Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 1K views

    Contemporary World

    Uploaded by

    Mark Jeeg C. Jamin
    1) Gio, an international affairs student from the Philippines, met Latif, a student from Malaysia, at a Model UN competition in Australia where they bonded over their shared interest in each other's cultures and food. 2) Latif introduced Gio to Malaysian cuisine like laksa, a spicy coconut curry noodle soup, and explained how different ethnic foods influenced Malaysian culture. 3) Years later, both living in Singapore, Gio and Latif reconnected by chance on social media and renewed their friendship over flat white coffee.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Contemporary World

    Uploaded by

    Mark Jeeg C. Jamin
    1K views1 page
    1) Gio, an international affairs student from the Philippines, met Latif, a student from Malaysia, at a Model UN competition in Australia where they bonded over their shared interest in each other's cultures and food. 2) Latif introduced Gio to Malaysian cuisine like laksa, a spicy coconut curry noodle soup, and explained how different ethnic foods influenced Malaysian culture. 3) Years later, both living in Singapore, Gio and Latif reconnected by chance on social media and renewed their friendship over flat white coffee.

    Original Title

    Contemporary World.docx

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    1) Gio, an international affairs student from the Philippines, met Latif, a student from Malaysia, at a Model UN competition in Australia where they bonded over their shared interest in each other's cultures and food. 2) Latif introduced Gio to Malaysian cuisine like laksa, a spicy coconut curry noodle soup, and explained how different ethnic foods influenced Malaysian culture. 3) Years later, both living in Singapore, Gio and Latif reconnected by chance on social media and renewed their friendship over flat white coffee.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    1K views1 page

    Contemporary World

    Uploaded by

    Mark Jeeg C. Jamin
    1) Gio, an international affairs student from the Philippines, met Latif, a student from Malaysia, at a Model UN competition in Australia where they bonded over their shared interest in each other's cultures and food. 2) Latif introduced Gio to Malaysian cuisine like laksa, a spicy coconut curry noodle soup, and explained how different ethnic foods influenced Malaysian culture. 3) Years later, both living in Singapore, Gio and Latif reconnected by chance on social media and renewed their friendship over flat white coffee.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    A Story: Gio, Latif, and Laksa

    When Gio was a second-year international affairs student in a University in Cebu City, he obtained funding to join
    the school team participating in an international Model UN competition in Sydney, Australia. At the height of the
    competition, Gio made plenty of new firneds and became particularly close to Latif from the Malaysian team. The two first
    started talking when Latif Gio where he was from. Upon discovering that Gio was from the Philippines, Latif lit up and
    declared that he was a big fan of Filipino actors Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa. Gio was pleasantly surprised to learn
    that Latif had seen every episode of the ABS CBN telenovela Pangako Sa’yo. The show had aired on Malaysian TV a few
    years back, and it’s two stars had developed a modest following.

    Ashamed that he did not know as much about Malaysia as Latif knew about the Philippines, Gio asked Latif what
    his country was like. Latif, he discovered, was from a Muslim university in Kuala Lumpur. Gio asked him what he liked
    best about living in “KL”, and Latif immediately mentioned the food. Latif explained that in Kuala Lumpur, one can find
    Chinese, Indian, and Malay cuisines. He told Gio that this assortment of foodways was the result of how British reorganized
    Malaysian society during the colonial times. The British did little to change the way of life of the Malays who were the
    original residents, but brought in Chinese laborers to work in the rubber plantations and tin mines, and Indians to help
    manage the bureaucracy and serve as the initial professional core of the potential middle class. One of the ways that these
    ethnic groups were identified was through their foodways.

    According to Latif, Malaysia eventually became famous for these cuisines which can be found in the various
    “hawker centers” across the nation’s cities and towns. These food stands are located in outdorr food parks where locals and
    tourists taste the best of Malaysia, from nasi lemak to laksa. Gio interrupted Latif and asked, “What is Laksa?” He felt more
    ashamed at his lack of knowledge. “Ahh.. let me show you what it is and how it is prepared!”, replield Latif.

    The next day, Latif took Gio to a Malaysian restaurant a few blocks away from the university. Gio was surprised to
    discover that Malaysian food was readily available in Sydney. Having noticed this, Latif explained to his Filipino friend
    that, over the years, as more and more students from Malaysia moved to Sydney to study, Malaysian restaurant’s followed
    suit. Soon after, they were catering not only to these students, but Australian born “Sydneysiders” as well, whose culinary
    tastes were becoming more and more diverse.

    Gio finally had his first taste of laksa—a rice noodle soup in spicy coconut curry sauce. He found the flavors intense
    since, like most Filipinos, he was not used to spicy food. However, in deference to his friend, he persisted and eventually
    found himself enjoying the hot dish. After the meal, Gio and Latif went to a nearby café and ordered “flat whites”—an
    espresso drink similar to latte, which is usually served in cafés in Australia and New Zealand. Both knew what flat whites
    were since there were Australian-inspired cafés in Malaysia and Cebu.

    The new friends promised to keep in touch after the competition, and added each other on Facebook and Instagram. Over
    the next two years, they exchanged e-mails and posts, congratulated each other for their achievements and commented on
    and liked each other’s photos. Latif sent his mother’s recipe to Gio and the latter began cooking Malaysian food in his home.

    A few years after graduation, Gio moved to Singapore, joining many other Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in
    the city-state. The culture was new to him, but one thing was familiar, the food served in Singapore was no different from
    the Malaysian food he had discovered through Latif. He would later learn from Singaporean colleagues that the island
    country was once part of the British colony of Malay and the post-war independent Federation of Malaysia. Singapore,
    however, separated from the Federation in August 1965, and became a nation-state. Today, they may be two distinct
    countries, but Singapore and Malaysia still share the same cuisine.

    After he settled down in his apartment, Gio sought out and found a favorite laksa stall in Newtown Hawker Center.
    He would spend his weekends there with friends eating laksa and other dishes.

    One Saturday, while Gio was checking his Facebook feed along the very busy Orchard Road – Singapore’s main
    commercial road—he noticed that Latif just posted something 5 minutes earlier. It was a picture from Orchard Road.
    Surprised but also excited, Gio sent Latif a private message. Latif replied immediately saying that he too had moved in
    Singapore and was, at that moment, standing in front of a department store just a few blocks away from where Gio was.
    The two friends met up, and after a long hug and quick questions as to what each was up to, they ducked into a café and
    renewed their international friendship by ordering a pair of flat whites.

    You might also like

    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy