Cross-Cultural Conversations

Observations by a Malaysian studying in Australia

Spice Boy

Traditional Aussie fare essentially does not utilise a lot of herbs and spices. The one seasoning they do use, and in great amounts, is salt. Another flavour enhancer quite common in Aussie cooking is cheese and butter.

Like most people, I find it hard not to like cheese and butter. So great is the complex texture and contrasting taste of cheese that I’m more than prepared to ignore its pungent smell (and saturated fat content).

However, like all other things, these two dairy products cannot escape from the Too-Many-Times syndrome. Humans are biologically pre-conditioned to tire of a sensation - however enjoyable it may initially have been - when they are exposed to it too frequently. This syndrome has been inflicted on pretty much everything- KFC, Suharto, the ‘Malaysia Boleh’ phrase, Friends and Hari Raya (when we had it twice instead of the usual once a year in 1997).

At the boarding house, I opt for a vegetarian diet. The chef probably has very limited creativity when it comes to vegetables and does not know how to make them tasty on their own because almost every vegetarian meal is accompanied by cheese or butter. In the past two days I’ve had Spinach Quiche and Cheesy Sub for lunch, and for dinner, Spinach Quiche (yes, again), Buttered Potatoes and Creamy Mushroom Fettuccine. Tonight, I’m going to have Pasta with Vegetable Cream Sauce and for dessert, Baked Cheesecake.

I’m getting pretty sick of it. In Malay, there’s two beautiful words which accurately describe one’s feelings towards these very rich and creamy food when one’s had a bit too much of them too often- ‘Muak’ and ‘Mual’, ‘Bored’ and ‘Sick’ respectively, although unfortunately ‘bored’ and ‘sick’ doesn’t do justice to the intensely negative graphic impression those two Malay words create on cheesy and creamy food.

I decided to take a hands-on approach. This cannot go on any further. I need something hot and spicy. At the supermarket, I desperately scanned for any food product with the word Chilli in it. I found at the instant noodles section one which advertises itself as Spicy Thai Noodles, complete with the warning: Chilli Powder Included Is Very Hot. This is just the one for me.

I don’t normally eat instant noodles, partly because of its poor health aspect, and partly because I don’t quite like the industrial taste it imparts. However, desperate times call for desperate measures.

The advertisers - very uncharacteristic of them - weren’t lying. The chilli powder was very hot. Very soon, tears were coming out of my eyes. Similar things were coming out of my nose. Sweat started to drip from my forehead and neck. My tongue was burning. I was voluntarily, and quite happily, being abused by a potent combination of chilli powder, kaffir lime, pepper, lemongrass and all sorts of exotic Southeast Asian spices.

My body may have suffered the punch of Thai cooking, but my tastebuds have never been so satisfied. That was the best thing I’ve eaten in a very long time.

posted by: Tembaga2 at 12:41 | link | comments (1) |

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