The way I see it

If you have ever been to a supermarket in Malaysia then you are probably familiar with the meat and fish being displayed in metal bucket things filled with ice.  If you know me then you know I can stand that as I find it unhygienic. I have, unfortunately, determined that the chicken that does not sell off the ice just gets shrink wrapped so you are stuck with ice chicken no matter what you do! These days I sniff all the meat I pick from the ice and if necessary rub it for slimey-ness. Today I found a sickening sight at giant... No not that... something even more horrifying than Jamie Oliver! Do you notice something strange about the chicken keel right in the middle? The meat is actually GREEN... GREEEEEENN!!!!! This is enough to make me a vegetarian again! In summary. Do not trust any meat lying around anywhere.  Always sniff the meat and for the love of god don't buy it if it is green!

I recently made the unfathomable trip from my home to Setia City Mall in Setia Alam Malaysia. I was, of course, in search of interesting shopping and imported food. Some background. For those of you living in Setia Alam congrats on picking a beautiful place to live; however, my condolences as you all live in the bloody boonies!  Setia City is an INCREDIBLY nice mall with a fine selection of shops and F&B outlets, but unfortunately no game stores or Chilis (TGIFridays? Really? Ugh.) I stumbled upon a grocery store that looked quite up-scale and my import sense started tingling. What a classy place with words like Urban and fresh right in the name it must be good. The pillar says "fresh food" for seal's sake so come on! They had this interesting apple display going on at the front of the store.  This is actually a cardboard tree with apples all around it. It is a neat idea... I just hope the apples didn't grow on cardboard! The fresh fruit and veg...

In my many travels to find imported food I have picked up my share of bad food. Today's post however, is not about green tea oreo cakes or fermented bean paste it is about rotten chicken. Chicken generally is not one of my favourite things to buy as I am extremely finnicky about it. So thos weekend I thought I would roast a whole chicken I was at KLCC and thought I would buy a whole bird at the 'cold stoage'. Big mistake. The chicken itself according to he packaging was 100% grain fed and anti-biotic free... trust me when I say it could have used some anti-biotics... or at least deodorant! It was in a sealed bag that was then wrapped in cellophane.... needless to say it smelled fine and the date? Why it was packaged on Saturday... not a bad deal! When i got home i opened the bag and released a horrible ungodly stench. The rank stank was so awful the only thing i could do is get the thing out of my condo. Thankfully, I was able to do that quickly. So let this be a warn...

Well in case you couldn't tell I am a big guy, naturally, you can assume I like to eat and I enjoy hunting for imported food. Shopping in Asia is usually fun, but for me nothing beats discovering some food item I haven't had in years at a Malaysia grocery store. Imported food in Malaysia is a real mixed bag.  A large portion of the 'western food' you find is from Australia, which makes perfect sense geographically.  You also find tons from Asia (both East and Middle) and a moderate amount from Europe.  British imports are also quite numerous and are perhaps equal to what you find from North America. The curious thing about a lot of imported food in Malaysia is that it is primarily convenience food (especially if frozen) or junk (chips, biscuits, candies, etc).  I think that's not too bad though especially since it is usually the junky foods that I find I am craving (like cheetos).  Cereal chimes in a a strange import good.  I saw strange because you can...