Malaysian cuisine: between multi-culturality and inter-culturality

Abstract

Malaysian cuisine reflects the multi-racial aspects of Malaysia, with various ethnic groups having their own dishes, and with various dishes derived from multiple ethnic influences: Chinese, Indian, and Thai. All these and many other cultures have produced an entirely new and rich cuisine in which one can come across Malaysian Chinese food, Malay food, Malaysian Indian food, and Nyonya food. Living in a multi-cultural country, Malaysians have adapted over the years each other's dishes (Chinese noodles, Indian curry, Indonesian food and Thai food) to suit the taste buds of their own culture. They did the same with food names that they have also adapted to the pronunciation and spelling rules specific to their language. When it comes about Malaysian cuisine, Romanians find it very difficult to make the proper choice, to read, spell and understand what Malaysian food is. The inter-cultural issue concerns what differentiates Malaysian and Romanian cuisines and what could characterize both Malaysian and Romanian cuisines. The paper analyses those "gastronomic universals" specific to both cuisines in an attempt to make Romanians more familiar with Malaysian cuisine and Malaysians familiar with Romanian cuisine.