M’sian & S’porean DJs Argue Over Whether Roti John Comes From Singapore Or Malaysia

M’sian & S’porean DJs Argue Over Whether Roti John Comes From Singapore Or Malaysia

FoodSingapore

There is a long-running competition between Singaporeans and Malaysians over which country’s food is better, or whether a certain popular dish, like nasi lemak, originated in Malaysia or Singapore.

One other beloved dish got the limelight in this bilateral debate last week, when Malaysian radio station Hitz FM uploaded a TikTok video where the radio hosts of its Morning Crew programme discussed where roti john is really from.

Roti john, a staple at pasar malam stalls and prata shops in Singapore and Malaysia, is essentially an omelette sandwich. It consists of a French loaf sliced in half horizontally to cradle an omelette that’s usually freshly cooked with meat, like minced mutton, and chopped onions. It’s sometimes drizzled with sauces like mayonnaise and sweet chilli sauce.

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

Where did roti john come from?

Hitz FM DJ Anne kicked off the debate by saying: “This is the news headline that has gotten all Malaysians fuming. Singaporean netizens are claiming that roti john originated [in Singapore]. And Malaysians, we are very, very protective of our roti john. Even though I’m not a fan, I know that Malaysians absolutely love it. So we have to settle this debate.”

For Singapore’s representative, the Morning Crew invited Kiss92 FM jock Shawnrick Hu to give his take.

Shawnrick shared: “Honestly I had no idea where the origin of roti john came from. I did some research and I was like more often than not, the articles are showing that it came from Singapore”, to which Hitz FM DJ Prem responded: “But if every article is going to quote Wikipedia, then cannot lah.”

Shawnrick continued: “No lah, not Wikipedia lah. The stories are like, during back in the day, I’m talking about the ’50s you know, where they have the English Navy soldiers and whatnot. They were around and there was one pakcik [Malay for ‘uncle’] just making [food] and all that. Suddenly this ang moh fella went up to him and said, “Can I have a burger?”. The pakcik didn’t know what a burger is, so he just made his own version right? So that’s as far as I know about the story. As that is as far as I know about the story. I’m not sure what the story is on the Malaysian side.”



Top In Asia