A STORM blew up recently over fears that the culinary influence of foreign cooks would tarnish the reputation of Penang as home to a wide range of the world’s best street foods.
The Pearl of the Orient, as this northern island state is known, is world famous as the ultimate street food hub in Malaysia, boasting the blending of diverse cultures – Malay, Chinese, Indian and Nyonya – to create a cornicopia of flavours unique to Penang.
Perhaps for this reason, the Penang government has taken steps to protect the originality as well as the palatability of the state’s street foods from infusion by foreign tastes.
In July this year, the Penang government announced a proposal to ban foreign cooks from hawker stalls in the state. The move drew mixed reactions.
The ayes said Penang’s street food must be kept pure and free from foreign adulteration while the naysayers noted the ban would put the state in a bad light for “practising racism and discrimination.”
A vocal opponent of the ban was Malaysia’s premier food ambassador, Chef Wan who commented in an online blog posting: “The owners should be the ones teaching the foreign cooks to prepare food the right way. We should stop blaming immigrant workers on the issue.”
While latest updates show over 80 per cent of respondents in Penang have so far expressed support for the proposed ban, observers, however, pointed out that many ardent Penang hawker food fans would “vote with their stomachs and not think about the broader socio-economic factors that surround this issue.”
The argument is that as there is now abundant hawker food in Penang, the price is naturally affordable. But, if supply is restricted by labour shortage due to the ban, then demand will exceed supply, leading to a price hike.
Should this happen, are the people of Penang – and for that matter, visiting foodies as well – prepared to fork out more for their favourite plate of fried noodles? Most probably, they would dine elsewhere.
On the flipside, if the price increase is justifiable as both a protection of the hawker food industry and an improvement of the hawkers’ livelihood, then consumers might not mind going for it.
Based on foreign polls on the popularity of Penang cuisine, including its street foods, one is tempted to ask whether foreign cooks are really guilty of diluting the authenticity of the local cooking.
For instance, in 2009, Penang received the vote of The New York Times readers as the premier food heaven. And this year (2014), the state received official validation of its status as the premier foodie destination after being voted to that coveted position by Lonely Planet, a popular travel guide publication.
The vote puts Penang ahead of north-western Spain, famed for the ‘rustic romance of its cuisine’ and even beats out the ‘soulful heat of New Orlean’s deep-south American cooking’.
Now, what does this tell us? If Penang cuisine, including its street foods, have really lost their gastronomical quality and appeal just because they are prepared by foreign cooks, how then could the state have won Lonely Planet’s vote as “the premier foodie destination?”
Unless, of course, the vote of this globally renowned heavyweight travel guide publication does not count for much — which is hardly the case.
Observers believe the proposed ban is aimed more at curbing the rising acceptance of the hawker food franchise system which leads to the hiring more foreign cooks. It is feared this trend could potentially affect the livelihood of local cooks, hence the touted ‘Penangness’ of the food prepared.
Not to be overlooked, of course, is the fact that the influx of foreign cooks into Penang has largely been due to the reluctance of the locals to take up jobs as street cooks. Foreigners were recruited to fill the void and maintain the vibrancy of the street food industry in the state.
The issue is also about labour shortage and not just foreign cooks and it has little to do with the politically skewed debate that pits xenophobic locals against foreigners.
The jury is still out on the proposed ban. Penang’s Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government is in no hurry to implement the policy even though it has received “overwhelming support.”
Despite the argy bargy, it is safe to conclude that at some point, some kind of restriction will most likely be imposed, given the big support from the people of Penang for the ban.