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Nasi lemak, Southeast Asia’s ever-contested breakfast fare, is causing a stir on social media once again over how people are transforming the humble dish into bizarre culinary chimeras.
The San Remo Macaroni Company is not, as you might suppose, an Italian brand. It’s a food company straight out of Australia that, as you might also guess, makes a range of pasta products for the dough.
The Malaysian San Remo office wants to participate in the celebration of Malaysia’s Merdeka month, and the marketing strategy they have come up with is… spaghetti inspired by nasi lemak.
“Celebrate Malaysia Day with San Remo Spaghetti Lemak Bungkus, a pasta dish featuring the iconic Nasi Lemak flavors and accompanied by the fiery Egg Sambal with crunchy anchovies and peanuts,” the brand wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday (10 September).
https://www.facebook.com/sanremopastamalaysia/photos/a.718093281625739/2799749603460086/
Instead of rice, the dish consists of spaghetti cooked in a similar way: boiled in a mixture of water, coconut milk, pandan leaves, and salt. San Remo Malaysia recommends getting a packet of spaghetti, of course, while other ingredients such as eggs, anchovies, banana leaves, and chili paste can be obtained elsewhere.
With nasi lemak considered a national dish, this has not gone well among Malaysians due to a troubling issue: it is nasi lemak. without real coconut rice. “Sacrilegioso”, says a netizen.
But in fairness to San Remo Malaysia, nowhere in their recipe did the brand say it was nasi lemak. It is “spaghetti lemak” that it is precise.
Netizens may also not know that the recipe is not a new concept from San Remo Malaysia. Back in 2017, Malaysian celebrity chef Dato ‘Fazley Yaakob endorsed the San Remo Spaghetti Lemak Bungkus.
https://www.facebook.com/sanremopastamalaysia/videos/1207826172652445
Not to mention the dozens of spaghetti-nasi lemak fusions that have been around long before the San Remo Malaysia iteration.
https://www.facebook.com/datomichaeltio/photos/a.620954897940212/931412486894450
https://www.facebook.com/TwentyfiveT25/photos/a.514959788606423/718421064926960
