Organise Food Festival In Conjunction With Other Events, Says Masidi

PENAMPANG, May 8 (Bernama) - The Traditional Food Festival should be organised in tandem with other tourism-related events in Sabah with a view to attracting more visitors, said state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun. More needed to be done to promote Sabah's traditional cuisine as a tourism product, he said when closing the inaugural festival at the Sabah Cultural Centre here Sunday. "Maybe the event could be packaged together with other tourism festivals, like Sabah Fest or Sabah International Folklore Festival next year to attract more foreign visitors," he said.

During the two-day food festival organised by the Sabah Cultural Board, visitors got to sample traditional offerings such as "hinata" (buffalo meat eaten raw with lemon), "tutumakon" (marine worms) and "butod" (sago worms). Masidi said the festival allowed Sabah's numerous ethnic groups to feel proud of their culture and tradition. He also urged restaurant operators to look into the possibility of introducing ethnic food items on their menus.

-Bernama.