“Is it a cultural thing?” – Canadian Left Confused as Penang E-Hailing Driver Puts Potatoes in Cupholder

Malaysia made it to the front page of the social media site Reddit recently for a rather curious situation a Reddit user found themselves in while visiting Penang.

The Reddit user, u/rocket416 posted to the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit a photo inside of their e-hailing ride while in Penang, which included a peculiar sight that is more than mildly interesting.

For illustration purposes

Get this, there were a couple of potatoes inside the cupholders of the rear passenger seats, leaving the Redditor dumbfounded.

Furthermore, the e-hailing driver acted as if the starchy root vegetable being there was nothing out of the ordinary, further adding to the confusion.

In the post title, u/rocket416 shared,

“My Uber in Malaysia had potatoes in the back seat cupholders”

The post then went viral on Reddit, which has a large US-based audience and managed to get to the social site’s front page. Like u/rocket416, many Redditors were also perplexed and amused at what they just witnessed.

Redditors on the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit then began to offer theories as to why the potatoes were there.

One commenter theorised that the e-hailing driver put the potatoes in the cupholders so that people wouldn’t put drinks in there, arguing that no one’s “going to touch the car potato to set their drink down”.

Another Redditor echoed the same sentiment, saying the Penang e-hailing driver was smart to put the potatoes there as it meant that people with drinks won’t leave their garbage in the car.

Replying to this theory, one commenter joked that the potatoes themselves were probably garbage from a previous passenger.

Besides that, a commenter jokingly asked u/rocket416 why they are calling “potato holders as cup holders?”. Another jokester said that the potatoes were meant to be used as a battery bank and that any grade school kid knows this.

In a brief conversation with WORLD OF BUZZ, u/rocket416 shared that they were visiting Penang from Ontario, Canada when the incident happened. They further added that the e-hailing ride wasn’t Uber but another e-hailing operator in Southeast Asia but chose to still call it Uber, so that it’s more understandable to an international audience on Reddit.

As for the potatoes, u/rocket416 said they didn’t ask the e-hailing driver about them since they were genuinely not sure if putting potatoes in cupholders was a cultural thing in Penang or Malaysia and didn’t want to sound ignorant to the driver.

For illustration purposes

However, u/rocket416 agreed with the top comment of the Reddit post that the driver probably put it there to discourage passengers from leaving their food or drinks inside the car.

So, why do you think there were potatoes in the car’s cupholders (or potato holders)? Share your theories with us in the comments.

Also read: M’sian Grab Driver Shares Why These 2 Teenage Siblings Were His Best Passengers for 2023