Eat with your mouth close or else flies will enter and steal your food. Make sure you eat every grain of rice for each grain has your name engraved on it.
Although we are now living in the 21st century, we Malaysians are a superstitious lot and have been so since the dawn of time even before we had written history. Our culture has intertwined superstitious belief in our daily life so much that it has become part and parcel of what we do.
Sometimes we notice it but in most cases, we just don’t realize it. Have you notice how we tend to put any bones on the front side of the plate instead of the left or on the right? Also have you notice that after washing our hands, we tend to shake the access water before taking the towel or using the dryer?
As once-believers of pagan Gods and Deities, our superstitious believe has been etched into how we dine and how we prepare our food. Laugh as you may but you know this is true and though these might be gibberish, they sometimes exist for a reason.
Don’t leave chopsticks standing up in the bowl!When you’re at a Chinese dinner and done with your noodles and slurping your soup, don’t ever leave your chopsticks standing up in your bowl. Why? Sticking your chopsticks vertically in the bowl resembles incense burning at the altar, or offerings for the dead. Although this is certainly true that having a chopstick upright in a bowl symbolizes an offering to the dead, we are asked not to do this as someone might hit our heads from the back. If this happen, goodbye beautiful eyesight! Chinese symbolism The Chinese are big on symbolism. Ever wonder why noodles are always served at birthdays? It’s because long noodles symbolize a long life, simple as that. Eat the brains of the animal, and you’ll be smart. Eat the eyes of the animal, and you’ll have better sight. Eat the penis and, well, you get the picture. (We wonder what it means when you eat the feet. Will you travel far?) Don’t sing in the kitchen! Many a young Malay girl has been reprimanded by her mother for singing in the kitchen. “You’ll marry an old man,” our mothers would say. You’ll come to see that many Malay superstitions have the most nonsensical reasons, though they have real reasons behind them that actually make good sense. Which makes us wonder – why not just tell us the real reason? For example, singing in the kitchen is bad because it’s distracting. Nothing to do with marrying old men, just that your mother doesn’t want you to burn that pot of curry while you belt out show tunes. Also it is because there is a high chance that our saliva might spew out like a fountain and hit the ingredients. You wouldn’t one someone spitting into your food right? Another good example of Strange Given Reason versus Real Common Sense is how many older Malays will pour a little bit of water over their plate after they finish their meal. They say it’s because your good fortune will run out (“rezeki nanti habis!”) but in actual fact, it’s so that your plate won’t dry up and it’ll be easier to clean later. Using your leaf to say how much you like your meal At banana leaf restaurants, you’ll see that many Indians will fold their leaves towards them after a meal. Some don’t do it for practical reasons – if you have leftover gravy on your leaf, folding it towards you will mean spillage on your clothes. But the reason why most of them fold it the way they do is to indicate how much they enjoyed their meal. Towards you means that you liked your meal, and away from you means you didn’t think too much of it. A simple move that quietly lets the chef know how you feel about his cooking. If only there was a way we could do that with our plates... Tuak making Ibanese women traditionally prepare tuak, a rather strong alcoholic drink made from fermented rice. A spiritual lot, the etiquette that goes into the making of tuak involves everything from the woman making it to the surroundings of the preparation area. The woman cannot be on her time of the month as it may result in a bad batch of tuak. The environment too must be calm and serene – loud traffic, quarreling neighbors, etc, all those will disturb the process. The real reason behind these rules is most likely because any distractions, emotional or otherwise, might cause the maker to miss a step or mix in the wrong quantities at the wrong time. And you really want that batch of tuak to turn out perfect, don’t you? Hunt for the Best Singaporean Foods in Malacca Discover the Best Chinese Foods in Malacca