Cooking blog calls roti prata 'Asian flat croissant', triggers Asians

What's in a name? Well, if the response to a cooking blog's attempt to rebrand roti prata is any indication, Asian food names should not be trifled with.

Nyonya Cooking — a German company founded by Malaysian Grace Teo — provoked vehement reactions from both Singaporeans and Malaysians when it posted a recipe for the beloved local dish on Facebook on Feb 23, referring to it as the "Asian flat croissant".

The recipe went on to draw more similarities between roti prata and croissants, claiming that the two are "rather similar due to the flakiness of the layers of oiled dough".

The renaming of the Indian-influenced flatbread dish, popularly known as roti prata in Singapore and roti canai in Malaysia, certainly did not fly with netizens.

Many were understandably confused and chimed in to correct the page.

Others lashed out, admonishing Nyonya Cooking for whitewashing Asian culture.

Some netizens were even inspired to rechristen a few Western dishes.

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Nyonya Cooking responded to the backlash in a Facebook comment, explaining: "We just want to make a fun title for our marketing content to make it more relatable for our audiences who are not familiar with words such as canai, prata, parotta or paratha."

It also claimed that Asian flat croissant "has always been how it is known" in its region.

According to a poll on its Facebook page, nearly half of its audience hails from Singapore or Malaysia.

kimberlylim@asiaone.com