In every Malaysian city, town or village, one sees all sorts of food in posh restaurants, humble coffee shops, street pushcarts, foodcourts and makeshift stalls in a remote rural kampung.
The food business is Malaysia's most ubiquitous national activity embraced warmly by the Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian communities. And what leavens this plot is that each community and dialect sub-group has its own signature dish.
Specialities of the various communities include (from top) claypot rice, satay, roti prata and Devil Curry.
Take the Chinese, for instance. The Cantonese have their culinary specialties such as claypot rice, double-boiled soups and a staggering variety of meat and vegetable dishes.
The Hokkien cuisine is as diverse. Penang Hokkiens have their special dishes for the Chinese New Year. Duck soup (kiam chai ark) cooked with salted mustard and sour plums is one. Juhu char is another - a dish of shredded jicama beans (bangkwang), belly pork strips and slivers of dried cuttlefish.
In the hawker areas, the Hokkiens in Kuala Lumpur have wowed customers for generations with Hokkien mee (noodles) fried in dark soya sauce.
And the Teochews boast about their braised pork leg in soya sauce and other sumptuous fare.
Among the Malays, we have a variety so staggering that there isn't space here to list them. Their curries, sambal, soups and salads (kerabu) continue to be favourites among all races in the country. But the two most popular items, although both humble, have to be nasi lemak and satay.
Indians also have their curries, both dry and in gravy. Northern Indian dishes tend to be milder than those from South India.
But iconic Indian food among Malaysians must be nasi kandar (rice served on banana leaf with a variety of hot meat and fish dishes, including curries), nasi briyani (saffron-coloured rice cooked in spices and topped with a meat curry) and roti prata and murtabak (both pancakes served with curry).
Indian hawkers draw the crowds with their mee goreng, soup kambing and chendol.
Specialities of the various communities include (from top) claypot rice, satay, roti prata and Devil Curry.
The Eurasians cook both Western food and their community dishes, the most famous among which must be Curry Feng, a mild curry dish prepared with animal offal. This is often served during Christmas. Eurasians in Malacca (with Portuguese influence) love their Debel Curry which we know as Devil Curry.
And how about the Nonyas and Babas, or Peranakans, as they are known here? Their cooking combines Chinese and Malay fare, and among their popular dishes are Enche Kabin (deep-fried pieces of chicken marinated in herbs) and Curry Kapitan, a spicy, tamarind laced curry.
Even towns in Malaysia have their own fanfare dishes. Penang is known for many kinds of hawker food. Among them: assam laksa, char kway teow, prawn noodle soup, duck rice noodle soup and chee cheong fun (a smooth rice noodle slathered with thick prawn paste and sweet bean sauce).
People from all over the country know about Ipoh's famous boiled chicken served with scalded bean sprouts and smooth rice noodles, and its curry mee.
Pork bone soup (bak kut teh) is a huge draw in Kuala Lumpur and Klang, a port town near the capital. The list goes on. And we have not mentioned another aspect of Malaysian cuisine: food from all over the world - steaks, pies, burgers, kebabs, you name it.
