MALAYAN FOOD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 223, 19 September 1940, Page 14

MALAYAN FOOD.

RICE AND SPICES. PLENTY OF FISH. The type of food eaten by Malayans who live in the coastal towns was given by Mrs. Raymond Firth at a luncheon held by the Women's Food Value League in the Fabian Club rooms yesterday. Rice, said Mrs. Firth, was. the staple diet, a large bowl of this being the main dish at each meal. It was accompanied by. smaller dishes, one of which might ■contain grilled mullet, and another small fish fried and flavoured with saffron and salt. There would also be a dish of vegetables stewed in coconut cream, a salad with cucumber and red peppers, and another dish containing prawn paste. Except for the rice, the meals varied, but as there were at least 15 'different spices obtainable, there was no monotony. : A popular diet was curry. Malayan "curry had a basis of coconut cream, and their own curry was ground from a large choice of spices. There were about 30 different kinds of fish obtainable in the coastal towns end about as many different ways of cooking it. Mrs. Firth eaid that she and her husband, Dr. Firth, had their evening meal of Malayan! cooking every night for nine months and felt no desire to revert to the European style.