Aussies love laksa

MALAYSIAN cuisine such as laksa and curry are popular with Australians, according to Sydney tourism public relations officer Georgia Ditton. She said Malaysian food was attractive enough to whet the appetite of everyone.

Ditton said Australians were getting more familiar with Malaysian cuisine as many outlets and restaurants had been opened following her tourism agency’s close collaboration with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) to introduce the country’s food. “As for me, I love rendang very much,” she said, adding that she had been attending cooking classes in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi over the past few days.

Delicious soup: Japanese tourist Yukari Burgess (left) cooking laksa at E&O Hotel together with other tourists.

Together with four other Australian journalists and public relations personnel, they arrived in Penang on Tuesday as part of a six-day trip organised by Matrade to promote the country’s culinary delights. The group members, who had earlier visited Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi, will write about their experiences for their respective publications upon their return to Australia. 

Ditton, who is visiting Malaysia for the first time, said she had her first-hand experience in cooking a local delight — laksa. “Food is an important part to learn about a particular culture, and I think that foreign tourists enjoy discovering Malaysia by eating the local food,” she said during a cooking class at Eastern and Oriental (E&O) Hotel on Wednesday.

Choices aplenty: Marina Hogan (right) and Sally Webb shopping for laksa ingredients at the Chowrasta Market for the cooking class.

Guided by a chef, the visitors were seen cooking soup, making chilly paste, removing fish scales, cutting pineapples and peeling cucumber in trying to make laksa as close as possible to the local taste. Besides the Australians, the cooking class was also joined by several other tourists from Canada, Macau and Japan. An Australian magazine’s sub-editor, Alexandra O’Brien, also from Sydney, said the trip had provided her with a better insight into Malaysian food and its multi-cultural society.

“I used to be confused about Malaysian cuisine as it is a fusion of Chinese, Indian and Thai varieties. “But I think the trip has taught me to learn more about the country’s multi-ethnic society rather than to distinguish its type of food,” she said.

Hands-on experience: (From left) Australian journalists and public relation personnel, Heather Mollins, Marina Hogan, Sally Webb, Alexandra and Ditton comparing notes during the laksa cooking class.

Perth travel writer Marina Hogan said she enjoyed buying laksa ingredients together with the other participants at Chowrasta Market in the morning. “It is interesting to learn about the local community by exploring the markets. “The things sold there always reflect the real lives of the people,” she added.

-thestar online.