Malaysian And Singaporean Netizens Fight For John's Roti Claim, Where Did It Come From?

Where did John's real bread come from? (Autostudent)

JAKARTA - Debates over culture to the origin of food often occur between countries, especially neighboring countries. As happened recently between Malaysia and Singapore, where netizens of each country claimed John's bread.

Quoted from AsiaOne, on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, the debate between Malaysian and Singaporean netizens over John's bread took place on TikTok. Singaporean netizens say that John's bread comes from their country, while Malaysian netizens are very protective of the bread.

Singaporean netizens claim that John's bread comes from their country. Meanwhile, Malaysian netizens are very protective of John's bread, "said DJ Anne from Malaysia, who discussed with DJ Shawnrick Hu from Singapore, on Kiss92 radio broadcast.

"I know the Malaysians really like John bread. So we have to solve this problem," added Anne.

DJ Shawnrick then explained the history of John's bread and believed the bread came from Singapore. According to the history he knew, John's bread was originally made in the 1950s when British soldiers came.

'Roti John was made around the 1950s, at that time there was a British soldier who asked a food seller from Malay to make her a burger. Because the seller didn't know what a burger was, he ended up making his own version (John's rot,' explained Shawnrick.

Anne herself then admitted that she had indeed heard about the historical story. However, he believes that the incident occurred in Malaysia, not in Singapore.

Reporting from the National Library Board, John's bread is described as a local burger from Singapore. This bread is related to the influence of British, Malay and Indian cuisine, which exists in the country.

Meanwhile, John's bread is grilled bread that uses French bread, namely baguette. This bread is filled with a mixture of eggs, packaged meat is usually chicken or cow, plus vegetables, to share other spices.