Showcasing flavours of Sarawak

Dona Drury Wee (front, orange shirt), flanked by Wee Hong Seng (left) and Abang Abdul Wahapi, poses with other committee members and participants at a press conference of the festival.

KUCHING: Sarawak Heritage Street Food Festival returns for its second edition on July 6 to 8, offering the best of local flavours and cuisine.

The culinary event, to be held at India Street Pedestrian Mall, promotes traditional delicacies of the various ethnicity in the state, as well as “made in Sarawak” food products.

Themed “A Celebration of Food. Craft. Arts”, the event organised by the Sarawak Culinary Heritage and Arts Committee will feature some 50 participants from across the state who also promotes traditional crafts and music.

Open from 6pm till 10.30pm daily, the heritage street food and arts festival will feature different culinary workshops under the Kino Live Heritage Kitchen themed “Snacks Alive”.

This year’s event also debuts food heritage and cuisines from the Indian and Punjabi communities.

“We decided to hold the second edition of this culinary event following the success of our inaugural festival last year, which promotes ethnic culinary experience for visitors and locals alike to sample and enjoy Sarawak’s food,” the committee’s president Dona Drury Wee told a press conference here yesterday.

Sarawak Culinary Heritage and Arts Committee is a non-profit group, which aims to introduce the state’s rich and diverse ethnic cuisines as an avenue and platform to promote tourism, and enhance culinary arts by encouraging and promoting cultural heritage and diversity through local cuisine.

Wee said visitors and tourists could enjoy traditional dance and music performances such as Sape playing, Gendang, Orang Ulu bamboo instruments and Indian Sitar at the side stage of the festival.

There will also be Chinese opera and Iban Ngajat and chanting of the “Bejawang”, Indian dance performance, as well as Melanau bamboo dance among others.

Sarawak Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah is expected to bring a group of single mothers from Dalat to participate in the workshop, preparing traditional Melanau “Linut” dish, she added.

“We have chosen India Street Pedestrian Mall as our venue as we feel the mall has great potential as a night market venue. We want visitors to enjoy the architecture of the old shops that line the mall, which really enhances the atmosphere,” she continued.

Wee expressed content with Kuching North City Hall’s support in maintaining cleanliness throughout the weekend event.

Kuching North mayor Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai and India Street Pedestrian Mall Committee chairman Datuk Wee Hong Seng were also present.

The culinary event is also held in conjunction with the Rainforest Fringe Festival from July 6 to 15 in the city.

-thestar online.