Does an 'Asian' eat 'Asian' food at home? (1)

This is the accompanying piece to my earlier post Who is an Asian?

One day an Aussie friend asked whether I, an 'Asian', ate just 'Asian' food at home?

By 'Asian' food, he meant of course the Australianised pseudo-Hongkie Chinese food that he has been familiar with, in Aussie Chinese restaurants or takeaways (catering for mainstream Australians).

Until recently, and especially during my student days, the Chinese food in Australia have been mostly derived from Hongkie style, But of course catering to Aussie taste, basically mucho deep fried stuff over which Aussies like to pour, yes, pour lots of very dark, awful tasting (probably el cheapo) soya sauce that for some inexplicable reason they love.

To be fair, that practice isn't unlike Malaysians oo-ing and ah-ing over a bottle of (very ‘economically’ priced) Kaiser Stuhl moselle. And I discovered recently, to my equal horror, that some (Malaysian) friends served wine in a glass full of ice cubes – yes, the type of glass that our dads and granddads used to have their kopi oh peng* in Chong Kwee’s kopitiam*.

* kopi = coffee; kopi oh peng = iced black coffee; kopitiam = coffee shop; Chong Kwee = typical Chinese (Hainan) name - Hainanese dominate the kopitiam business in Malaysia

Oh, I squirmed whenever I watched my Aussie friends poured volumes of that stuff on top of their deep fried har-kow (prawn tim-sim) or spring rolls (fried poh piah).

* An updated note: I wrote this 2 years ago (but have broken up and expanded the original post into at least 3 parts for improved readability). Today Australians have discovered authentic Chinese (and Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, etc) cuisine in a big way and have taken to them like a duck (or platypus) to water. I recall there was a time when a Chinese friend who studied in Australia before me, advised me not to order any soupy dish when catering for Aussie friends at a Chinese or SE Asian restaurant. Today my friend would be shocked or at least completely surprised to see Aussies slurping up laksa, tom yam, pho dac biet, miso soup, etc, and wielding their chopsticks elegantly like Confucian scholars

Banishing the gruesome thought of the Shenzhen backyard cottage-industry manufactured tau yew (soya sauce) from my mind, I gave thoughts to what my friend had just asked, namely, do I eat just Asian food at home?

But as I have blogged earlier, my definition of 'Asian' has been considerably different from his, and so I supoose, would be 'Asian' food as well, which for him, as I have explained, would be the Australianised pseudo-Hongkie stuff?

His query set me off reflecting on Asian food, starting from Japan in the Far East and then working from there westward, sampling or skipping over fares of the various countries and regions as I allowed my tummy to fantasize.

My gastronomic juices started to flow when I began conjuring up a simple but magnificent repast of sea-fresh sushi, light-battered tempura and unagi (eel) in sticky sweet but good ;-) soya sauce with miso soup.

I almost drooled at the thought of a heapful of golden swordfish roe piled on top of freshly sliced salmon. And I didn't omit the smooth tofu dipped in some sweet Japanese sauce.

Then there’s deep fried battered oysters done to a golden brown, and placed back in their shells, for aesthetic value – yes, food must not only taste good but must look good as well, and Japanese are particularly good at this.

Beef tataki would be another of my favourites, provided it’s done very rare. Needless to say, all to be washed down with copious doses of warmed saki.

Yes, I have always associated wine with the adjective 'copious '- they do go so well together.

But of course Aussies knew/know Japanese food is ... er ... Japanese, so he was hardly going to accept that from me as 'Asian' (strange as that may seem). As I mentioned in my previous post Who is an Asian? Aussies do distinguish between an Asian and a Japanese, and of course an Indonesian as well.

To be continued ...