Sampling the tastes of Malaysia

The government of Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country of about 30 million people, is working hard to promote its cuisine in the United States in an attempt both to attract tourists and to encourage exportation of Malaysian food products.

The country, a former British colony that occupies the Malay Peninsula south of Thailand and also shares the island of Borneo with Brunei and Indonesia, has three main ethnic groups — Malay, Chinese and Indian — that together inform a varied and evolving cuisine.

Nation’s Restaurant News food editor Bret Thorn recently took a trip to Malaysia to examine the country’s traditional foods.