the most popular street foods you.docx

8/14/2019 The Most Popular Street Foods You.docx

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The Most Popular Street Foods You've Never Heard Of

Every morning, much of Penang sits down to a bowl of koay teow th'ng: wide rice

noodles in any combination of duck, pork or chicken broth with floating fish balls and

hunks of meat, all garnished with crispy browned garlic.

The dish, thought to be an iteration of a noodle soup introduced to the island by

Chaozhou immigrants, may well be the island's most popular. So ubiquitous is it

between 7 a.m. and noon that at least seven koay teow th'ng stalls operate

simultaneously within a three-block radius of my George Town home.

Yet I rarely see tourists among the throngs of eaters. Most visitors to Penang, even

those well versed in local street foods Malaysians and Singaporeans excepted seem

unaware that the dish exists.

It isn't the only Asian street food to be loved by locals but ignored by visitors. Tourists

pound Bangkok's pavements in search of the perfect pad thai but pass on koay teow lad

naa, flat rice noodles stir-fried with black soy and doused with mild gravy. Travellers to

Hanoi seek out pho, yet overlook northern Vietnam's bun ca, rice noodles in a

dill-fragrant tomato and seafood broth with fish. Perhaps the best example of a

hometown favorite unloved by (mostly Western) foreigners is congee in Hong Kong.

"I'm not flying all the way to Asia to eat rice porridge," an acquaintance responded

recently when I advised her to seek it out during her three-day stay in the SAR.

I've often wondered what makes some local specialties sing in the eyes of visitors while

others go neglected. Some suffer from the Plain Jane Syndrome: a combination of


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monochromatic appearance and deceptively simple preparation that reduces surface

appeal. To the uninitiated, congee appears to be little more than a creamy near-paste of

overcooked rice; it's only natural that many would pass it over in favor of golden egg

noodles garnished with succulent pork.

And then there is what Leela Punyaratabandhu, a food writer whose cookbook of classic

Thai dishes will be published next year, calls the Intimidation Factor. She observes that

just as many visitors to Penang shun koay teow th'ng stalls, so do tourists tend to avoid

Thai wet-dry noodle shops.

"If I were a foreign visitor to Thailand I wouldn't know how and what to order," she

says, noting that knowledge of how a bowl of noodles is composed and what ingredients

are commonly available are prerequisite to confidently customizing an order (sample

instructions: "fat cellophane noodles, dry, fish balls, no crispy wonton, no

beansprouts").

But maybe the biggest reason some dishes, no matter how well-loved on home turf,

never achieve global street-food fame is rooted in an imprecise alchemy of migration

and marketing. By all rights pho, a deceptively simple combination of broth, rice

noodles, meat and bean sprouts, should take a back seat to a dish like bun rieu, an

intoxicating crab and tomato soup featuring cloud-like "dumplings" of crab fat. But as

Australian food writer and street-food tour leader Mark Lowerson points out, the large

number of pho shops opened overseas by Vietnamese emigrants mean it's "rare for a

tourist to come to Vietnam not knowing or having tried it somewhere".

The dish's popularity overseas has even looped back to influence how Vietnamese at

home advise visitors. Proud of what Mr. Lowerson describes as "Vietnam's most


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renowned contribution to world cuisine," most are likely to name pho as the top

must-try dish.

There are lessons here for travelers in search of great, but underrated, street foods. First,

forget what you know of the local cuisine from restaurants at home. Second, don't be

daunted by the challenge of ordering with inadequate information. Finally, don't be

fooled by appearances they're not always an indicator of taste.

(Robyn writes about food and travel. She's lived in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok, Ho

Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur. Two years ago she moved to Penang for the hawker

food, of course.)

stall[st:l]

n. vi.

vt.

compose[km'puz]

vt.

vi.

migration[mai'rein]

n.

verse[v:s]

n.

turf[t:f]

n. vt.

crab [krb]

n.

vt. vi.

confidently ['knfdntli]

adv.

radius ['reidis]

n. []

hunk[hk]

n.

adj.

indicator ['indikeit]video

n. [] []


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There are some people that are content with their situation in life, but everyone h

Change A Little A Day: Start From Now

as something they want to excel in; something they want to be proud of. Unfortunately,

most people dont have the drive to do something about it. They waste away their time

and talents day dreaming of what could be instead of living the life they want.

People are constantly taking the easy road in life: its less risky, it doesnt involve a lot of

effort and its comfortable. Change requires you to step out of your comfort zone and

into the unknown. You have to change yourself, your surroundings even your habits.

Change is difficult. If it were easy, we would all be famous billionaires living in

mansions. The fact that its hard is what makes change and improvement so great.

Improving your life will result in several positive outcomes such as, giving you a better

sense of self, making you a better person, mother father, friend, etc. and youll find

yourself being happier in general. You need to understand that changing yourself for

the better wont take away challenges in your lifeit will just prepare you to be able to

face them.

If you have tried to change in the past and failed, dont quit. You can still change and

start making a difference in your life. The following tips will get you set on the path to

action. When you do these things, you are preparing yourself to do more than just


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dream about the life you want; you are getting yourself on the path to achieving it. Use

these tips as guidelines to make the changes in your life that you want to see.

1. The first step toward changing is knowing what you want to change and why.

Take the time to sit down and write down your goals. Also write down why you want to

change; make this as in-depth as you can because it will be a foundation for you. This is

something you will be able to go back to when you are feeling like its too hard or you

have forgotten why its important.

2. Tell people your goals.

It can be embarrassing for some people to share with others whats in their heart; but

its necessary. In order to change, you have to be held accountable. Letting someone

else know what you are trying to do will ensure that you have someone to answer to.

Make sure this person is someone who will continue to encourage you and isnt afraid to

ask how things are moving along.

3. Replace bad habits with good ones.

Stopping something cold turkey is hard, so its best to replace the unwanted habit with

something positive. If you have a major addiction, there are other steps you will have to

take. If its just a bad habit, such as looking at Facebook too much, replace that with

something like going for a walk around the block. If you are trying to stick within a


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budget, play a game with your family instead of going shopping. Find something

positive to do that will replace the negative things in your life.

4. Change is not easy, but its easier when you have someone to do it with.

Find a partner, coach, friend or family member who might be in the same situation as

you. If you want to start working out, set up times when the two of you can go exercise

together. If you want to get up earlier, call each other in the morning and encourage one

another to get up and get moving. Whatever changes you want to make, find a way to

include someone else in them. You will be each others support, can hold one another

accountable for what you do or dont do.

5. Get rid of distractions.

There are things everywhere in our houses, our workplaces, and even our schools that

can and will distract us from changing into the kind of people we want to be. Our

phones, computers, iPads, etc. are all wonderful tools that we have at our disposal, but

they can also hinder us. We spend so much time texting, emailing and checking various

social media platforms. That is time that could be used doing something productive.

Limit the amount of time you spend on the computer. Set an alarm and when it goes off,

youre done.


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youre doing those things. When you make a change, even if its something simple,

acknowledge it, dont brush it off like it doesn't mean anything. It means everything! It

means thatyoure actually doing it, youre changing.

entertain[,ent'tein]

vt. vi.

budget['bdit]

n. vt.

vi. adj.

distract[dis'trkt]

vt.

educational[,edju:'keinl]

adj.

embarrass[im'brs]

vt.

couch[kaut]

n. vi.

vt.

risky ['riski]

adj.

mansion['mnn]

n.

accountable['kauntbl]

adj.

productive[pru'dktiv]adj.


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How To Be An Irresistible Leader

What is it exactly that makes some people command far more respect and attention,

even devotion, than their peers? And if you're not born with the kind of magnetism that

compels people to admire and follow you, can you acquire it? "Charisma" comes from a

Greek word that means "gift from the gods," which may explain why most of us assume

you've either got it or you don't.

Those strategies are spelled out in Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make

Us Influential. The book, which includes some material the authors have already taught

as lecturers at a few top B-schools, is now required reading at Harvard, Columbia, and

the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown.

KNP

Communications

Compelling People: The

Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential

Harward

ColumbiaMcDonough School of Business


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It turns out that the ineffable thing we call charisma has two primary elements, strength

and warmth. Strength, by the authors' lights, is "a person's capacity to make things

happen," while warmth is "the sense that a person shares our feelings, interests, and

view of the world." Getting elected to public office usually takes both. For instance, the

authors note, "George W. Bush ran in 2000 as a compassionate (warm) conservative

(strong)."

2000W

Sounds good, but there's a catch: Balancing the two qualities, which are fundamentally

different or even opposed, is tricky. Warmth -- including friendliness, openness, and a

disarmingly self-deprecating sense of humor -- may make you likeable, but it doesn't

necessarily command respect, while strength alone can come across as icy or even scary.

What we call charisma, magnetism, or executive presence is the knack of projecting

both at once -- an ability, the authors observe, that is "so rare that we celebrate, elevate,

and envy those who manage it."


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Not to worry. Compelling People goes into exhaustive detail about how to be -- or seem

-- strong and warm at the same time, addressing everything from how and when to

smile, to how to modulate your voice in given kinds of situations, to the specific

eyelid-tensing technique behind Clint Eastwood's famous power stare.

If you've never given much thought to basics like simply shaking hands, the book

suggests you start. The key, apparently, is applying "conscious focus" to preparing the

flexors and extensors in your fingers: "It is important that your handshake match that

of the person you are greeting," whether it's bone-crushing or dead-fish, so "keep those

hand muscles flexed as you go in, and you'll be ready for any grip strength you come

across."

Naturally for a couple of communications coaches, the authors offer remedies for habits

of speech that undermine people's influence at work. One of these is "uptalk," that

annoying Valley-girl intonation that makes every sentence turn up at the end like a

question. It's a verbal tic that inadvertently signals "submissive approval seeking" and

"creates the impression the speaker is uncertain about things that should not be in

doubt" -- neither of which conveys strength (or warmth either, for that matter).

Unfortunately, uptalk can be a tough habit to break. If you suspect it's holding you back,


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the authors recommend recording yourself and "forcing yourself to endure listening" to

how uninspiring you sound.

Although Compelling People aims to show you how to be your own charisma coach, the

authors are careful to avoid leaving the impression that, once you've mastered all of

their tricks, you're done. Cultivating one's own personal magnetism is a process that

never ends, it seems.

"Ronald Reagan had decades of professional acting experience before he brought his

grandfatherly cowboy persona to the national stage," the book points out. "Even after

years as a successful politician, Bill Clinton sought out every expert he could find to

learn how to connect with people better. The best communicators are the ones who

realize how much room they still have for improvement."


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Even President Obama, generally considered to score pretty high on charisma, could

tweak a few of his mannerisms, according to the authors -- for example, a habit of

speaking with his chin raised so that he is literally looking down his nose at his

audience: "[Obama] has been guilty of wearing this expression on many occasions and,

when he does, his demeanor goes from cool to cold." The takeaway: Unless you happen

to already hold the most powerful job in the free world, try to keep your chin level while

you're talking.

Twitter

magnetism['mnitizm]

n.

compel[km'pel]

vt.

charisma[k'rizm]

n.

ineffable[in'efbl]

adj.

disarmingly[dis'a:mili]

adv.

self-deprecating[,self'deprikeitivideo

adj. self-deprecatory

modulate ['mdjuleit, -du-]

vt. vi.

flexor['fleks]

n. []

tweak[twi:k]

n. vt.

demeanor[di'mi:n]

n.

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