Do you still remember the time when roti kosong was only RM0.80? Yes! It’s like my favourite budget meal as a kid and a teenager. A thing that tastes good and the price is low? Count me in! And I believe that such a traditional dish is not only my favourite, but it’s the favourite of many other Malaysians as well.
Unfortunately for us, a mere roti kosong has recently hit an all-time high of RM2.00 per piece. It’s true! For anyone who has never eaten roti kosong for long, RM2.00 per piece of roti canai is something you’re expected to pay now. Gones are the days when we get to enjoy roti telur at RM1.50 because personally, I’ve recently just paid RM1.50 for a piece of roti canai.
Despite knowing that there’s been a shortage of wheat around the world, especially when India started to ban their wheat exportation, I never once suspected that the only budget food in my life is no longer a budget food anymore!
If you think that the hike in price for roti canai is bad, then be prepared for a piece of much worse news. As the child of a family who runs a diner, I’ve constantly been reminded by my parents about how their bread and noodles suppliers are increasing their prices once every month or two.
Yes, you read that correctly. It’s an increase in price once every month or two. Whenever I paid the bills to our suppliers, all I heard was, “Just a warning, we’re raising our prices again, and this time it’ll be a big raise.” Yeap! And I’ve been listening to the same thing since the start of Chinese New Year, which was months ago!
Many restaurant owners that I know of, including my parents, are currently trying their best to stay still with their prices without affecting the food quality. We all thought that this would be a phase and that eventually, our government would do something to subsidy the price of any products made of wheat. Unfortunately for us, there’s not much reasonable action from the government that ensure our benefits.
Lee Jasen is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
Register at headliner.newswav.com to become one of our content writers now!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
