Popular spices used for cooking curry of popular dish contain health benefits believed to help boost immunity, says trader
GEORGETOWN: When the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) swept through Asia in 2003, Penang spice trader S.K. Sundaram noticed something unusual at his Beach Street eatery, where Chinese customers who had never shown any interest in spices were suddenly queuing up to buy them.
Growing up in Market Street, Sundaram made many Chinese friends and spoke fluent Hokkien, yet hardly any of them would touch Indian curry, which they found far too spicy.
That changed when a Chinese newspaper article suggested that a lack of spices in the Chinese diet had left them more vulnerable to the virus, he said.
