Talk:Belacan

First, what is the source of the claim that belacan was made from krill? All on-line mentions I've found call it a "shrimp paste". A Singaporean web site even lists a species called "Belachan Shrimp", definitely not a euphausiid but a sergestoid of the genus Acetes (see also ITIS for the taxonomy). This view is backed by e.g., and also by the FAO Fishery Statistics not listing Malaysia as a krill producer but registering annual catches of sergestoid shrimp fluctuating between some 20,000 tons in 1993 and about 8,000 tons in 2003.

Second, what is the source for the claim that the dead animals were "buried for several months"? None of the on-line sources I found mention this. See e.g., , , or.

Third, it appears that this shrimp paste is a common ingedient in South-East Asian cuisine in general, not only in Malaysia. If it originated there, could we have a reference to that effect? If not, how about re-categorizing this article?

Lupo 09:12, August 8, 2005 (UTC)


 * My source is some random TV documentary here in Singapore showing how they make the stuff, and they called it "krill". For what it's worth, this also translates the Malay gerago as "krill".  I will readily admit that I cannot tell my euphausiids from my sergestoids, so by all means plunge in and edit &mdash; I just eat the stuff.


 * Also, I don't see the article claiming that Malaysia (not the same as Malays, by the way) originated the stuff, it just says that belacan is a Malay condiment, which is undisputable. If you want to have a shrimp-measuring contest about if trassi, nam pla, garum or whatever came first, then maybe you should make a shrimp paste article to discuss the weighty matter. Jpatokal 11:48, 11 August 2005 (UTC)


 * The categorization under "Malaysian cuisine" made me wonder why it was not also categorized under, say, "Singaporean cuisine" or "Thai cuisine" or "Indonesian cuisine", or... in other words, what's so special about Malaysia in that context? Just the name? Maybe indeed this article should be at shrimp paste and just mention the various different names and be categorized under "South-east Asian cuisine". And what about the burying? These two FAO documents might be of interest, too. This one from the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP) is also interesting. Lupo 12:45, August 11, 2005 (UTC)
 * And then there is the Thai "Ka-pi"... (also doesn't mention burying) Lupo 12:47, August 11, 2005 (UTC)m


 * I wrote an article on shrimp paste a little while ago not knowing there was already a belacan article. I have never been to Malaysia so I'm sure it could use some help.  Maybe we could merge the articles together.Onionhound 07:35, 7 November 2005 (UTC)