NUTRITION AND HEALTH: MILK IN BRITISH MALAYA

Abstract

Milk consumption was not a part of the Malayan diet but it gradually became so as a result of the transmission of values from the metropole into the colonial empire. Colonisation had exposed Malaya to various external influences. As colonial medicine sought to address some of the problems of malnutrition in the 1920s to the 1930s, it tried to persuade Malayans to eat according to scientific principles of nutrition. Milk's vitamin content made it an excellent recommendation for supplementay feeding. However much of this effort was uncoordinated, as colonial medicine was foremost concerned with providing the most basic health care. Towards the late 1930s, the British Empire redefined its responsibilities towards the colonial people by seeking to improve their quality of life. Malnutrition was a grave impediment to this goal and the science of nutrition was incorporated into social welfare and development policy. Milk featured in this policy to make up for the Vitamins that were missing from Malayan diets. Various efforts were made to persuade Malayans to consume milk. At the same time, the colonial authorities were making vigorous efforts to teach Malayans the principles of dietetics, which suggested that a combination of cheap nutritious local foodstuffs could be eaten for optimum health. Milk became part of the diet but it was also ironically displaced by equally nutritious local foodstuffs. Nonetheless Malayans consumed it in increasingly quantities. Other influences modified the dietary habits of Malayans, revealing the extent to which personal preferences and customary attitudes to eating were as significant as made attempts by government in affecting food choices.