Peanuts…

During my growing up years, come Chinese New Year, my dad would order two things through his friends or business associates in Singapore – bak kua (barbecued meat slices) and menglembu groundnuts.

I do not know what brand the bak kua was but I do recall it being wrapped in layers and layers of white paper with its blood red label stuck to the front. The menglembu groundnuts came in a big cylindrical tin, taller than the LARGE tin of Milo and there was a picture of a bearded Chinese farmer carrying a cangkul (hoe) over his shoulder and a bunch of groundnuts in the other hand…

Those were things that we could not get anywhere in Sibu or anywhere else around here so of course, we would look forward to the festival as that was the only time in the year when we could get to enjoy them. Nowadays, bak kua is so common that it no longer draws that much attention and as for those groundnuts, we do have them still but I do not think I’ve seen that aforementioned brand around here.

Well, I was in one of the shops in my neighbourhood the other day and I saw a box of these…

Yes, I bought these a few times before from some other place, one of the supermarkets but I never took note of the price. I was somewhat surprised that it was not expensive – RM12.00 for 36 of these small packets…

…a little over 30 sen each. My girl enjoys eating them and she would help herself to a packet or two each time until it all runs out.

People these days are so pampered, so spoilt – they do not even have to crack the shell to get the nuts out to eat. All they have to do is to open a pack and start munching…

…away and because they come in these very convenient small packets, you do not have to worry about the nuts masuk angin (going limp) while you are enjoying yourself unlike those that come in tins…

These remind me of the packets of peanuts that they would give you when you fly on our national airline…

Actually, I have heard stories of people asking for more – they sure seemed to be rather popular and if you were lucky enough to get some tea or coffee spilt on you, to make up for it, the cabin crew would give you one big bag of it to take home and enjoy.

If I am not mistaken, those airline ones were from Tong Garden but these are the products of this popular brand…

I was quite put off by those people once a long long time ago when I used to buy their menglembu groundnuts quite frequently to enjoy. I noticed this statement at the back of the pack – FOR EXPORT TO SABAH AND SARAWAK ONLY but I could not see the reason why they said that until I bought home a packet while I was in KL or somewhere in West Malaysia. When I compared the groundnuts, those sold here were very much smaller and I was so pissed off. That was downright discrimination and to think that we are all in the same country! I refused to buy it anymore and told everybody else here to boycott it as well.

Yes, they still sell them at the shops and supermarkets but I have not bought any for a long time so I don’t know if they still say that at the back of every pack or not. I most certainly hope not!!!