Foodtalk

I usually try not to write about myself too much, because i do believe i lead an ultra-boring and mundane life. I've gone on to read blogs and marvel at the interesting lives of their writers, full of drama and emotions.

I am pretty much a very homely guy and i always wonder why people like to go out so much. The weather in the house is always nice. And at 11.09 AM, i am in still in my house rather than hanging out at shopping malls around KL.

What the heck. Well, now let's talk about food. You see how mundane i am? I am telling you what i'm gonna write about. Just like a Physics lesson when the teacher goes,

"Today, we are going to speak about Bernoulli's Principle and its application in modern day science."

Sigh. How formal that is!

My eldest sister has been lactose intolerant for quite some time.

After living for more than half of a century, only then, my mama decided to join the bandwagon and became lactose intolerant. She was able to take milk before, but now she would end up having bouts of diarrhea in the toilet. Not that it was an off/on switch, but that's genetics for you. Mendel and all that jazz (i've grown to like this phrase).

And as for me, i've joined the club a few months back when i had to travel back and forth to the toilet after taking a bottle of milk. After a few more experimentation and inquiries to family members, i finally realized i also had an intolerance towards milk but my switch is turned off at the age of 23. I used to gulp litres and litres of HL chocolate milk, but now i can't quite do so. It starts to rumble and mumble and growl after awhile.

All 3 of us also respond negatively to the intake of yellow mee/noodles with trips to the toilet. This maybe due to the boric acid produced while boiling the noodles.

But one thing about my family is that we are not really adventurous in the food universe, that is to say,we rarely try out new foods/cuisines. All four of us (mama, my 2 sisters and me).

My sister Aiza would usually choose 'Tom Yam'.
My mama, Meehoon Soup.
My sister Azreen, i think is by far the most adventurous in this field between the four of us and she tends to be quite unpredictable and takes her time to read menus.
Me, anything which i have tried before in my life.

So as a result, when someone invites me for a dine-out and asks for suggestions, a typical answer you could expect is,

"Aku tak kesah (I don't mind)." I do mean it. Like i am being 110% honest when i say this.

Like if you're going to try something new, something that sounds sophisticated and suddenly you get the opposite, your hopes of having a good meal fall down to pieces (Kabooosh!) and all you get is merely a false satisfaction of satiety. Perhaps, i am not a risk taker with foods.

But then again, who am i to complain? My taste buds or the part of brain which recognizes tastes are not working. So all i get is purely a sense of satiety. The only thing my brain really recognizes is the chilli flavour. That hot and spicy taste is really meaningful as it is the only food i could really appreciate.

Therefore, i don't think i could really turn out to be an excellent cook. Good? Yes. Excellent? Maybe. Anything is possible, just that i am lazy to learn to cook all those extravagant meals.

But with food, it's not just purely satisfaction of it all. We eat accordingly, appropriately.

As narrated by Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "The food for two persons is sufficient for three, and the food of three persons is sufficient for four persons." (Sahih Bukhari)

And in another hadeeth,

Narrated by Abu Huraira: A man used to eat much, but when he embraced Islam, he started eating less. That was mentioned to the Prophet who then said, "A believer eats in one intestine (is satisfied with a little food)...." ( Sahih Bukhari)

And so, there had been dietary laws which were mentioned by the Prophet, but we tend to cross the line and eat til we are superbly full. Phew. "I mean, of course we have to try and eat as much as possible right why we are still alive. We need that extra energy to sleep. Sleeping also needs energy. I read that in some book".

But of course, there is a difference between eating a lot and trying out new food. While i applaud the latter effort, as it actively invovles the mind (sweet, sour, too much salt, suggestions to make the food better), i myself am struggling with the former. I do exceed my own expectations when i eat. Bear in my mind what was mentioned in the Quran.

7 : 31 O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters.

And so, i wish i could be more health savvy and eat more natural than aritificial food, peel the skin off any piece of chicken (exception for KFC, for it would be a waste of money not to eat KFC skin), take less oily food and munch more vegetables and fruits. Maybe i should find out alternative recipes as i find Malay recipes to be too unhealthy at times.

What? Health savvy? That's far off the radar.

Let's go eat KFC.