Thursday September 24, 2009
Now, Malacca claims Hainanese chicken rice
By CHEN PELF YEEN
MALACCA: The food ownership debate has taken a new twist with heritage loyalists here claiming the Hainanese chicken rice originated from this historic city.
“It’s ours,” said Badan Warisan Malaysia member Josephine Chua, 50, adding Malacca’s famous 17th Jonker Street was well-known for its Hainanese chicken rice compressed into golf-sized balls.
“The chicken rice balls were initially found in Jonker Street and Jalan Bunga Raya.
“I have been to Singapore numerous times back in the 1970s but cannot remember the food being sold there,” she said yesterday.
It’s ours: People lining up outside a restaurant along Jonker Street to get a taste of the famous Malacca’s Hainanese chicken rice ball. Owing to its fame, she added that thousands of Singaporeans patronise the chicken rice stalls when they visit Malacca.
“There is always a long queue of tourists waiting to get a seat to taste the chicken rice.
“This shows that the Hainanese chicken rice ball is likely to have originated from our state,” she added.
Businesswoman Jenny Wong, 40, who operates the state’s only cafe museum in Jonker Street serving cendol, another famous local delicacy, agrees with Chua.
She added many traditional food and desserts could trace their origins to Malacca.
“Others introduced their own recipes when they moved out to other states,” she said.
She added that as Malacca was part of the British Straits Settlement, many locals were encouraged to re-settle in Penang and Singapore in the early 1800s.
“It is likely some of the present day recipes for traditional delicacies there were from Malacca,” she said.
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