On the Role of Food Habits in the Context of the Identity and Cultural Heritage

of South and South East Asia

Xavier Romero-Frias

Paper presented at the Cultural Heritage and Identity International Symposium 2013,

Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Abstract: Located south of China and extending from Pakistan to the Philippines, South and South

East Asia is a vast region. The nations and ethnic groups of Southern and South Eastern Asia have

a rich and varied cultural heritage. Food habits are an inseparable part of this heritage and certain

ways concerning food and its preparation, as well as the ceremonies or rituals surrounding it, give

whole nations and groups an identity that can be as important as dress or language.

Keywords: Gastronomy, identity, cultural heritage, South Asia, South East Asia

Introduction

Figure 1 - The South and South East Asian region

While great importance has been placed on

languages in the context of the identity and

cultural heritage of the nations and ethnic

groups of Southern and South Eastern Asia,

the role food habits has been neglected in

the academic sphere. The aim of this paper

is to present how important are traditions

regarding food in a culture and to

encourage systematic research on food

habits as an integral part of the cultural

heritage. The following illustration will be

helpful in order to highlight the significance

of food habits as identity markers in a

culture:

The Islamization and radicalization of

Muslim communities ruled by non-Muslim

states is a much discussed subject, but far

less is known about the Islamization and the

erosion of traditional culture and identity

among the Muslim communities of

independent Islamic states.

While carrying out research on the

escalating role of religion in Muslim

communities in South Asia, I interviewed an

uncompromising Sheikh who had a great

number of followers in his own country, the

Maldives. He was a religious politician

lamenting that the culture of his own

country was not purely Islamic. In his

preaching he emphasized that his ancestral

culture had to be replaced with the

unadulterated Islamic ways he had learned

in a country in Arabia where he had studied.

He said he was unhappy with everything in

his society: the national symbols, the

folklore, the customs, the dress, the

etiquette, even the language; he wished

everything to vanish.

After much argument about whether he

would concede to spare anything from his

autochthonous culture this man remained

adamant and would not budge from his

initial position. Finally I enquired, whether

there was nothing he missed from his

motherland while he lived for a long time in

Arabia. Then he reflected and his manner

relaxed when he confessed: “The food, I

miss the food of my country”.

Food as tradition

The tradition of eating regularly particular

foods is in relation to the geographical

location, the quality of the surrounding

environment and the ancestral habits of the

community. Cradle of ancient civilizations,

the region of Southern and Southeastern

Asia is located within the tropical belt of the

planet and includes eighteen independent

states, not counting Afghanistan. There are

numerous urban areas scattered across the

whole region, which concentrates a great

proportion of the population of the earth.

South and Southeast Asia encompasses a

great number of diverse environments,

from the rigorous, barren ranges of the

Himalayas to the fertile, volcanic islands of

Indonesia and the Philippines. Countries

such as India, Bangladesh, Myanmar,

Thailand and Cambodia have ample river

plains that have been able to feed dense

populations for millennia and that are

periodically subjected to floods. Both the

numerous river systems and the ample

coastlines have historically kept an

astronomic number of communities, both

urban and rural, supplied with fish and its

derived products.

However, to a great extent food habits have

not been properly researched in many

communities of South and Southeast Asia.

The neglect by scholars has been quite

consistent across the region and although

publications on food are numerous, works

with a scientific angle are lacking. Still, there

is a large amount of literature on the

subject, such as books on local recipes or

guides explaining the cuisine of a particular

country, but few works have academic

value. Regarding scientific works where

food is mentioned, cultural anthropologists

have often highlighted foods and eating

habits that were unusual, such as insect or

larva consumption, overlooking research of

mainstream food in the culture, the average

daily food of the common folk.

Figure 2 - Presentation of a ‘proper meal’ among the Akha minority. Mae Yao, Northern Thailand.

Food habits include not only ingredients

and the dishes prepared with them, but

also cooking, preparing and preserving

techniques, presentation and array,

frequency and timing of the meals, the role

of food in celebrations and festivals, as well

as etiquette and manners while consuming

food, including who is eating first.1

In South and Southeast Asia common

elements regarding food habits prevail, but

sporadically there are divergences as well.

The most important staple in the Southern

and Southeastern Asian region is rice. In

most communities the rice culture

constitutes a clear identity marker. As a

vital source of calories it is related to a

dominant cultural symbol of feminine

nurture based on the mother and finds

representation in the Rice Goddess.

Figure 3 - Mae Po Sop representation at a Buddhist temple in Chiang Khong by the Thai/Lao border; note the little fishes and the crab in the lower right corner.

1 Lenore Manderson (Editor), Shared Wealth and

Symbol: Food, Culture, and Society in Oceania and Southeast Asia

Known with different names such as Po Sop

in Thailand or as Sri Dewi in Java, the Rice

Goddess represents a very ancient and

enduring symbol which is more a part of the

local popular folklore than a deity of a

structured, mainstream religion.2

Periodically subjected to floods, the rice

fields form a complete ecosystem in which

other food products become available,

often on a seasonal basis. These include a

variety of fish, crabs, snails, frogs, rats and

birds. Habitually these animals are caught

by the farmers inhabiting the rice fields in

order to complement the average rice diet.

Other staples include wheat, used in

Northern India for the preparation of the

traditional chapatis, bananas in the island of

Flores and sago, obtained from the pith of

the sago palm (Metroxylon sagu), in the

east of Indonesia. Common tubers include

tapioca and taro, the latter eaten as a

customary daily staple in parts of the

Philippines, as well as in some islands of the

south of Maldives.

Tubers and corn are recurrently cultivated

on the side in order to complement other

staples, a practice that had its origins in the

custom of diversifying cultivation to prepare

for difficult times if the main harvest failed.

Coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) are very

important as sources of vegetable protein

wherever they grow. The grated coconut

flesh and the coconut milk obtained from it

2 Phya Anuman Rajadhon, Me Posop, The Rice

Mother, Journal of the Siam Society (JSS) Vol. 43.1f (1955)

are used in a wide array of dishes and

sweets. Besides its importance as food

source, products obtained from the coconut

tree have many other traditional uses from

house building to medicine.

Derived products such as oil and milk, as

well as the sugar obtained from the sap, can

be easily processed and exported. Currently

the preserved milk both in liquid and

powder form has become popular.

Figure 4 - Sugar palm fruits near Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sugar palms (Borassus flabellifer) are also

common in certain places such as

Cambodia, Northeast Thailand and the

Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They

grow close to the rice fields and are

frequently a characteristic element of the

landscape. These hardy palms have been

important traditionally as a source of sugar

obtained by heating the sap in order to

concentrate it. Coarser than refined cane

sugar, it is used mainly in local cuisine.

Compared to the coconut, the fruit of the

sugar palm has limited commercial value,

although it is appreciated locally in some

places of rural areas.

Definition of a “proper meal” as part of

cultural identity

Across ethnic groups there are different

interpretations of what a “proper meal” is.

A ceremonial presentation of the food is

generally preferred rather than the eating

of food in a hurried manner. Even in very

poor households and with limited fare,

people across the region favor a certain

array of dishes and an arrangement that is

pleasing to the eye.

The aesthetics of displaying food usually

reaches maximum expression in the

overflowing symbolism of the formal array

of dishes of meals connected with religious

festivities. It is noticeable as well in

banquets prepared for festivities such as

marriages, rites of passage, funerary

ceremonies, as well as in the break of the

Ramzan fast among Muslim people groups.

Concepts of cleanliness and neatness in

presenting food vary across the region and

range from ritual to actual states of purity.

Figure 5 - Ceremonial presentation of a special meal on banana leaves in Kerala, India

There are certain taboos regarding food

which are transmitted in ways that involve

one community and the other within the

same ethnic background. Since food is also

often a part of religious rituals and

offerings, myths about the origin and

significance of certain foods are present in

the prevalent religions of this vast and

diverse region.

Figure 6 – Hainuwele, the ancestral female figure from Maluku who gave origin to the local regular vegetable crops after her body was hacked to pieces.

One interesting myth about the divine

origin of key staples is found in the Patasiwa

ethnic group of Seram Island, Eastern

Maluku, Indonesia, where certain vegetable

crops and tubers are said to have originated

in the dismembered body parts of a

mythical young woman after her death and

burial.3

The ritual cooking of food offerings is also a

significant element of worship in the

communities of Hindu background, found

3 Jensen, Adolf E. and Niggemeyer, H; Hainuwele;

Völkserzählungen von der Molukken-Insel Ceram; Ergebnisse der Frobenius-Expedition vol. I, Frankfurt-am-Main 1939

mostly in South Asia. The Pongal festival in

Tamil Nadu, India, includes the cooking of

sweetened rice in earthen pots.

With the passing of the centuries every

community developed its own dishes, based

on the items that were locally available.

Dishes changed as new ingredients were

introduced in the region. In the past century

some ingredients such as tomatoes became

very popular and replaced local souring

agents like tamarind and limes in many

Asian cuisines.

After dishes become established as part of a

culture’s gastronomy, some dishes are said

to be borrowed by one culture from

another. The term ‘borrowing’, which

implies giving back, is not technically

correct, for the dish is effectively

appropriated. In this manner a certain dish

may become famous through a particular

community, eclipsing the ethnic group

where it originated. Nam Ngiao, for

example, is a Tai Yai dish having originated

among this people group in Northeastern

Myanmar and parts of Yunnan, but it has

been popularized as a Northern Thai dish,

owing to the greater success and ease of

access of Thailand as a tourist destination.

On the subject of daily food, variety was

customarily found among the food of the

wealthy and the privileged. Average

people, especially in rural areas, were

generally content to eat the same food day

after day as long as it was available. Food

assortment often was imposed by scarcity

and formerly there were many areas

chronically subject to famine conditions.

When one essential ingredient was missing,

people looked for alternatives. One such

example is Aep Bon (aeb bawn), a Lao dish

prepared with taro leaves wrapped in

banana leaf and grilled. Such dishes are

generally looked down upon because they

are considered Spartan fare. Since they

originated as substitutes of better food

during difficult times or as famine food,

they often constitute a frightful reminder of

a hard period in the community.4

Figure 7 - A street food vendor worrying about the lack of

customers on a rainy day. Chiang Rai, Thailand.

In rural areas of South and Southeast Asia

the favored food is cooked generally at

home. However, in urban areas many

people find it convenient to eat in sidewalk

stalls or buy the food from street vendors.

These urban food suppliers have usually a

cart, which is also equipped with a cooking

facility if they sell cooked food. Some may

have plastic benches and tables for the

4 Culloty, Dorothy. Food from Northern Laos.

Galangal Press 2010

customers to sit, occupying a larger portion

of the pavement.

Although mostly illegal, and often harassed

and chased by the police, these street stalls

selling food provide an essential service.

They are favored by low-income urban

workers and students, who would not be

able to afford the more expensive eating

places in the city. The prices of the food

sold by street vendors are generally far

lower than the prices of the average

restaurants, for they have fewer expenses

regarding rent and permits.

Except in Singapore, where casual street

vendors are forbidden, the improvised stalls

selling a variety of food are markedly part

of the culture and identity of the urban area

where they live and also give a particular

cultural character and identity to their city

that is very ‘Asian’.5

Hierarchy of food and brief analysis of

colonial intervention

The South and Southeast Asian region was

impacted by colonialism early on. The

colonial times had both beneficial and

negative impact on the gastronomic cultural

heritage of the different countries of the

region. On one hand new crops were

introduced which greatly influenced local

cuisines, but on the other hand a sense of

hierarchy developed.

Local foods were largely considered inferior

in the scale and European tastes influenced

5 Ray, Krishnendu. Disreputable Cuisines, the politics

of street food in India. Himāl p 34 Vol 26 no 2, 2013

regional dishes and eating habits. Although

in most cultures of the region meat was

traditionally not eaten in large amounts, in

the gastronomy of all of the colonizing

powers meat occupied a central place in the

scale of food preference. (see map 1 in

Appendix)

The first colonizers in the region were the

Portuguese who, after opening the direct

sea route from Europe, settled in Goa, and

in other harbors of the Indian coast, from

Kerala to Bengal. The influence of the

Portuguese had both negative and positive

sides. They introduced new crops from

America in Asia that would become part of

the food of many cultures, such as chilies,

tapioca, taro, bananas, papaya, pineapple,

guava and cashew nuts as well as tobacco.

Tomatoes would be introduced centuries

later, but became successful, replacing

tamarind in many dishes.

The dichotomy high food versus low food is

common throughout the cultures of South

and Southeast Asia. This division pattern

became reinforced in the 18th and 19th

centuries, when most of the region found

itself under the administration of northern

European powers. European food and its

associated manners became the norm for

the elite and local food habits were pushed

into the background.

With the passing of time, the influence of

colonial tastes in judging foods was felt

even among the figures of Indian

nationalism, such as Swami Vivekananda.

Reflecting English taste, this reformer of

Hinduism criticized the high consumption of

chilies among Indian people, considering it

an unrefined habit.6

Chilies became very successful in South and

Southeast Asia and were adopted by many

cultures after their introduction by the

Portuguese. They were probably preceded

by other local spices, but no extensive

research has been done on what was used

in each culture to give spiciness to local

dishes before the introduction of chilies.

The quick spread of the use of hot chilies in

the cuisine of many nations of the region to

add spiciness to local dishes, and their

important role in most local dishes across

the ethnic and class spectrum deserves

more detailed research in the future.

Figure 8 – Chili-based mixtures (nam phrik) for sale at a market in Bangkok. Spicy cooking is favored universally across the whole South and SE Asian region.

The world is divided into people who enjoy

a hot, spicy meal and those who are unable

to enjoy it. In the previous centuries almost

all territories of South and Southeast Asia

were suddenly administered by rulers which

displayed their foreignness by a general

6 Ray, Krishnendu. Op. cit.

avoidance of local spicy preparations. Not

only former European administrators, but

also traditional Chinese communities in

Southeast Asia and Bengal have generally

displayed a preference for less spicy food.

Thus dishes are commonly less spicy in

areas where European and Chinese

influences have prevailed.

In more recent times globalization and the

introduction of different food habits have

brought about the spreading of a taste for

blander food, especially in metropolitan

areas, although spicy dishes have become

increasingly popular among US, European

and Australian tourists.

Customary staples and cultural habits in

daily food

A particular staple food may be typical of a

certain ethnic group, giving it separateness.

For example, the Khmer minority in

Northeast Thailand is known for the

preference its members have for plain

white rice in their meals instead of the

sticky rice favored by the dominant ethnic

group in Isan.

According to Ayurveda food is medicine and

eating correctly is the most important

aspect of a person's life-style. By tradition

some foods, such as drumstick leaves and

pods (Moringa oleifera) were considered

medicinal. Dietary restrictions for infants,

old people and during pregnancy are

widespread in the traditions of people

groups of the vast region. Certain

communities in India consider animal-based

foods as unhealthy and defiling and are

strictly vegetarian, but the vegetarian

lifestyle is deemed as a desirable option and

has influenced people outside of the

vegetarian crowd as well.

Vegetarianism, the norm among the

members of the Brahmin caste and the

followers of Jainism is an ideal to be

emulated by many of the members of the

wider Indian society. Thus eating Jain food

became popular in many places, a custom

that spread even to Southeast Asia.

Furthermore, traditional non-vegetarian

dishes generally included fish or meat in

small pieces, which were eaten along with a

comparatively larger amount of the staple,

such as boiled rice, even among Muslim

communities.

Figure 9 - Drumstick (Moringa oleifera) tree with unripe pods. The leaves, flowers and roots of the tree are edible as well and are prized for their medicinal properties

Since the region is characterized by its long

coasts, peninsulas and abundant islands,

fish is a very important source of protein in

most countries of South and Southeast Asia

except for India, Pakistan, Nepal and

Bhutan, as well as ethnic groups living in

mountain areas. Fish and seafood were

traditionally preserved in a variety of ways,

such as drying and fermentation. Fish is also

essential among populations living close to

rivers and lakes in Laos, Bangladesh and

Cambodia.

Regarding the eating of fish, there is a

remarkable difference between the many

countries where fish consumption is

widespread and those where it is not (see

map 2 in Appendix). In the Indian

Subcontinent fish and fish products are

quite restricted to coastal populations,

which inhabit a narrow strip of land along

the shores.

Milk products such as ghee (clarified

butter), curd (yoghurt) and paneer (tender

cheese) have been used most areas of India

as part of the traditional cuisine, but were

practically absent in Southeast Asia.

Globalization and fast food franchises using

cheese and butter have popularized these

milk-derived products in modern urban

areas and among groups which initially had

an aversion for it.

It is still widespread among most rural

communities to raise chicken in the

household. By tradition, however, chicken

or egg dishes were habitually not part of

the daily food, but were reserved for special

occasions.

There is low per capita calorie consumption

on a nation by nation basis throughout the

region. Formerly many communities only

ate fresh meat right after an animal had

been killed, and the remainder was

processed and preserved. Except during

festivals or important celebrations, big

chunks of fish, meat or poultry were not

traditionally eaten whole, even among

Muslim communities; most of the flesh

being processed when there was an

abundance of it.

Generally when Asian food is eaten the

European way, however, the pieces and

amounts of meat are larger, while the

serving of rice is merely a little quantity on

the side. Thus the claims that Asian food is

high in cholesterol are only valid when it is

eaten in the way that tourists or non Asians

in their countries eat it.

Figure 10 – A woman of the Wa minority from NE Myanmar bringing a dish of cooked dog meat. The bias against using dogs as food is prevalent among urban middle classes influenced by Western values.

Avoidance of certain types of meat, such as

pork among Muslims, is closely linked to

religious tenets. However, dog meat is

taboo in many areas, even though there is

no specific rule forbidding its consumption

in the particular community in question. The

habit of eating dog is more widespread towards

the eastern end of the region, from Nagaland to

the Philippines. Also considered a forbidden

food in the Islamic communities, the use of

dogs as livestock, rather than pets, is

zealously opposed by the largest part of

westernized people inhabiting metropolitan

areas.

Traditional foods included also a large

variety of species of green leaves, especially

in Vietnamese, Lao and Thai cuisine. In

recent years these have been replaced by

varieties of cabbage and lettuce in urban

spots such as Singapore, where vegetables

are available through modern supermarkets

instead of traditional market posts. Still, in

places where they were grown, ancestral

vegetables can be found at the edges of

cultivated areas and in abandoned fields.

Food habits, etiquette and the impact of

globalization

Historically eating with the right hand has

been the most widespread way of

consuming food throughout South and

Southeast Asia. Chopsticks are used not

only among scattered Chinese communities

in the region, but also by patrons of

establishments serving Chinese food.

Cutlery was formerly used by the

Europeanized local elites, but has been

adopted recently by most South and

Southeastern Asians and has found a wide

acceptance. Still South Indian traditional

wedding meals, for example, are eaten

using the hand. In Cambodia, between 1975

and 1979, the Khmer Rouge imposed the

traditional habit of eating with the hand on

the whole population of the country as part

of its ideology of deep hatred against urban

and westernized ways.

In recent times franchises like McDonald’s,

KFC and Subway, for instance, have

popularized a form of eating with hands

which is generally at odds with former

autochthonous eating habits. Local refined

ways of eating required breaking small bit-

sized pieces with the fingers of the right

hand; the chunk of starchy staple, meat or

chicken was left on the plate and not

brought directly to the mouth and torn with

the teeth.

Figure 11 - Eating a midday rice meal in the customary

manner. Chalai, Trivandrum, South India

Sweets in South and Southeast Asia were

usually eaten on their own or during

festivals and celebrations. It was not

customary to eat sweets as desserts after a

meal. Traditional sweets based on rice,

coconut milk, taro and other items, were

often wrapped in banana leaves.

A great number of new restaurants and

eateries in urban areas follow the trend of

foreign franchises and tend to avoid certain

traditional ingredients. As a result of this

process, bitter foods like the small bitter

gourd variety (Momordica charantia) and

the tender leaves and flower buds of the

Neem (Azadirachta indica), vegetables that

are difficult to eat not using one’s hands

such as drumstick, as well as certain animal

products judged as not agreeable, foremost

of which blood, lungs and liver may be

mentioned, are definitely becoming rarer.

Figure 12 – Examples of foods that are becoming harder to find: Left, bitter flowers of the Neem tree and on the right a sour curry of drumstick and fish roes.

In the post-development scenario, the

abandonment of certain dietary practices,

brought about by widespread urbanization

and the introduction of new food habits

through globalization, has not been

properly documented. One of these is the

habit of chewing betel leaf with arecanut, a

widely spread cultural habit throughout the

whole area. Chewing formerly accompanied

meals, was part of ceremonies, and

additionally had great symbolic and identity

value in countries such as Vietnam.

The chewing of betel leaf with arecanut, as

well as the role of traditional drinks, such as

tea, among the different people groups of

the region are areas that deserve further

detailed study.

References

* Penny Van Esterik, Food Culture in Southeast

Asia, Greenwood Press (2008)

* Story M, Harris LJ. Food habits and dietary

change of Southeast Asian refugee families

living in the United States, J Am Diet Assoc.

1989 Jun; 89(6):800-3. University of Minnesota,

Minneapolis 55455

* Lenore Manderson (Editor), Shared Wealth

and Symbol: Food, Culture, and Society in

Oceania and Southeast Asia, (MSH:

International Commission on the Anthropology

of Food), Cambridge University Press (1986)

* Krishnendu Ray and Tulasi Srinivas (Eds.),

Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food, and South

Asia, University of California Press (2012)

Appendix: Maps

Figure 13- Meat consumption per capita in the world. There is higher consumption in the countries that were former colonial powers, as compared with the S and SE Asian area, where it would have been even less in centuries past. Source: FAO

Figure 14 - Consumption of fish in the South and SE Asian region. Note the extreme values, for there is no country falling within the 20 to 30% range, which would be the rate in China, for example. Source: FAO