Urban Food Culture

Abstract

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Why don’t some cuisines travel? Charting palm oil’s journey from West African staple to Malayan chemical

“…Many British Malayans thus learnt to accommodate and even appreciate a spread of dishes drawing on local Asian culinary repertoires, including 'Chinese' noodles and 'Malay' fried rice, accompanied by strongly flavoured local condiments like fermented shrimp paste (belachan), and a wide assortment of locally grown tropical fruits. 67 Chilled food imports gradually penetrated Malaya from 1905 onwards, but access to these Western comfort foods remained limited by household income and proximity to urban centres for several decades afterwards. 68 Furthermore, trade slumps after the First World War and during the early 1930s undercut both the job security and salaries of Malayan planters, pressuring households to economize on luxuries.…”