Two Indonesian dishes, the rendang (beef with coconut milk and numerous spices stewed over low heat for several hours) and nasi goreng (Indonesia’s take on fried rice) respectively topped CNN Travel’s ‘Your Pick: World’s best 50 foods’ list, published on July 12, that were chosen from a Facebook poll of readers from around the world.
Heard that one before? That’s because the list, as noted by the editor, was previously published in 2011 (we even referenced it in one of our very first articles back in 2014), with the republished edition simply being reformatted and containing no changes whatsoever.
Nevertheless, the new version of CNN‘s old list has once again become a source of pride amongst Indonesians (much like it was back in 2011), with numerous national media outlets proudly reporting rendang and nasi goreng’s victory on the global stage without making it clear that it’s a republished version of the same old poll. Take their reports with a grain of salt then, if you will.
Also, Malaysia, please do not claim rendang as yours – it’s undoubtedly Indonesian. We should know, because CNN said so.
Read CNN‘s ‘Your Pick: World’s best 50 foods’ list in its entirety here.
