In Malaysia, plans to establish a specialist roti canai academy has been met with mixed responses by netizens.
In a recent post on Facebook, Negeri Sembilan state executive councillor (exco) and chairman of the state's youth and sports committee Mohamad Taufek Abdul Ghani announced that plans were underway to offer a roti canai-making course at Kumpulan Akademi Yayasan Negeri Sembilan.
The exco member said that the idea was to design a syllabus for short-term courses that could equip youths with the skills to prepare and sell the Malaysian food item which has a reputation as one of the country's most popular breakfast staples.
"Based on my observations, a career in making roti canai could be potentially lucrative," he said in his post, before citing an example of a roti canai maker who currently sells between 400 to 500 servings of the dish per day on weekdays, and between 600 to 700 per day over the weekends.
Two sides of the roti.
On social media, reactions to the plans were mixed, with some lauding the idea as a great way to equip young adults with marketable skills, while others lamented the contrasts between Malaysia and other nations who were now focusing on imparting technological expertise and future-proofing their youth.
"Around the world, people are talking about DeFi (decentralized finance), Uberisation, crypto, metaverse, but in Malaysia, we have a 'roti canai-making academy'," one Twitter user said.
Another said that instead of raising a digital generation, Malaysia was instead aiming to raise a generation of roti canai makers.
Still, many others were supportive of the plan, with one Twitter user saying that there is room for such a course alongside the push for digital competencies.
"I get that we're desperate for glamorous high-tech jobs to brag about, but there's literally no reason to drag down a legitimate and dignified job that produces our local cuisine," said the individual. "Should we only hype up crossaints and diss roti canai?"
Obviously, the move has proved somewhat divisive amongst Malaysians. While there may be need for more digital education to remain competitive moving forward, a career in F&B could be beneficial to those seeking a means to make ends meet, especially during such financially-challenging times.
Another commenter suggested that a wiser move would be to establish an institution dedicated to the preservation of Malaysian cuisine.
Not just a faculty within a university. No, it needs to stand on its own legs. We can have science universities, business schools, law schools, art school, etc. but for all the hoo-haa we make about food, we don't have a single food and cuisine university. — ファズリ【公式】🔞🏴 (@tenoq) January 25, 2022
"What we need isn't a 'roti canai' academy. What we really need is a proper university for Malaysian culinary arts – an institue that fully commits to documentation, certification, and research and development."
What are your thoughts on the plans for a specialized roti canai course? Could it be potentially helpful as a way to spur entrepreneurship, or could resources be better allocated?
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Cover image sourced from The Spruce Eats and Yosri Mohamed Yong.
