THERE is a saying food not only nourishes the body, it also provides nourishment for the soul.
In that context, Penang, renowned for its tasty street foods, is worried its food heritage – encapsulated in a much touted gastronomical essence to nourish the soul – will be bastardised by the presence of a legion of foreign street cooks.
It’s largely because of this that a by-law has been mulled to declare hawker food stalls in Penang out of bounds to foreign cooks and food handlers.
Last week, Penang’s Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng proposed the banning of foreigners from cooking at hawker stalls “to preserve the flavours and authenticity of the state’s famous hawker cuisine.”
Penangites have reportedly gelled with the proposed ban with many saying it will preserve the “authentic flavour” of the state’s hawker food. Some have even called for foreigners to be shut out of the local food industry.
The gripe is that Penang’s street food will lose its essence and originality if prepared by foreigners. The following remarks from street food stall owners in that state say it all:
Have you ever had nasi kandar cooked by Indonesians? There is such an outlet in Bayan Lepas. The nasi kandar dishes taste different. The food is sweet.You need local mamaks (Indian-Muslims) to cook the food. Only then will you taste the real nasi kandar.
I don’t leave the cooking to my foreign workers. I can’t trust them to cook because the food will taste different. Even if I hire an Indian national, there is still no guarantee he will cook the food the way I do.
Would I leave my cooking to foreign workers and risk the quality of my food and my reputation? No.
Hiring foreign workers could be risky because they may be unreliable. This is my livelihood so I put my best into it. How can I trust another with it?
Banning foreign cooks from hawker stalls would be good. Too much salt in the food, too much sugar or none at all to spoil the food … that’s enough to hurt the business. Customers get disappointed and upset, and they don’t come back. If they spread the word, it gets worse.
Hawkers should give local workers a chance.
There are also reasons why the street food operators resort to employing foreign cooks. While Penang’s small hawker stalls can handle cooking and preparing food on their own, others, especially the big operators, often need hired hands to share the workload.
This is especially true of stall owners with several outlets operating simultaneously at different locations. They may find it arduous coping without employing extra (foreign) hands to help out.
The proposed ban on foreign cooks has ruffled feathers in the food circle – with Malaysian celebrity chef Datuk Redzuawan Ismail (Chef Wan) calling it “ridiculous.”
Such a ruling would only make Malaysia a laughing stock in the eyes of the world, he said, pointing out that the proposla was “misguided and short-sighted.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to train them properly and supervise them to do a better job,” Chef Wan reportedly asked.
Lim has since backtracked, clarifying that Penang will not prohibit foreigners from working as main hawker stall cooks without public support.
“The state will weigh the responses from all sections of the public, including from out of state before deciding on the matter,” he said.
Lim added that the ban would only apply to foreign cooks manning hawker stalls – and not restaurants across the board.
So far, no decision has been taken on the ban or its implementation.
Some people have slammed the proposed ban as “a waste of time,” suggesting the Penang Municipal Council should instead see to the cleanliness of the hawker stalls and food outlets instead of blowing hot air over foreign street cooks.
Others attribute the scenario to the reluctance of the operators to hire locals. And this is borne out by a nasi kandar stall owner who said: “I cannot afford to hire a local mamak who might lack discipline and disrupt my daily operations.”
The burning question is why are there so many foreign cooks working at street food stalls in Penang if the locals are really keen to do the work?
Are foreign cooks preferred because of the lower pay they are asking? That could be a valid reason with the economy being rather sluggish at the moment.
But in all probability, it’s the reluctance of the locals to work at street food stalls that foreign food handlers are hired to fill the void. This is one area that could be looked into and a solution found to mitigate – if not entirely resolve – the situation.
Without a sound remedy, the proposed ban might well come back to haunt its implementers.