Late night rant: What's the very criterion of an authentic food?

So I read about this news report about banning foreign workers as the main cook in hawker stalls just now. Content is roughly about how government of Penang is considering to ban the employment of foreigners as the main cook in hawker stalls in order to protect their food heritage. 

First off, kudos to the effort of preserving the food heritage! Penang has a state government I really look up to, from the efforts of conserving environment, to providing free wi-fi all over the state, to now, preserving the food heritage. Many of my friends are so excited about this that it flushed other feeds in my news feed.

I get it, this is to ensure that our culture will not be 'polluted' by foreign cultures, but isn't it too fast to celebrate? I mean, what about the food? Yes, my concern here is just the food! Why care about the cook when food is the culture/heritage itself?!

For me, to preserve the food heritage, the taste must at least to be maintained. I want the authenticity of the food to be preserved! I don't care who's behind cooking the dish, be it a foreigner or a local. I know many would argue that the heritage is not only about the food, there's a whole lot more, the history, the ambiance, including how is it prepared and served. So, of course the cook is an important factor. But now, let's say you're given two dishes: 

1. Sarawak Kuching laksa cooked by a local Kuchingite but tastes like curry laksa, with fish balls  as the condiments dafuq?
2. Kuching laksa that reminds you of 古早味 but cooked by a 'kakak'

I know both are a bit offsetting, but this is what's happening now. Anyway, I'll go for option 2. In fact, I'd be even happy because see, even a foreigner can master the essence of the dish, at least the dish won't go 'extinct'.. don't mind me, just me being 'ah Q' .. 

But yeah, shouldn't us be sad that even foreigners can cook our traditional dish better than locals? And that's why the Penang government is thinking of implementing this policy. This is like indirectly admitting that the younger generations are just a bunch of incompetent fellas who don't even appreciate their culture.

But even still, should the taste be compromised? I just couldn't get over it. I can't accept the fact that our food being 'polluted' by foreign or some funny elements. I get that chances are the foreign cook don't understand the food enough and couldn't execute the dish. But most of the time, what I got was those innovative locals trying to be creative and ruin the dish. If that's the case, I'd rather have a kakak cooking what is being taught. 

So what's your take on this? I'm eager to see the Penang government coming out with a satisfying resolution. =)

Good night,

Dong

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When ingredients are not the only considerations in a formulation...

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RL140630 Last lecture: But the journey still goes on.....

It's the time of the semester again, we've reached the last week of the semester. Since all the practicals and project were done, this week, we're left with the last lecture to close the chapter. This week, we talked about food additives.

Picture credit

As I typed 'food additive' into the search engine, this was one of the very first picture that popped out. It's not surprising that the general public refers food additives as something deadly, considering how big a chaos had food additives scandals created a few years back. Still remember Sanlu milk crisis and Taiwan plasticiser scandal? 

I know the whole avoiding food additives in commercial food product mindset is getting more widespread, but today, I'm gonna tell you that food additives is something that couldn't be totally avoided and that it is not as scary as you imagined. Even our ancestors have been using food additives to produce food. I'm sure most of you agree with me that tofu is a healthy food, but do you know that tofu couldn't even set if not for the presence of gypsum (calcium sulfate)? Gypsum has been used as a coagulant for tofu since its invention more than 2 millennium ago. 

And it looks like this....

Feeling scary yet? You're still eating tofu happily... So, my point here is do not 'boycott' something until you understand what is it. There are all sorts of food additives out there, and all of them serves only one purpose, that is to improve the quality of food with a little amount added. Imagine jam without pectin and jelly without gelatine, they couldn't even form! Still remember the doughnut and cookie experiment before? Addition of a small amount of baking powder and emulsifier makes the whole thing so much better, be it in terms of texture, colour, or taste. 

But the question is, why are people still afraid of food additives?

According to the USFDA, food additives is defined as follows:

Any substance the intended use of which results or may reasonably be expected to result, directly or indirectly, in its becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristic of any food (including any substance intended for use in producing, manufacturing, packing, processing, preparing, treating, packaging, transporting, or holding food; and including any source of radiation intended for any such use); if such substance is not GRAS or sanctioned prior to 19581 or otherwise excluded from the definition of food additives.

See? As long as the substance added to food altered the quality and is GRAS (generally recognised as safe), it should not be a problem. The problem here is that, for the sake of profit, some unethical manufacturers did not follow the rules and regulations, and used additives that are not food-graded and did not get rid of it after processing. For example bleaching agents that are not evaporated off after processing, or like DEHP found excessively in some of the boba balls in Taiwan. I know one way to avoid consuming these substances is by avoiding processed food. But that shouldn't be the way. Bear in mind that even natural food contains toxicants. So, what for trying to avoid process food? If not for the usage of food additives, there won't be so many convenient and shelf-stable food, and it'd bring us back to the era where it took us hours to prepare a decent meal. Guess you wouldn't want to live in such unproductive society, would you? 

So, my suggestion is to understand your food and the risk of taking in the food. Choose your food wisely, eat in moderation and variety and that's all I can say. 

picture credit

Happy holidays peep!

Dong

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