Many not bothered as to who cooks for as long as it’s hygienic
JOHOR BARU: Many Malaysians, who dine out, do not really care whether the food served to them are prepared by locals or foreign cooks.
Koh Han Kiang said he has no problems eating food cooked either by locals or foreigners.
“The authorities should focus more on cleanliness or hygienic aspects in food preparations,” said the civil engineer.
The 24-year-old said food like music is becoming universal in today’s borderless world.
“It is rather awkward to stop foreigners from preparing Malaysian cuisines at restaurants or hawker centres.
“Apart from cleanliness, the food must also be tasty but taste is rather subjective,” said Koh.
Restaurant owner S.P. Verasamy, 68, said Chinese restaurants here have no problems hiring local cooks unlike Indian banana leaf and 24-hour Indian Muslim restaurants.
He said rather than debating whether locals or foreigners were better at preparing authentic Malaysian dishes, the Government should look at the bigger picture.
“Personally, I think consumers are more concerned with hygienic issues, especially with a viral video being shared on social media recently,” said Verasamy.
He claimed Indian banana leaf and 24-hour Indian Muslim restaurants have problems hiring local cooks as they have no skills unlike those from South India.
“South Indian nationals can prepare better curry using the same spices,” he quipped.
Nur Azureen Hussin, 26, said local cooks still have a long way to go before they could prepare tasty nasi Padang dishes.
“Only Minang people can serve better rendang daging (beef rendang), ayam masak kalio (yellow chicken curry) or ikan goreng berlado (fried fish with chilli paste) ,” she said, adding that it was easy to tell the difference with just one bite.