Entrepreneur and content creator Khairul Amin Kamarulzaman, fondly known as Khairul Aming, is a household name among Malaysian foodies thanks to mouthwatering recipes he often shares on social media and his signature Sambal Nyet.
However, his recipes are sometimes not well received by some due to its ingredients, like Dr Rafidah Abdullah, a consultant physician and nephrologist in Hospital Putrajaya.
Advised Khairul Aming to have less oily recipes
In a tweet posted by Dr Rafidah on Saturday (Apr 1), she called upon Khairul Aming to come up with healthier and less oily recipes in the future.
This comes after he posted a video of how to make Sambal Hijau Bilis and omelette, which she believed had too much oil in it.
I hope your cooking will feature healthier food in the future. There’s too much oil and fried food isn’t good. I also hope you’ll be more aware to the problems faced by Malaysians as we don’t want public health to decline.
Salam KhairulAming. Saya berharap masakan akan datang adalah makanan sihat. Banyak sangat minyak ni. Goreng is not good. Harap lebih peka dengan masalah rakyat Malaysia. Kita tidak mahu kesihatan makin teruk, negara makin merundum. TK. https://t.co/vIjsh4lmTV
— Dr Rafidah Abdullah (@rafidah72) April 1, 2023
Backlash from netizens
Needless to say, Dr Rafidah’s remarks didn’t sit down well with fans of Khairul Aming, who criticised her for singling the content creator out.
One wrote that food at the hospital cafeteria isn’t exactly healthy and urged her to look into fixing it instead of targeting Khairul Aming.
Another netizen opined that Dr Rafidah could have reached out to Khairul Aming privately and said there was nothing wrong in indulging in oily food once in a while.
Another pointed out that Khairul Aming has a separate Instagram account where he promotes healthy eating and exercise.
Dr Rafidah and Khairul Aming respond
Following the uproar, Dr Rafidah posted an apology on Twitter and said that she had no intention of pining the blame entirely on Khairul Aming for poor eating choices among Malaysians.
She also added that she hopes influencers will take the initiative to disclose the calorie content for viewers in the future.
As for Khairul Aming, he shared his thoughts about the controversy in a Twitter video yesterday (Apr 2).
Thank you kepada semua yang bagi feedback mengenai minyak masak dalam masakan, I will take note for improvement 🙏🏻. If you dont mind, I want to share my perspective on this issue, especially coming from me as an obese Malaysian and also a food content creator: pic.twitter.com/OGQgBjqbvP
— Khairulaming (@khairulaming) April 2, 2023
In the clip, he said that he had managed to lower his Body Mass Index (BMI) from the obese category to overweight as well as decrease his body fat from 44% to 29%.
However, he also admitted that he went through much agony while undergoing a healthy diet as he couldn’t indulge in local food, thus leading him to eat way more than he should and gaining the extra pounds.
While he is still undergoing a clean diet, Khairul Aming said that he still consumes Malaysian food albeit in moderation.
As for the matter of using less oil for his cooking, he said that doing so would make the food less delicious and added that he was still criticised by those who complained of the lack of taste after they followed the healthier recipe.
I can’t please everyone. Whether you like it or not, not every Malaysian wants to go on a diet or watch their body weight.
“I’m just showing the way the food is prepared in real life so that you (viewers) can make your own decision. I have no control over that. Most importantly, you can control your portion,” he said.
What do you think of this incident? Let us know in the comments!
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