Penang has banned foreigners from being employed as cooks at hawker stalls. According to The Malaysian Insider, the ban was in line to preserve Penang’s food heritage.
This new ruling will be enforced on all roadside hawkers in Penang and even private food courts in shopping malls. All hawkers will have a one year grace period, from next year onwards, to observe the new ruling.
According to Penang’s Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, those who fail to observe the new rule will have their licence revoked.
“The main idea of this is to safeguard Penang’s food heritage and maintain the flavours that are unique to Penang,” said Lim.
The new ruling will be included as a condition in hawker licences next year. However, restaurants and food outlets with centralised kitchens will not be subjected to this ruling.
The new ruling only states that foreigners are not allowed to be employed as cooks, but stall owners can still hire foreigners to help out with taking orders, preparing ingredients for the cooks and also to help clean up.
According to Lim, authorities will issue stickers to hawker stalls to display, so that customers will know that the food prepared at these stalls were prepared by locals.
“We hope by taking this measure, we can retain our unique local taste and show visitors the warmth of Penang,” said Lim.
Story and quote from: The Malaysian Insider
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