Traditional "Roti Kok" baker

What is it about rusk made the traditional way that makes it taste so good? Can you find the answers to this enigma with my photo?

Is it because the dough has been kneaded, punched, rolled and shaped entirely by human hands, relegating the electric rolling machine to a far corner? Even using a wooden cutter to divide up the dough? Is it pure sentimentality or does minimising contact with metal really improve the rusk's taste?

Or can it be because the 78 year old baker, Pan Zhen Bo, himself is old school Chinese and has started his day, by paying respect to his ancestors and thanking his deities? Can it be that the baker has insisted on proofing the dough naturally in our hot Malaysian temperature, instead of in a proofer box? Can it be his baking the rusk in his half-a-century-old clay oven?

Has it anything to do with the old baker's spot on judgment at every point of call – when to continue and when to stop – borne of decades of experience? Has his passion for baking the 'best rusk ever' infused tastiness into it? Has his personal involvement in the process from start to end been pivotal in creating the rusk's scrumptiousness ?

Whatever the whys and wherefores, let's savour traditionally made rusk now before it is too late. Traditional methods and the human touch will soon be a thing of the past, especially when artisans of the old baker's vintage pass on. Tradition will soon fall through the cracks of automation. Soon all we will get is: machine made rusk which will taste somewhat like the robotics that made it.