SUNGAI CHOH (25) : Once Upon A Time | No Fancy Shops

No Fancy Shops

(Were Actually Mouth-Watering Favourites)

No Fancy Shops

Traditional Kueh

Kueh Gelembong

Mouth-Watering

School Canteen

Those were the days, when not many dishes were appetizing. Probably my "cc", that's cubic centimeter, was too small or I had no other choice. However, there were no fancy shops offering fast food like KFC, Macdonald and Fizza Hut and what  have you. That's why I only had 20 cents in my pocket. 5 cent for pandan syrup, 10 cents for nasi lemak and the rest for kueh. Many traditional kueh were actually my mouth-watering favourites, such as kueh gelembong, cok kodok pisang, lempeng gulung, kueh bengkang ubi and cucur badak. Well, that's all my spending  at the school canteen. Simple and not demanding, when it's time to eat. After all, just ate when I was hungry and enough when I was full.

Quite Expensive

Solely Contracted

Price Competition

Home Supplies

Extra Money

However, it is normal nowadays when our grandchildren spend RM3.00 or RM5.00 in the school canteen. Everything is quite expensive because the canteen is solely contracted by one tenderer. So no price competition and even not much of a choice. When worse comes to worst, they just eat whatever are available. To bring home supplies is a bit embarrassing. That's why we rarely see our pupils bring food to the canteen. It is better to drink only water than to  bring home food supplies. Maybe it's a culture of buying and eating. Sometimes when our grandchildren don't have  enough money to spend, we will not ask anything. Of course the extra money comes from grandfather's pockets.

Providing Food

Quite Competative

More Valuable

"Air Tangan Ibu"

Common Phenomenon

Back then, however, we had two or three sellers providing food for the pupils at the canteen. So food prices were quite competative and reasonable. Sometimes some pupils went to the edge of the fence, across the school field. That's near my friend's house, Wai Uyub, where two or three villagers sold their food. This place was an attraction for the pupils because of the "kueh gelembong kuah kacang", which was one of my favorites.  However, nothing was more valuable than my mother's cooking or “air tangan ibu”. How delicious to eat under a shady tree.  So then it was a common phenomenon every once in a while to bring food from home. Of course my supply was usually teh O in a bottle and fried rice kicap or cok kodok wrapped in a banana leaf.