KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — A common stereotype is men cannot be trusted with grocery shopping, as patriarchal mainstream gender roles have caused them to be unfamiliar with cooking and therefore food items and produce.

With the government urging only “the head of the family” to go out for groceries during the Movement Control Order (MCO), the Sabah Information Department has come out with a tongue-in-cheek infographic on Twitter to help men identify the bare essentials of a Malaysian pantry.

 

 

“We understand your frustration. 

“Wives, please share this picture with your beloved husband as a reference. 

“Happy wife, Happy family,’’ it said on Twitter.

The “guide to pantry essentials for men” included ten items: Red onions, garlic, ginger, celery leaves, scallion or green onion, galangal, chillies, lime, salt and seasoning powder. 

In a reply to the post, one social media user @Hannah_Ty75 had also replied with a picture showing the differences between turmeric, ginger and galangal — all of which look almost alike.

 

 

Another reply by @Christinope commented that it is embarrassing for someone not to recognise basic produce.

‘If you are confuse about galangal, ginger and parleys and green onion, that is still alright because they look the same. But if you can’t recognise the others, you might as well crawl back into your mother’s womb,’’ he said.

Yesterday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said that only one representative of a family is allowed to go out to purchase daily essentials under MCO.

Despite naming the representative as the “head of the family”, it was not stated that they should be a male.

The MCO is enforce from March 18 to 31 by the federal government in hopes to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve.