I know that you were likely too preoccupied with freeing your biscuits from the errant badger(s) to document it as it happened but I wish there was a video of this.

I'll have to think about it a little more, like I don't really know enough about Perak to go too deep into it so I might just make Miyagi the state I came from instead (though that would make it so people would have to fly to/from "Tokyo" instead of taking a bus or train).

Is this thread an example of kishotenketsu lmao (I'm joking, please don't get serious about whether it's kishotenketsu)

Like, what is being implied when you say someone's foreign-to-you food is smelly, or that "they'd eat anything that moves"? What do you really mean when you call someone a curry eater? Idk man maybe we should start shooting back with "hotpocket eater" or "ketchup breath"

—deem something as normal, it doesn't represent what is actually normal because THERE IS NO NORMAL. And I get very grumpy when (usually US, unfortunately) people go ick at SEAsian or SWANA food because it's just ignorance and a narrow worldview masquerading as culinary superiority.

—soaring food costs, and increased wariness of things like whether a place is halal or not.

All this to say that I think all food is valid, and what one may consider "normal" when it comes to comfort food may not be normal to another person, and even if a large section of online folk—

—that I didn't even think of trying until I read about them, like mac and cheese or PB&J.

That said, I don't think the food I grew up eating is typical of all Malaysians (I'm very aware of the fact that my family were relatively well-off when I was little), especially now with stagnating wages—

...durian, pandan chiffon, papaya, biryani, jellyfish, prawn crackers, shark's fin and turtle eggs back in the days before it was widely known how harmful the practice of acquiring them is. There are foods that I feel are so commonly listed as childhood faves in English-language internet spaces—

A few of my friends' kids are just starting on solids, so I've been thinking a lot about the food I grew up eating and all my food firsts. There are so many foods I can't remember having for the first time because I was so young: curry, kolok mee, red bean bun, turmeric fried fish, hearts of palm...

Not sure this was the vibe you're after, but these are pretty typical SEAsian streets.