PETALING JAYA, March 17 ― One in two Malaysians said they would opt for nasi lemak if they were given a choice between the beloved rice dish, roti canai and dim sum, lifestyle brand Oxwhite found in a recent survey.

The homegrown e-commerce brand discovered Selangorians were the biggest nasi lemak fans (29 per cent), followed by Kuala Lumpur (16 per cent) and Penang (12 per cent).

It also found that Malaysians born in Melaka preferred roti canai (47 per cent) while 33 per cent chose nasi lemak and 20 per cent would rather go for dim sum.

Over in East Malaysia, 40 per cent of Sarawakians were more likely to also choose roti canai, followed by dim sum and nasi lemak ― 31 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.

One in two Malaysians chose nasi lemak for breakfast with Selangor clocking in the highest number of nasi lemak fans at 29 per cent. ― Picture courtesy of Oxwhite

Oxwhite surveyed 500 Malaysians following the ease of the movement control order, anticipating that food-obsessed Malaysians will be heading to their favourite food outlets once again after dining out was disrupted by Covid-19.

Interestingly, the study found that as Malaysians get older, their preference for nasi lemak diminishes.

The survey indicated a steady downward trend between those in the age groups of 21-30 (40 per cent), 31-40 (37 per cent), 41-50 (13 per cent) and those aged 51 and above (11 per cent).

"This may be an indication that as we advance in age, we get more health-conscious and seek out other breakfast options,” said Oxwhite founder CK Chang.

The brand which sells affordable lifestyle items including activewear and comfy work-from-home clothes turned the fun trivia findings into a range of t-shirts aptly named the Makanlah collection.

The Makanlah collection also has a roti canai t-shirt, a dish 47 per cent of Malaccans preferred for breakfast. ― Pictures courtesy of Oxwhite

Oxwhite teamed up with Salang Design to create t-shirt series featuring iconic Malaysian breakfast dishes such as nasi lemak, roti canai and dim sum that were surveyed and a design bearing the phrase ‘food coma’, famously used to describe the feeling of extreme fatigue after a big meal.

The collection will be launched in conjunction with Oxwhite’s Lazada official store opening tomorrow and will be exclusively available on the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform.

"Given that we will be able to reach out to millions of Malaysians through the platform, we thought long and hard about how to create differentiation to attract people to visit our official store.

"We felt that there is no better way to do this than to incorporate the one biggest unifying factor among Malaysians ― our foodie culture,” said Chang.

Based on the popularity of Malaysia’s national dish, Chang expects the nasi lemak design to fly off the shelves first, followed by roti canai and dim sum.

"I may be wrong about my prediction of nasi lemak being the most popular design, but let’s see,” he said.

The collection which includes this dim sum design will be available exclusively on Lazada from March 18 onwards. ― Pictures courtesy of Oxwhite