KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Months after Singaporeans and Malaysians fought to lay claim to nasi lemak, the classic dish has popped up yet again in a new viral video.
In a one-minute clip first posted by Europe-based esports organisation OG Esports on its social media platforms last Tuesday (December 26), several Dota 2 personalities are seen eating from nasi lemak packets — a familiar sight to local netizens, with the coconut rice first wrapped in a banana leaf and then a second time with brown paper.
The video first shows former Bosnian player Admir “lizZard” Salkanovic and French-Lebanese player Sebastien “Ceb” Debs digging in with their disposable spoons.
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The camera then pans to former American player Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner, who appears to think for a moment before using the banana leaf to wrap the rice in a ball and stuff it into his mouth.
In the background, audience members begin tittering as Kanner struggles with the leaf.
“What?” he asks through his mouthful of rice, seemingly perplexed. “Did I eat a leaf?”
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As Debs and Malaysian player Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung look over in curiosity, Kanner continues: “I thought (the leaf) was real!”
The studio erupts into laughter as he pulls bits of banana leaf out of his mouth.
Chai then apologises for not “explaining the leaf” while Kanner continues to emit muffled yells with his mouth full, questioning the presence of the leaf.
Calming down from his laughter, Debs tells him: “The leaf is there to support the food.”
“Well, I thought that was what the paper did!” Kanner retorts.
“Nooo, you’re not even supposed to eat that,” Debs says. “Even I know this, dude.”
The video has reached 360,900 views on TikTok and 488,100 views on X (formerly Twitter) as of THIS afternoon.
How to eat Nasi Lemak?It’s not 2024 yet but it’s already the funniest thing you will see next year pic.twitter.com/B82CZ5oZVs
— OG (@OGesports) December 27, 2023
Malaysian netizens were equal parts amused and horrified by how he was eating the nasi lemak, with the top comment on Instagram reading: “Laughing in Malaysian, hahahahaha.”
“The way I gasped so loud in this Grab, the driver thought he (went the) wrong way,” wrote an X user.
One YouTube user suggested that he might have “thought it was a burrito”, while others likened it to “eating (an) onigiri” instead.
“When you think nasi lemak bungkus (packet) is onigiri and seaweed,” mused one X user.
Another quipped: “Sir, please enjoy the salad that comes with our nasi lemak.”
“So all this time we have been eating nasi lemak wrong apparently,” joked a TikTok user in Malay.
Chai also joined in to tease him on Facebook, commenting: “Sir Action ‘The Leaf Eater’ Slacks.”
On the original video, a session of OG’s official podcast The Monkey Business Show streamed live from Kuala Lumpur on December 17, Chai is seen handing out the packs of nasi lemak to the foreign hosts along with disposable cutlery.
Many were even more tickled by the scene in the full video, which confirmed Kanner was the last to get his food and could be seen observing the other two hosts eating with their spoons — but went on on to eat it his way instead.
As one Instagram user wrote: “Slacks took his time, watched Mushi eat and thought: ‘I think I have to grab it with my whole hand and eat it.’”
Others called the video a “nightmare” to watch, saying: “My ancestors are crying.”
According to YouTube, the clip remains the most replayed part of the one-hour podcast episode. — TODAY