Translations:Gulai/14/en

European accounts and colonial-era diffusion

By the 16th century, dishes resembling gulai were already being prepared in various parts of Sumatra, Java and the Malay Peninsula. European travellers of the period, including Antonio Pigafetta, documented the prevalence of richly spiced foods in maritime Southeast Asia, reflecting the long-standing integration of curry-like preparations into local diets. In 1811, the British orientalist William Marsden recorded a dish called gulei in the Malay language, describing it as being prepared in a manner similar to what Europeans had come to know as “curry”.