“But we are a chicken country, how can you not eat chicken? What do you want to eat here?”. At least she did not ask “why did you come here”. Malaysia is a chicken country, Borneo is a chicken island. Poor lady at a small eatery in Poring Hot Springs.
The Malaysian word for chicken meat is Ayam. Many food stalls or restaurants have “ayam” in their name. On some street corners or night markets, you see chicken-wing patterns in shiny colors, mostly dark-red. And chicken tails on a stick.
All chicken come from big poultry factories. It is a state-subsidized industry aiming at ensuring enough protein for the nation (eggs are likewise popular, again industry-produced). Read e.g. here. It may make sense for a largely Muslim nation, as chicken is “agnostic” for most religions.
It also seems all chicken sold are deep-frozen (like in the picture below, with the associated smell in the supermarkets), and then mostly deep-fried. Makes all sense from a hygiene perspective …
You also see a lot of chicken running around, mainly in the country side. As a real and oh-so-environmental-conscious German I asked for “ayang kampung” (something like farm or free-range chicken), but you cannot get it easily. Nor the eggs. If you ask around at the markets, most shrug. In Kota Kinabalu, we visited the Signal Eco Farm, which is a wonderful place mostly focusing on all sorts of kale -for medical reasons. They had “ayang kampung”, although for a hefty price (80 Ringgit per kilo), but watching the plugging included (on demand). The meet reminded me of the chicken my grandfather had (he did not want to kill them, so they grew quite old before their inevitable fate).
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