British Telegraph journalist Katie Morley says she now loves Malaysia’s national dish ‘nasi lemak’ after she caused outrage when she slammed the version of it she was served on a British Airways flight by calling it “wickedly bad”.
The journalist and consumer champion Katie Morley made headlines in southeast Asia and was slammed by outraged netizens for posting a photo of the plane food she was served on a British Airway flight – along with a scathing review.
The journalist wrote: “In the name of public interest, am sharing this wickedly bad meal British Airways treated me to during a 13hr flight. Behold: chicken curry served with anaemic boiled egg, topped with smelly, slimy anchovies. ANCHOVIES. I quite like plane food usually, and this was a 0/10. (sic)”
However, the post quickly caught the attention of Malaysian netizens who were angered by the journalist for not recognising she had in fact been served their national dish – nasi lemak.
Nasi lemak is often served for breakfast and consists of rice cooked in coconut milk and is traditionally served with anchovies, boiled egg, peanuts and sambal chilli sauce, although many regional varieties exist.
Netizen ‘Andrew Morris’ wrote: “You will have just offended an entire nation. (It’s usually delicious – certainly beats the scrambled egg served on most long haul flights). (sic)”
Netizen ‘Anildeep Singh’ wrote: “She pissed an entire archipelago bro. Malaysia and them surrounding countries. But Brits are still in the good books because you gave us Emma Watson, Emilia Clarke and Trent Alexander-Arnold. (sic)”
While ‘rempitlogic’ pointed out that the dish is also widely popular in Indonesia, writing: “Nasi Lemak is actually from Indonesia, where it is considered national dish, Pls respect our national food goblog. (sic)”
Morley responded to the criticism with a second post, writing: “Many Malaysians have got in touch to say the meal I tweeted about yday is a popular national dish. I’d not come across it before & meant no offence. As many have pointed out, I was clearly served a v poor version by BA. Sure it can be lovely & hope to try the real thing one day! (sic)”
And she later posted a photo eating the dish with the caption: “Thank you to all the Malaysians to suggested I should try the real Nasi Lemak. You are right, it’s delicious! Nothing like that BA plane meal I had… (sic)”
When contacted by Asia Wire, the journalist was not available for comment at the time of writing.
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Story By: Alex Cope, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: AsiaWire Report
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