Tips: Foods to avoid (Western vs. Eastern context)

Delicious Malaysian Nyonya nasi lemak that I had!

Food to stay away from (in Mat Salleh / Ang Mo / Gwai Lo / Western culture context):

1. Chewy foods: hard rolls, bagels
2. Crunchy foods: popcorn, ice, chips
3. Sticky foods: caramels, gum
4. Hard foods: nuts, candy
5. Foods you have to bite into: corn on the cob, apples, carrots
6. Chewing on hard things (e.g, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.

Food to stay away from (in Malaysian / Asian / Eastern culture context):

1. Chewy foods: sotong, karipap, pisang goreng, keropok leko
2. Crunchy foods: fried ikan bilis (anchovies), biscuit raya, french fries
3. Sticky foods: pulut, bak-chang, bubble gum (chewing gum), chinese nian gao （年糕）
4. Hard foods: kacang (nuts) unless the steamed one,
5. Foods you have to bite into: jagung, apples, carrots
6. Chewing on hard things (for example, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces. (this applies to the entire universe)

** In case you might be asking, the tips are for people who are wearing braces...