I find that younger food bloggers have a ‘national boundary’ of thinking Singapore vs Malaysia vs Indonesia food. Maybe the national lines are much more obvious.

But like this uncle, I have a far more porous view. My family is just as much Johorean as they are Singaporean. It’s impossible to split down the middle. So much of the food and culture is the same. Thai Chinese food is also so similar to my home food, owing to the same Chinese roots.

I was very intrigued when my mother in law told me she barely ate any Indonesian food, growing up in the north of Malaysia, whereas the south of Malaysia - Singapore - Sumatra - Java feels like an archipelago of delicious things that have all intersected. I feel so incredibly lucky to got to spend most of my life in that part of the world.