Penang Taught Me the Price of Gluttony.

/ December 6, 2014

You know how your mum always warn you against being greedy with your food? Well, it was hard not to be a glutton when it came to the street foods of Penang. In fact, during my visit there, I was on a non-stop food adventure on practically every street!

I had delicious milk tea every day for breakfast, snacked on golden dough fritters from the market, ate a full lunch and had yet even more food for dinner and topped it off with desserts! And REPEAT for like every single day that I was in Penang.

Was I a glutton? Well…

samosa, penang

Delicious golden potato samosas

Chinese rojak, mostly vegetables mixed in a sticky shrimp based sauce

Chinese rojak, mostly vegetables mixed in a sticky shrimp based sauce

breakfast toast with kaya and butter but this was toasted the traditional way, over charcoal
Satay! Which is chicken on sticks and grilled over an open fire…
love, love, love the milk tea there…:)
asam laksa, one of penang’s iconic dishes. This differs from the Singapore laksa.
Pasembur. You choose the ingredients and it is cut up and mixed with a delicious sauce, similar to Singapore’s indian rojak.
Pie Tee, essentially just made up of turnip and other ingredients in a cup
nasi kandar, which is rice with a mix of curry and vegetables
samosas, which is deep fried flour filled with potatoes
nasi lemak which is rice cooked with coconut milk and usual condiments include egg and fried fish and chilli
barley, which we have as a cold or hot dessert. I had it served hot.
roti canai, penang

roti canai (or roti prata in Singapore), flat bread that comes with an accompanying curry as a dip

chendol, penang

chendol, an extremely sweet desert full of sugar, delicious! 🙂

you tiao, penang

How can I choose?! Deep fried dough fritters from the markets…

I’ve got to say, though, that being familiar with these food made it very easy for me to be a glutton on the streets of Penang. Most of these foods are similar to those found in Singapore and it’s very easy to get caught up with trying all the different choices that I just got carried away.

After all, I found out that mothers really do know best when they tell their children not to be gluttons. My food adventures lasted only 3 days instead of the full 4 days. By the last day, my stomach protested against my gluttony and I ended up being sick and throwing up.

My doctor summed it up perfectly for me.

I had simply overindulged and I ended up paying the price for such gluttony.

Have you ever overindulged on food? What do you like to try out when you visit a new place? Please do share! 🙂

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31 thoughts on “Penang Taught Me the Price of Gluttony.”

  2. The food looks delicious – so much to choose from, so much to try, and so little time!! I know how you feel because that sounds like me the first day whenever I am in Canada on a holiday now. I see so much familiar food that I want to sample everything and then there is Tim Hortons (a famous Canadian coffee and donut shop). But after the first day, I feel awful and stop.

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    • Lol, at least you stopped after the first day but yeah, it’s the same feeling I got when I wanted to try as much as I can..only it was after I fell sick that I realise how much I ate…haha..I was really greedy back then, I didn’t have much appetite for the next week or so after…haha..😄

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  5. I want them all for my brunch!! The cendol reminds me of Indonesian cendol 😀
    The rojak there it appears different than the rujak in Indonesia – in Indonesia, the rujak is with fruits covered with peanut sauce and brown sugar.. Oh Lucky you 😀 Have a great weekend!

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    • Lol…yes but chendols are extremely dangerous to the waistline..hehehe..hmm, the rojak does share similarities then…I suppose a result of shared heritage somewhat..hehe..I’ll be sure to be on the lookout for this when I next visit jakarta.

      But the one food that I’ve learnt to REALLY like is pempek…my indo friend was from palembang and she used to bring back pempek to singapore. 😍😍

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  8. All that food looks sooo good! I love roti with curry, oh man I miss the food from SE Asia more than I thought! I definitely overindulge on occasion but I’m happy to report I have yet to throw up as a result! Bet you learned your lesson eh?

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    • Hahaha, more than welcomed to return anytime…😄

      And definitely learnt my lesson..I just had to make life difficult for me and learn this the hard way..hehe…thanks for reading! 😄

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    • Food is pretty cheap in penang…some of the food that I’ve tried cost less than 5 ringgit. On average, I would guess I spend 10-15 ringgit a day but this is also cos I gorged myself on the food so you can easily be just as satisfied even if you spent lesser than this.

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  12. Luckily I haven’t had the cost of gluttony. Thanks for the lesson! Although, dang … hard to resist … esp. when food is THE part of the travel. I lived my growing up life on street food. Would probably overindulge too when I get a chance for buffet like those. You probably eat too much at one time. I’m a glutton and I embrace it.

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    • Whoops! Sorry! Just catching up now..haha…got to admit that food is a huge factor for me…😉 I would love to embrace being a glutton anytime I can but this time in Penang, well, I chose to eat first and suffer later…hahaha…😂😂

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