your cuisine. Moreover, this attitude goes back to my liberal-leaning aversion to stereotyping a person based on ethnicity. Like many other aspects of personal character, I don’t think that taste buds are related to particular genes at all.
While I am at it, I also want to gripe about the queen of social sciences, economics. Economists tell you that globalization is good for most people. It’s a win-win. My aftertaste in this matter is negative. But I don’t accept that I fall outside of this ‘most people’ category for win-win on globalization. Instead, I would like to retort with varieties of answers to the question, ‘How many economists does it take to screw a light bulb?’
If all this whining feels like sour grapes on my part to you, it probably is. So, to those Asian street food vendors, my sweet response is, “It’s not you, it’s me!
