Pilav...aka..rice..

Monday, March 13, 2006

Pilav...aka..rice..

This talk about food reminds me of my experience years ago. It was just a day after our bersanding day (dugun). We were still in Malaysia.An acquaintance of baba (dad in law) heard that baba was in Malaysia.He came with his family to visit baba and anne at my parents' house in Penang. There was the hubby,wife and one teenage daughter i think (maybe there was another daughter too..cant remember exactly). We invited them for lunch. They accepted. Before starting to eat, the daughter of our guest asked me if she could have some salt. I complied though in my mind i did not understand why. I saw her sprinkled the salt on her rice. Believe me, it was weird to us..the Zainal family. But we didnt say anything. After they left, my mom took out the food that the guest had given us. It was eggplant cooked in i suppose olive oil? None of the Zaim family explained anything to us about the food and we couldnt stomach it coz it looked so weird. But now i understand what the whole thing was all about. Turks eat pilav...rice cooked with salt and butter/oil added. Malaysians cook rice without any addition to it.The daughter of our guest found *lapa pilav* to be tasteless. The food was zeytinyagli patlican..it was given to be served together with lunch..but my mom did not understand it. So did i....until after i reach turkey that is....
hmmm...if one does not explain one's culture to the other, how will one understand each other?