Curious Cook: Banana leaf, plastic and other musings

A leaf out of nostalgias book ... a banana leaf rice meal at Acha Curry once created many happy memories, and has now become comfort food.

Some years ago, I took a visitor from Europe to eat at Money’s Corner in Sentral, Kuala Lumpur. Being from the United Kingdom, my guest had expressed a preference for an Indian meal and I thought that a good banana leaf Indian lunch would be a great idea.

Things were sailing smoothly when the banana leaves were plopped on the table but it went downhill rapidly when the rice was ladled on top of the leaves. My guest had expected a plate on top of the leaf and expressed horror at eating food from such an “unhygienic” platform – and my explanations about the cleanliness of the banana leaves did nothing to change matters.