JAKARTA: Indonesians and Malaysians have their feathers in a flap over
MasterChef UK's decision to eliminate a contestant from the popular cooking show because her chicken rendang wasn't crispy.
Netizens from the two nations - including the Malaysian PM - put aside a longstanding culinary dispute about the origins of the slow-cooked coconut curry to express outrage at the cluelessness of the British show's judges.
Judge
Gregg Wallace and co-judge
John Torode sparked a storm this week by criticising Malaysia-born contestant
Zaleha Kadir Olpin's dish because the "chicken skin isn't crispy, it can't be eaten".
Hundreds of people took to social media to point out the judges' amateur mistake.
In Malaysian cyberspace, a Facebook page 'Justice for Chicken Rendang' was set up collecting signatures for a petition demanding an apology from Wallace and Torode.
"As a Malaysian, if I could, I would personally go to the show and rendang their head. Uncultured swine, doesn't know variety of cuisine and claims to be Masterchef?" wrote Facebook user Jin Wee on the page of Malaysian newspaper The Star.
As controversy grew online, Malaysian PM Najib Razak also waded in, saying: "Who eats 'crispy' chicken rendang?" British high commissioner to
Malaysia Vicki Treadell - Malaysia-born - also blasted the judges.
In response, Torode told his followers: "Maybe Rendang is Indonesian!! Love this!! Brilliant how excited you are all getting .. Namaste." But that did little to douse the flames. Many users pointed out that "namaste" is a greeting used in India.
