Saturday July 11, 2009
Ingredients for success
Stories by LOUISA LIM
One group is staging a revolt against chemicals in food, beauty and health products. Their weapon of choice? Ramuan, an extraordinary blend of green goodness that is found only in Malaysia.
It was a dinner with a difference. Some nights ago, the Queen, Tuanku Nur Zahirah, and several ministers and business people were hovering inquisitively over dishes that were Malaysian, and yet un-Malaysian at the same time.
On their plates were a sprinkle of kerabu here, a dash of curry leaves there — recipes that were undeniably Malaysian. What the guests were pondering over, however, was far stranger, or disturbing, as my neighbour had put it.
Prof Datuk Dr Hood Salleh holding up Health and Beauty From the Rainforest: Malaysian Traditions of Ramuan which will be promoted in the US too There was hardly any meat on the plates. (Sure, there was red snapper, but fish doesn’t really count, does it?)
Now, that was an insult to most Malaysian sensibilities. Never mind that the food tasted great, some people on my table (my neighbour included) were nibbling on it unenthusiastically, as if it were prison food.
You could almost hear a sigh of relief going round the room when the last non-dessert course was served.
Behold, some chicken! And two whole pieces too! Who cares about the turmeric leaves or the cumin and fenugreek (fenuwhat?!) it was simmered with?
“That’s the problem with us,” remarked Prof Datuk Dr Hood Salleh.
“We have all these wonderful herbs and spices in our backyard but we don’t know how to appreciate them. Our children don’t take enough ulam. We forget what simple ingredients like young lemon shoots, pegaga, ginger or kunyit can do for our food and, not to mention, our health!”
Dr Christof Jaenicke (True, I wouldn’t know what a pegaga is even if it hit me on the head).
Dr Hood is the leading advisor for Biotropics, a company launched in 2007 to give the health and wellness industry the facelift it badly needed. They want to do away with all the additives and chemicals, not only in food, but also in health and beauty concoctions.
Their aim was much simpler.
“We want to go back to the basics,” said Aussie Prof Gerard Bodeker, Oxford University academician and editor-in-chief of the book Health and Beauty From the Rainforest: Malaysian Traditions of Ramuan.
“Malaysia has a wealth of bio-resources. Each culture has a different way of using these resources and these secrets have been passed down from generation to generation.
The Malays have jamu, the Chinese have traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the Indians have ayurveda. When we merge all these principles together, we find that we have something that is unique to Malaysia. We just didn’t know what to call it.”
Prof Bodeker’s Aha! moment occurred when he was leafing through the dictionary. He had stumbled across a word, ramuan, which referred to a carefully selected blend of medicinal plants that were consumed back in the days when high-tech dermatology or the Atkins diet were not available.
He observed: “This beautiful word has been used in Malaysia for centuries. All we did was brush the dust off it.”
Then came the more difficult part — to reintroduce ramuan to Malaysians and to reinstate its place in our everyday vocabulary. That was the purpose of the book and dinner.
The secret’s out
“The world has heard of the Amazon, but for some reason, they’re not as informed when it comes to Asian rainforests, which are equally rich, if not richer, in terms of resources,” said Christof Jaenicke.
Prof Gerard Bodeker; Asian rainforests are equally rich if not richer than the Amazon. — DARRAN TAN & AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star Jaenicke — a towering, no-nonsense German physician and renowned expert on clinical nutrition — has been appointed the CEO of Biotropics. Next on his game plan: to educate the land of plenty, the US, and its inhabitants about the benefits of ramuan.
“We’re doing a five city book tour, and we’re also appearing on Good Morning America,” he said.
Soon, Americans will know about herbs like tongkat ali, kacip fatimah, kesum and mas cotek. We’re hoping ramuan will become synonymous with Malaysia one day.”
This aggressive approach may leave some nature lovers a little hot under the collar. After all, what happens to our forests if, one day, demand outstrips supply?
How sustainable are the wild herb collection methods? And who benefits? The indigenous groups or the multi-million ringgit company?
It may sound like a project bordering on controversy, but Biotropics claims they’re playing by the rules. One way is to go through the proper channels to acquire the ingredients for their products.
As Dr Hood stated gravely, “Of course, the indigenous groups wouldn’t be too happy if you were to invade their space. The forest is their home, and it would be rude to invade it, no?”
This is where he comes in. Dr Hood is in charge of coaching the staff at Biotropics on the ways of the orang asli. Dr Hood is respectful of the earth and what he takes from it. He has lived among the Semelai people along Tasik Bera, Pahang as part of his thesis in Oxford University.
“It was a difficult time,” he said. “It took me three months just to learn who’s related to whom. It’s important to take your time to sit down and learn their names, because their community has been marginalised for so long that they appreciate the interest you have in them and their culture. I even contracted malaria and dengue during my time there.”
Native affinities
“No one knows the plants as well as the orang asli,” said Dr Hood. “They get their food and medicine from the forest. Thanks to external influences, however, they’re slowly forgetting their roots. Nowadays they fry their fish and potatoes in oil. They have obese orang asli children now. Ten years ago, none of this would have existed.”
Forging close ties with the orang asli is an ongoing process and remains a critical point in Biotropics’ mission.
As Christof explained, “We’re trying to maintain the originality of our product as much as possible. So we need to observe which methods the orang asli use to prepare the herbs, for instance, or the precise time they take to brew something.”
So far, Biotropics has asked for (and received) permission from indigenous people each time they collect herbs. They’ve even established several programmes to help the respective communities, such as encouraging small-scale cultivation among the people.
Biotropics plans to grow their own herbs. That could, however, prove rather tricky since it takes a long time (about three to five years) to grow a single plant.
“We currently have a planting and cultivation station in Selangor, but we’re planning to set up more of those,” said Christof. “We hope to produce enough high yield plant species in the near future to meet demands.”
Malaysia, it seemed, is practically a goldmine when it comes to health and beauty reserves. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the people sitting on top of it aren’t fully aware of its true value.
To illustrate this point, Prof Bodeker told a story: “In the 15th century, the Sultan of Kedah used to present elaborate gifts to the Emperor of China to forge close ties. These included some of the best traditional herbs the peninsula had to offer. Even the king thought the plants were good enough to be presented to someone important.”
> Biotropics will hit the shelves of leading pharmacies early next year.
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