INTRODUCTION What is the definition of unity? Unity is the combination or arrangement of parts into a whole; unification.

Malaysia is the land of multi-races combining the Malays, Chinese, Indians and other minorities. The unity of citizens is an important objective for a multi-racial country as it forms an important security for strengthens of the country and its administration. Without unity, a country will be exposed to various weaknesses. These weaknesses are capable to cause its sovereignty to be affected as it cannot afford to resist trespasser from inside and outside. Therefore, citizen unity is an issue that needs to be taken seriously in strategizing the countrys development and administration so that it could retain and defend its freedom as a country which is sovereign. To practice unity, Malaysians first practice RUKUN NEGARA, then form political unity, studies unity, social and culture unity such as culture program, festival celebration and foods. First and foremost, Malaysians acceptance of multi-racial to Malaysias ideology that is RUKUN NEGARA. Countrys Rules are life rules or life norms that are very important to each and every citizen in this country. In RUKUN NEGARA all Malaysians are united to practicing five principles; Believing in God, Being Loyal to the King and country, Purity of the constitution, Sovereignty of the laws, and Politeness and manners. The first principle is regarding believing in God. It brings the meaning that Islam is the official region of this country. However, other religious other than Islam can be practiced freely by all races in Malaysian. Second, being loyal to the king and country. This brings the meaning of Malaysian despite different races is obligated to give their utmost sincere loyalties to the ruling King. Third, purity of the constitution. This principle avers that it is the responsibility of Malaysians despite different races to be loyal and understand the content, spirit and the background history of the Malaysian constitution and carry as well as defend the constitution. Fourth, sovereignty of the laws. Malaysians despite different races, religion and believes lawfully possesses similar rights. Fifth, politeness and mannerism. Regarding to this principle, Malaysians are required to act and conduct politely and with manners. It shall be based on a high morale, respecting others and avoiding oneself from raising sensitive questions to a particular race.

It is clear that acceptance of Malaysians despite different religious, races, and descendants towards 5 principles of countrys Rule (RUKUN NEGARA) would be able to help to produce solid unity and able to unify multi-races under one administration. Besides that, Malaysians do practice political unity. In Malaysia likewise in other developed and advanced countries, have various groups of races bearing different religion, position, work and etcetera in a peaceful environment. Other that that, Malaysians achieving unity through preparation of social program such as studies and culture programs. Malaysia have multi-racial schools which there is the place where Malaysian from different races study together to form unity. Besides, Malaysian do perform culture program with different races during festival celebration for instant Hari Raya Puasa, Chinese New Year and Deepavali in such a way that they done the preparation together to celebrate the festivals. Also, Malaysian will definitely invite friends from different races to have joy and celebrate their very own festival with their own culture. In addition, which cannot be ignored, Malaysian cuisine also reflects the multiracial aspects of Malaysia. We take Nyonya dishes as an example, Nyonya food come from a mixing culture of Malays and Chinese. This happens when a Malay is married a Chinese in Malacca in the past history of Malaysia. The Nyonya are sometimes referred to as the Straits Chinese of Malacca and they've been around for some 400 years. Some typical Nyonya food includes otak-otak - fish marinated in spice, wrapped in banana leaf and grilled. Various ethnic groups in Malaysia have their dishes but many dishes in Malaysia are derived from multiple ethnic influences. Regarding to this, we will discuss more about Malaysian foods and how Malaysians are practicing unity by Malaysian cuisines.

MALAY FOOD IN MALAYSIA

Malaysian food is the best in Asia. That is because; it has the most variety and the best quality. Malaysian Food can be separated to three main different types. They are Malay food, Chinese food, and Indian food. However, Native food can not be neglected and has its own unique. Each of them has their own styled cuisine. Rice is the staple food for the Malays. It is boiled to a white fluffy texture. It is served with dishes of meat (chicken), fish and vegetables which are usually prepared as sambal (Chili paste) or curry fish. However, most of the Malays are Muslim. This means that, pork or any food that comes from a pig is a never used in Malay cuisine. Most meals are eaten by using your fingers, and eating utensils are kept to a minimum. Furthermore, all dishes are served at the same time, accompanied by a refreshing drink. Malay food derives its flavor from the use of spices and local ingredients. There are many ingredients in the Malay cuisine such as Serai(lemon grass), Bawang merah(shallots), Halia(ginger), Lengkuas(galangal), Ketumbar(coriander), Asam jawa(tamarind), Kunyit(turmeric), Saffron, Jintan putih(cumin). Last but not least, there is the most common ingredient in Malay food which is coconut milk. These ingredients are playing important roles in the Malay cuisine. It will lose its delicious if without some spices. One of the staple breakfast favorite is nasi lemak. It can be said is a very simple but very satisfying meal. The rice is cooked in coconut milk with fragrant pandan leaves. Side dishes can be sambal ikan bilis, peanuts, fried fish and so on.

However, Satay is another popular Malay dish. We can normally see this type of food in night market. It usually consists of chunks of chicken marinated with a variety of spices. Pieces of marinated chicken are skewered and cooked over a charcoal fire where they are periodically brushed over with oil. When the Satay is done, it will be served with special peanut sauce. Apart from that, there is another famous Malay food which is Ikan baker. Ikan baker is grilled or barbecue fish which you will be able to find almost everywhere. This fish is usually marinated in various spices and coconut milk. A popular local fish is the Ikan Kembong, Chubb Mackerel, also called Indian Mackerel. Anyway, apart of mackerel, other fish is grilled too namely Wolf Herring(ikan parang), Skate Wings(ikan pari) or Spanish Mackerel(ikan tenggiri) and so on. In order to fully enjoy this famous Malay food, it is great with some chilies and lime when you are eating it. In addition to the above, there is a kind of spicy noodle soup based on fish and spices in Malay food which is Laksa. The Malays probably make some of the very best Laksa in Malaysia. Furthermore, there are many different kinds of Laksa like Kuching Laksa and Penang Laksa. Each of them has their own specialties. Besides that, Roti Jala(net bread) is one of the most unique Malay culinary creation. Roti Jala is a sort of crepe or thin pancake. It is an ideal accompaniment of dishes with lots of rich curry sauces or gravy and usually served during special occasions. However, there are a lot of types Malay desserts. Most of them are home-made and easily available from local hawker. Anyway, we are able to find it from restaurants too especially during Ramadan. Malay desserts are quite exceptional, using ingredients such as coconut milk, fresh grated coconut, palm sugar and a unique plant leave which called pandan. This plant leave is used often in dessert making. During the Malay New Year (Hari Raya), the variety of cakes and dessert are endless. For instance, Coconut Poppers(Onde Onde), Steamed Coconut Pudding(Kuih Talam),Black Rice Pudding(Pulut Hitam),Glutinous Rice with Coconut Topping(Pulut Inti).

CHINESE FOOD IN MALAYSIA

Chinese people have always treated food as part of their culture very much. There is an old saying still being quoted today-Food is the first necessity of the people. Delicious and nutritious food has been regarded as the basics of ordinary life. We cant deny that, Cantonese food is the best known and most popular variety of Chinese food. Cantonese food is noted for the variety and the freshness of its ingredients. The foods are usually stir-fried with just a touch of oil. As a result, the foods are crisp and fresh. There is a tasty Cantonese food which is Shark Fin Soup. Genuine shark fin soup or stew is made with real shark fins obtainable from several shark species. The best Cantonese shark fin soup can fetch up to US$100 per bowl. However, there are a lot of cheaper shark fin, usually taken from smaller shark species. Porridge is different when they are come from different dialect group of Chinese. The specialty in Cantonese porridge is the porridge is cooked till mushy and you can not even see the grains of rice. In the process of cooking, salt, sesame oil and pepper are added on in order to increase the delicious. Apart from that, they usually like to add dried seafood like scallops, oysters and other foods stuffs to flavor the porridge. However, there is a big different between Teochew porridge and Cantonese porridge. For Teochew porridge, it is pure plain rice and water. Sometimes sweet potatoes are added into this porridge as during the Japanese occupation in Malaya during the WWII, most of the villagers survived on sweet potatoes and also tapioca. Teochew porridge is usually served with a lot of preserved foodstuffs like salted duck eggs, salted vegetables, salted fish and fermented beancurds. Apart from that, Teochew food is also famous especially for its

seafood with the highest quality ingredients. The freshest seafood is odorless, and is best cooked by steaming. Less fresh ones will be fried or even deep fried. Besides that, there is another famous food in Teochew food which is Char Kwey Teow. Char Kwey Teow (fried flattened noodles with clams, bean sprout and prawns) is an economical dish. The price for it is affordable to everyone which around RM3. In addition to the above, Teochew Kueh is another popular food. Teochew Kueh usually served as breakfast or teatime. There is a wide variety of Teochew Kueh such as Soon Kueh, Ang Ku Kueh and so on. They are made from variety types of flour-skinned cakes and dumplings filled with rice, yam paste, red bean or turnip strips. This means that, every types of Kueh of their own style and unique. Hainanese Chicken Rice is an important dish among Hainan food. This Hainan food will swear by the accompanying chilli sauce, usually made from a special blend of chilli, garlic and ginger that goes exceedingly well with the succulent chicken slices. We can also dip the chicken into the dark soy sauce and garlic sauce, and eat it with a hearty helping of rice to fully appreciate this delightful dish. There are many different types of Chinese food. Some foods are normally eaten around the time of the Chinese New Year such as Lotus seed, Black moss seaweed, Dried bean curd, Bamboo shoots, Fresh bean curd or tofu and so on. Each food has its own meaning. For instance, Lotus seed means to have luck in having a baby boy, dried bean curd means wealth and happiness. INDIAN FOOD IN MALAYSIA Indian food in Malaysia is Malaysian food from the Indian population is quite different from the Malay or Chinese cuisine. The Indians flavor hot and spicy flavors. This does not mean that Indian dishes are always hot. It does mean that they are well seasoned and aromatic. There are some hot dishes especially in the South of India, but, overall the dishes of India are skillfully prepared with the cook having a mastery over the properties of spices and how they are blended. The cook will use cooling spices as well

as warming spices, bland spices as well as pungent spices, sweet spices as well as hot spices. The cook will also use spices for color and healthful properties. Most cooks in India also know how to use spices seasonally. In everyday cooking in India spices are used very sparingly or the dishes are seasoned with very few spices and are supplemented with fresh herbal seasonings. Apart from that, Fresh herbal chutneys, dried fruit chutneys and hot pickles complement an Indian meal. These small additions to the meal take the Indian menu to a higher level of taste experience. They lend strong flavor impact to the meal. They also balance tastes as they are sweet, pungent, hot, and sour all at the same time. The fresh herbal chutneys make the meal very fresh and tasty. Popular fresh chutneys are cilantro, mint, amla, coconut chutneys and popular pickles include lime, mango, and eggplant. Indian pickles are preserved in oil as opposed to vinegar.In malaysia, ghee (clarified butter) is favored for frying and seasoning. This is because it can take very high temperatures without becoming rancid unlike virgin oil or unrefined cooking oils. Besides ghee, mustard oil is also used in Bengal and coconut oil is used in the south. Sesame oil is also used especially in sweets. Their staple diet usually consists of either rice or bread (charpatti, tosai (thosai, dosa in India), parrata, puri). They eat this with various curries. As in accordance with their Hindu beliefs, they do not eat beef. The Malaysian food of the Indian population in the North-West part of Malaysia, including Pangkor, can be categorized as SouthernIndian, Northern Indian and Indian Muslim (mamak). Along with the rest of the local cuisine, it has evolved and assimilated according to society's preferences. Sometimes what is considered Indian food here, did not even originated from India.

Usually Indian Malaysian food is sold at the various local stalls and often ordered with a glass of teh tarik. Teh Tarik literally means "pulled tea". The tea is thick and frothy. The preparation involves passing the tea and milk from one big metal mug to the other with a "pour and pull" action. Where there is roti canai, there is bound to be murtabak. This is

basically roti canai with stuffing of sardines or chicken as the Indian Hindus do not eat beef. Murtabak with beef however can be obtained from stalls owned by Muslims. Nobody really knows how roti canai came about and would become some of the most popular of all Malaysian food. However, Penang can certainly lay claim to Indian mee (mee goreng or kelinga mee). From Penang, these dishes spread out further over Malaysia and can be eaten in and around Pangkor. The best roti canai in the area however, is not to be found in Pangkor but in Kampong Sitiawan at the riverside. One could say the apart of nasi lemak, roti canai is probably the second national Malaysian food. Apart from that, we can also see roti canai sold in malay stall. The Malays learn to cook roti canai from the Indians. NATIVE FOOD IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia is divided into two parts, West Malaysia and East Malaysia. West Malaysia or Peninsula Malaysia is attached to the Asian continent, whereas East Malaysia is appended with the Borneo Island and separated from West Malaysia by the South China Sea. In Kelantan, one of the states of West Malaysia, Nasi Kerabu is very famous amongst the native folk. In Malay, Nasi means rice. Kerabu is not much different from the salad resembling a mixture of salt, onion, slices of cucumbers and other ingredients. Nasi Kerabu is special because the rice is coloured with blue. Apart from that, Terengganu is one of the East Coast States of Peninsula Malaysia. If Kelantan is very popular with Nasi Kerabu, Terengganu is very popular with Nasi Dagang. In Malay, the word dagang means business or something that is related to it. It is called Nasi

Dagang because in the ancient times, the native people used to sell it from one place to another. The local food in Kuching is still quite traditional in many ways. Each community has its own special food, either for celebrations or for regular consumption. There are many types of native food. One of these is Bee phang or rice cakes. These are eaten by the Hakka during Chinese New Year. They have various types: with sesame seeds, with peanuts and so on. Besides that, Bee Thor is another famous native food too. It is shaped like a teardrop, the size of a hand. Think of it as a flattened steamed pau - the ingredients inside can be savory or sweet. Sweet ones have peanuts and sugar while the savory ones include minced meat. In addition, Tebaloi is a famous native (Melanau) food in Sarawak. It is made from sago flour and tastes nice and crispy like a thicker version of kuih kapit (which in Sarawak is called kuih sepit). Anyway, there is a fantastic kek lapis always available in open house during Chinese New Year in Kuching which is Indonesian layer cake. The beauty of this cake is not in the cake but the various designs and patterns which are revealed when the cake is sliced. In this regard, Sarawak Malays are creative in making kek lapis in different colours, layers and designs. There are halal and non-halal versions. The halal version can be bought in Satok. The non-halal versions can be bought at any good bakery in Kuching. Besides from the Indonesian layer cake, you will be served keropok udang or ikan in any Sarawakians house. The way to eat this is with the local vegetable acar or pickle made with julienned carrot and cucumber in a tangy base of spices. It sounds odd but the combination works really well. Furthermore, there is a native food made from raw fish which is Umai. Any type of fresh fish can be used to make umai. There are two types of umai - one is shredded raw fish mixed with sliced onions, lime juice, salt, sugar and chilies or the other type which is plain sliced raw fish (akin to sashimi) eaten with a spicy chili dip. Both taste equally good. Last but not least, Kolok Mee or Kolo Mee is a simple dish of springy noodles (very Q - a Hokkien term for extreme springiness!) with seasonings, lashings of char siew oil and slices of char siew. It is a very delicious delicacy. Unlike wantan mee, it has no black soya sauce, it is not soggy, and it is not full of ingredients. It can be served dry or in a soup. Either way, the kolo mee is good because it has bite and the flavourful char siew oil gives it the added

oomph. You can get kolo mee anywhere, anytime in Kuching. There are halal versions too sold by Muslims - it is topped with beef slices instead of porky char siew. It is all about abundance of many kinds of food that makes Malaysia distinctive from other countries. FOOD EXCHANGE HELP UNITY MALAYSIAN Food is one of the few ways that can bring unity between different races in Malaysia. Malaysians are well known for their passion towards various kinds of food ranging from sour to sweet and spicy. Exchanging food and recipes among different races is one of the effective ways to foster a stronger relationship among Malaysians that consists of a multi-racial society. For instance in a particular neighbourhood, we can always see that housewives from different races will be exchanging food and recipes among each other. Full time housewives usually have relatively a lot of time to spare after sending their children to school and their husband to work. Furthermore, they often converse and gossip about current issues and also other leisure topics. Food is of course in the top list of topics for them to talk about as they are the cook for their own family. Thus, through their discussions about food, exchange of various types of food belonging to each race will occur. For example, Malaysians always have Nasi Lemak for their breakfast and as we all know, Nasi Lemak originates from the Malays. Similarly, when other races wish to taste Malay traditional food such as Nasi Bryani, Nasi Lemak or Nasi Kandar, they will exchange their own races traditional food with their Malay neighbour in turn to get to taste the delicious food of the Malays. The same idea is extended to the case of those who like to eat Indian food such as Bombay chicken, curry chicken or Roti Phrata, they will seek the advice from their Indian neighbour regarding the recipes or even the best hawker stall in town to get the mentioned food. During a certain festival such as Hari Raya Puasa, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and even Hari Gawai, Malaysians also often send each other their own races delicacies to their neighbours who are celebrating the mentioned festival. By doing so,

not only their relationship improved, the diversity of food during the particular festive season also expands, allowing people from various races to taste each others traditional delicacies. They will usually cook more to let their neighbors taste it out so that they can discuss about the food next time and at the same time improving their cooking skills. So, they will have more chances to communicate and opportunity to learn the other cultures and religions. As a result, the barrier and prejudice among various races will diminish gradually. In addition, food also can help to improve the relationship among colleague of different races in any workplace. For example, when they are going for lunch break, they will sit together regardless of their skin colour to talk about current issues, such as their dissatisfactions and frustrations towards their company or sharing their own happy moments in life. Besides, misunderstanding between colleagues can be overcome during the time that they sit down at the same table to have their meals. This will avoid any unnecessary disputation and hatred at the workplace from worsening. Thus, the relationship between the workers can be strengthened. On the other hand, they can also take turns to make some cake or pastry to share with their colleague during their tea time. Therefore, the colleagues of different races will have the chance to try on the traditional food from various races and indirectly they will be able to learn their cultures too. This will enhance the inter-culture understanding and promote tolerance among them. Racial integrity can be indirectly achieved and Malaysians can see each other eye to eye bypassing their difference in beliefs and cultures. Moreover, during normal days, it would be good if we can exchange our own traditional food with our neighbours who are different races with us. By doing so, not only do the other races have a chance to taste our foods, we can broaden our knowledge on other races and at the same time learn new recipes. As time passes, a good relationship with our neighbours can be developed regardless of our races and religions. This will benefit all the parties involved as they will learn to care more for each other and the spirit of Malaysians can be cultivated. Furthermore, during the process where they learn to

cook other races traditional dishes, they will be able to mingle better with other races as they learn to tolerate each other and respect each others beliefs. Malaysians will gain a gold opportunity to know each other better and show how caring we are to the outside world. Through the sharing of a particular races traditional recipes with another race, we can demonstrate our willingness to share our skills with others. Obtaining the recipes and advices from the other races is vital as it promotes good will among each other and it provides easy access to the huge culture that is hidden in our unique multi-racial society. One surely cannot resists the delicious taste of Nasi Lemak nor the sweet and concentrated teh tarik that we used to have at the mamak stalls and at the same time watching a football match. As we can observe every night at most of the mamak stalls, Malaysians from different races such as Malays, Chinese and Indians often sit under one roof to have a taste on their favourite roti canai or maggi goreng while watching their favourite football team perform over the overhead projector. This shows the willingness of Malaysians to try the food of other races and put aside their differences in order to enjoy the fullness of life, satisfaction and happiness. In short, the spirit of exchanging traditional delicacies and food among various races in Malaysia can lead to more understanding society that overlook all the differences among them. They will learn to care for each other and for the nation, feeling proud as Malaysians and cherish the huge diversity in its food and delicacies which is none like any other in the world . FOOD UNITY MALAYSIAN VIA OPENING HOUSE During the Chinese festival such as Chinese New Year, our Malay or Indian visitor would be pleased if we can provide some of their local foods such as sambal, curry which are cooked by us. With these local foods, they will feel that they are welcomed and greeted warmly. However before we invite our Malay friends to celebrate our Chinese festival, it would be better if we know the traditional Malay way of eating. All of us should know that their traditional way of eating is by using the right hand. The

use of the left hand is considered bad manners. The same goes with receiving or giving things, always use the right hand. In eating stalls or at homes where hands are used to eat, guests will provided with a pot of water to wash their hands before and after the meal. Remember, this water is not for drinking. Or you simply use the always available tap to wash your hands. On the other hand, we can prepare and provide our neighbors and friends which are different races with us, with some of their traditional foods during their festival season. In this way, other races will feel our kindness and they can sense that we share their happiness as well. For example, during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri, we can cook and prepare some local foods such as ketupat and sambal to our Malay friends or neighbours. Normally, meat and fish are usually prepared as sambal (chili paste); Sambal is a spicy Southeast Asian condiment made, in its simplest form, from chili, peppers and salt. A more elaborate sambal may contain onion, lime juice, lemongrass, sugar, garlic, oil and/or vinegar. By showing our kindness, we can gradually improve the relationship between different races in Malaysia. Moreover, at the normal days, it would be good if we can often give our own traditional foods to our neighborhood which is different races with us. For instance at usual day, we should prepare more of our home-made chicken rice ball, bread with chicken curry or Yong Tao Fu in order to give our close friends or neighbors. By doing so, the other races will have a chance to taste on our foods and as a return; they will offer their traditional foods to us. Without realizing, a good relationship with our neighborhood can be developed regardless of our races and religions. Moreover, we can show our tolerance and respect towards each others during the celebration of festivals. As most Malays (not all Malaysians are Malay!) are Muslim, pork or any food that comes from a pig is never used in Malay cuisine. Even cutlery and kery used to serve Muslims must not have been used to serve pork. Thus, some Muslims even do not take their meal at Chinese or Indian food stall. They are also prohibited from consuming the flesh of predatory animals and predatory birds (ducks are allowed), rodents, reptiles, worms, amphibians (frogs) and the flesh of dead animals. Muslims can only eat meat that is halal. Halal is a way of slaughtering according to the Islamic rites. We show our thoughtful towards others Malays especially when during Chinese and

Indians festivals, we can prepare a special site which all the food served is halal. By doing this, they can fell our sincerity in invitation. Hari Raya Puasa is Muslims main festivals. During Hari Raya Puasa, open house or invitation for relatives and friends and neighbours of others races to come to their house is practised. Plenty of traditional Malay delicacies are served during this festive season such as ketupat rice cake and a meat cuisine called rendang among the most famous cuisines that are served during this day. The celebration lasts for a month which the celebration is concentrated in the first days. Through the open house celebration, the relationship among us will become closer. For sure, we must follow some of their custom such as greet to the elder , wash hand before and after the meals, eat from the place in front of you only and you also must remember that the soles of your feet should not point directly toward someone else. This is bad manners, and may bring "bad luck" to that person. Another important thing that must remember especially for Chinese and Indians is you cannot bring alcoholic drinks as gift when you visit them. It is because Muslims are anti-alcohol. By remembering and follow their customs and traditional, they will feel your respect towards them. Relatively, they will also try to learn others races cultures and without doubt, misunderstanding and conflict among the races will be reduce. Thus, all races will cooperate together and will be more united. RESPECT TOWARDS EACH OTHER VIA FOOD The next main idea how food unite Malaysian is we show respect to other religious. Religion is a system of beliefs and practice that inspire us to care again for one another and which seeks to bind us back to a divine origin. We show it by innovating the food to suit their culture. This to prevent unwanted misunderstanding among people from different religions and to ensure we live together as Malaysian happily. In the winter festival, Chinese will boil glutinous rice ball soup. Summer festival Chinese will made dumpling and autumn festival Chinese will made moon cakes. During the olden days, Malays could not taste all the delicacies due to their religion aspect. Now people have innovated them and there is Halal version of those foods for the Muslims to try them. The traditional moon cake is a non halal food because the oil that uses to bake moon cake

is the oil from pig. But now there are many moon cake distributer bake moon cake using the halal oil which is the cooking oil. So that now Malays have the opportunity to try moon cakes. Indian and Taoism are prohibited to eat beef due to their religion belief. Thats why food stall will label their food as chicken, mutton, beef or pork. During open house or even special ceremonies, the organizer will only serve halal food or food that can be accepted by all races. Furthermore, we can find many halal food products that are already on sales on most of the supermarkets. By this, Malaysians have the chance to taste almost every multi cultural food without any worries. On the other hand, Malaysian seems able to cook different types of food. This means that, they able to exchange recipe with each other and the relation between them will close. In short, food is also one of the ways to improve the unity of Malaysia people. From the differences food can be eaten by different races, this can lead Malaysia people knowing each other more. CONCLUSION Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multilingual society. The main ethnics of Malaysia are Malay, Chinese, Indian and other minorities and indigenous people. The Malays, who form the largest community, are defined as Muslim and their native language is Malay. The Chinese population in Malaysia is mostly Buddhist or Taoist. Chinese in Malaysia speak a variety of Chinese dialects including Mandarin Chinese. The Indians in Malaysia are mainly Hindu Tamils from southern India who native language is Tamil. After the independence of country, the society was peaceful and tolerance although the difference of culture and religion. This phenomenon contributes to the unity of nation. Malaysian cuisine reflects the multi-racial aspects of Malaysia. Various ethnic groups in Malaysia have their dishes but many dishes in Malaysia are derived from multiple ethnic influences. Malaysian food can be classified into different types such as Malay food, Chinese food; Indian food and some native food that only exist in this country. For example Nyonya food that just can found in the world. The mainstay of every Malaysian meal is rice. No matter Malay, Chinese or Indian, they eat rice at each meal; the difference is the style and cooking method. At each meal, a generous helping

accompanies a selection of dishes, including fish, seafood, vegetables, and poultry. In Muslim culture, pork and alcoholic are prohibited for consuming, so we cant find any Malay cuisine that contains pork and alcohol. Furthermore, other ethnics are not encouraged to consume this kind of food in front of Malay for the sign of respect. Common ingredients of Malay food include lemon grass, shallots, ginger, galangal, coriander, tamarind, turmeric, Saffron and coconut milk. For Chinese people, food is an important element in life, so Chinese people eat anything no matter the food is healthy or unhealthy for them. Chinese food can separated into several categories according to their provinces. But come into Malaysia, all of them are treated as Chinese food and are welcomed by other ethnics as well. It is another sign of unity too. Individual recipes vary widely from state to state. Basic ingredients may be the same, but the method of cooking and accompanying dishes changes with each state's own tastes and special produce. The perennial Malaysian favorite nasi lemak is completely different in Kedah, for example, than that tasted in Johor or Selangor. One has to savor both to truly appreciate the diversity of preparation. Being a multicultural country, Malaysians have over the years adapted each other's dishes to suit the taste buds of their own culture. For instance, Malaysians of Chinese descent have adapted the Indian curry, and made it more dilute and less spicy to suit their taste. Chinese noodles have been crossed with Indian and Malay tastes and thus Malay fried noodles and Indian fried noodles were born. In Malaysia, there are many ways that can improve the unity among ethnics, for instance education, economic and social. Food is one of the few ways that can bring unity between different races in Malaysia. Exchanging food and recipes among different races is one of the effective ways to foster a stronger relationship among Malaysians that consists of a multi-racial society. By doing this, we can gain the opportunity of knowing each other culture and traditions. Although there is a varied in culture of foods between races, but the cross-culture influence of foods had shown the unity of Malaysian. As long as each ethnic is respecting and caring to other ethnic, the unity of nation will be lasting

forever. We should proud of our country as this is so unique which is none in any other country in the world.