We Should Really Stop Buying And Eating 'Lemang Periuk Kera'

This year is no different...although the new food trend is dividing opinions.

Pitcher plant lemang (also called lemang periuk kera), or glutinous rice cooked in pitcher plants, is said to be tastier than bamboo-cooked lemang and it is in hot demand ahead of Hari Raya.

However, the delicacy didn’t sit too well with conservationists and nature lovers for obvious reasons.

They worry that the harvest of the plant may lead to its extinction and that in turn will trigger a chain effect that will also affect other species.

According to a Facebook poll conducted by Astro Awani on whether people would try the delicacy, a whopping 72 per cent said they won’t because they want to protect the nature, while the rest wouldn’t mind eating it for the sake of trying a new type of food.

Meanwhile, on Astro Awani’s Twitter poll, 87 per cent of people chose to stay away from pitcher plant lemang.

Quoting Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Sustainable Use of Natural Resources Research Center Researcher Dr Muhammad Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar, a report in Astro Awani said that he condemns traders who justify the act of selling the delicacy by saying the plant species will not go extinct.

He said adopting such unique species of flora and fauna for food will bring about environmental destruction.