The central question to be examined in this study is associated with the value of the Malays traditional culinary practices of Malay chef in preparing the traditional food in Malaysian hotels. Present understanding highlighted that hotels are giving high priority on their superior services, such as luxury accommodations and intimate hospitalities. As such, promoting local foods in their dining establishment has taken a back seat. Research from past scholars indicated that hotel in Malaysia can be the one stop center for the local and international tourists to get the first hand information about local food specialities. On the hindsight, very limited efforts have been put into practice on the promotions of local food especially Malay cuisines in hotels. Main issue such as mass-produced Malay cuisines in the commercial kitchens, for example, should be highlighted to ensure that hotels are not jeopardizing the originality of traditional food preparations. Therefore, a qualitative reasearch focusing in in-depth interview with 10 Malay chefs was conducted in hotels around the Klang Valley. The results are so profound that majority of the Malay chefs under study shared similar understandings on technology advancements and modernizations that have taken place in their daily food preparations. Another finding revealed that one of the most challenging factors in preventing the Malay chefs to prepare the Malay food as it has been done traditionally is the attitude and awareness of the young generations to understand the values in traditional culinary practices. This study concludes with suggestion that aggressive knowledge sharing and information dissemination among the Malay chefs in hotels are needed to effectively market the traditional Malay food.
This study aims to determine contribution of meal frequency, self-efficacy for healthy eating, and availability of healthy foods towards diet quality of adolescents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Nowadays, there is a rising interest towards consuming health beneficial food products. Bread-as one of the most popular food products-could be improved to 'healthy bread' by addition of ingredients high in protein, dietary fiber and low in calorie. Incorporating Jackfruit rind powder (JRP) as a by-product rich in dietary fiber in bread, could not only provide health beneficial bread products, but also lead to develop an environmental friendly technology by solving the problem of waste disposal of residues. In this study, addition of jackfruit rind powder (JRP) as a high dietary fiber and functional ingredient in bread was examined. The results showed that incorporation of JRP in bread improved functional properties of flour such as Oil Holding Capacity (OHC), Water Holding Capacity (WHC) and pasting properties. Addition of 5%, 10% and 15% of JRP in wheat flour caused significantly (p < 0.05) higher insoluble, soluble and total dietary fiber in flour and bread products. Results from proximate composition indicated that all breads substituted with JRP, contained significantly (p < 0.05) higher fiber, moisture and fat. Obtained results confirmed that the JRP has great potential in development of functional foods especially functional bread products.
Discovery of novel dietary fibre (DF)-rich food ingredient is of great interest to meet the rising consumer demand for healthy food. Intake of DF-enriched food has been positively associated with a decreased risk of chronic diseases. Pleurotus sajor-caju (PSC), one of the prominent edible mushrooms widely cultivated in Malaysia, is useful for its culinary and medicinal purpose. This study aimed to determine the nutritional, physical, colour and sensorial properties of cinnamon biscuit formulated with PSC powder as partial replacement (0, 4, 8 and 12%) for wheat flour. Results indicated that elevated incorporation levels of PSC powder significantly (P
Texture-modified food has become an important strategy in managing dysphagia. Pureed food is proven to be the safest texture due to its high viscosity which can slow down the rate of the food bolus during swallowing. In this study, texture-modified chicken rendang was developed according to Texture C (smooth puree) as described by the Australian standard for texture-modified food. Samples were added with five different thickeners (sago starch, tapioca starch, modified corn starch, xanthan gum and carboxymethyl cellulose gum) at three different concentrations (10, 20 and 30% w/w). Their rheological effects were analyzed through dynamic and steady shear test. Results obtained reveals that samples contained xanthan gum have higher structure rigidity and shear thinning behaviour, while carboxymethyl cellulose gum provides the highest viscosity as well as yield stress than other samples. In terms of concentration, a strong dependence of structural rigidity and viscosity of all prepared samples with amount of thickeners added was observed. Overall, based on its rheological properties, the addition of carboxymethyl cellulose gum at 30% concentration was found to be the most suitable thickener, to be incorporated in the texture-modified chicken rendang. Selecting a suitable food thickener in developing food for individual with dysphagia plays an important role to ensure the right texture and consistency for their safe consumption.
Sago starch is traditionally used as food especially in Southeast Asia. Generally, sago is safe for consumption, biodegradable, easily available and inexpensive. Therefore, this research was done to expand the potential of sago by using it as a support for enzyme immobilization. In this study, ARM lipase, which was isolated from Geobacillus sp. strain ARM, was overexpressed in Escherichia coli system and then purified using affinity chromatography. The specific activity of the pure enzyme was 650 U/mg, increased 7 folds from the cell lysate. The purified enzyme was immobilized in gelatinized sago and spray-dried by entrapment technique in order to enhance the enzyme operational stability for handling at high temperature and also for storage. The morphology of the gelatinized sago and immobilized enzyme was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the spray-dried gelatinized sago was shrunken and became irregular in structure as compared to untreated sago powder. The surface areas and porosities of spray-dried gelatinized sago with and without the enzyme were analyzed using BET and BJH method and have shown an increase in surface area and decrease in pore size. The immobilized ARM lipase showed good performance at 60-80 °C, with a half-life of 4 h and in a pH range 6-9. The immobilized enzyme could be stored at 10 °C with the half-life for 9 months. Collectively, the spray-dried immobilized lipase shows promising capability for industrial uses, especially in food processing.