I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage for their effort in documenting '72 rare food items'
read the excerpts (NST Dec10, pg.24)
"KUALA LUMPUR: Ever heard of glutinous rice cooked in a pitcher plant in the jungles of Sarawak? Or what about the haruan fish caught in the padi fields of Kedah and baked in mud?Or even opok-opok, a red sugar and flour-based keropok only found in Kelantan?Never heard of them? Well, they are just some of the 72 "rare" foods in the country that the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry has identified.And to ensure that they do not disappear, the ministry is planning to gazette some of them soon.
"Food can also be of heritage value. If there is no effort made to preserve it, it can also be forgotten within the next few generations," said minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim after launching the Heritage Food Festival.He said he would be getting feedback from the public before gazetting some of the food as a national heritage."We will also look into modifying the ingredients a little to make it acceptable to all Malaysians, and then we will popularise it again."To complement this effort, the ministry will be publishing recipes of the "rare" food and will be touring several states to organise the food festival.He also said that there was no need for any other country to be upset with the nation's heritage list as culture was meant to be shared and modified and was intangible."
This effort suits well with our tourism objective and educational hubs ambitions as I have discussed earlier under topic; Asian Culinary- the future trends. The documenting process is indeed the first step of many stages in academics and significance to Malaysia's own version of Culinary / Gastronomy Tourism.
"Food can also be of heritage value. If there is no effort made to preserve it, it can also be forgotten within the next few generations," said minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim after launching the Heritage Food Festival.He said he would be getting feedback from the public before gazetting some of the food as a national heritage."We will also look into modifying the ingredients a little to make it acceptable to all Malaysians, and then we will popularise it again."To complement this effort, the ministry will be publishing recipes of the "rare" food and will be touring several states to organise the food festival.He also said that there was no need for any other country to be upset with the nation's heritage list as culture was meant to be shared and modified and was intangible."
This effort suits well with our tourism objective and educational hubs ambitions as I have discussed earlier under topic; Asian Culinary- the future trends. The documenting process is indeed the first step of many stages in academics and significance to Malaysia's own version of Culinary / Gastronomy Tourism.
FYI- I always thought that we have only two foods; to claim as our originals - the Roti Canai and the Yee Sang. I am glad now, we have "74". Okay - have to find the details.... :)
Syabas KeKKWa.
Syabas KeKKWa.
The Istana Kenangan of Kuala Kangsar - being built in 1926 without even a single nail!!!, and still standing today; located next to the Royal Palace of Bukit Chandan (shown here is a model at Taiping Museum). Efforts to register, documenting and preserved any heritage should be fully endorsed and supported.
2 comments:
Yes, bring on the 72 foods. I was a bit bored at the recent pasar ramadan that would have nothing but murtabak (which is thinner than the sun newspaper) and ayam percik. Gimme something more exotic!
Err, btw, do you think roti canai is ours? Isnt it a bit too close in resemblance to the pratha?
Yup, correct it has DNA of paratha but you wont find a roti canai elsewhere, as the food migrating, evolving and it choose Malaysia as its country. Similarly the Yee Sang, it has DNA of pasembor and rojak, in Chinese Cuisine perspective, but it was born in Malaysia as well
Post a Comment