Sunday November 9, 2008

Sambal draw

Eurofile
By CHOI TUCK WO

Despite the somewhat soggy and squishy weather, there was red hot response to Malaysia’s wealth of culinary delights at the Fifth Conwy Feast 2008 recently.

BRITISH weather has always thrown up the unexpected – that’s why it is a national obsession.

Spring, for instance, has been known to be the most fickle of all seasons; we can have snow storms and warm sunshine in the same week.

Spicy trail: The Welsh crowd checking out the TasteMalaysia Pavilion at the Conwy Feast in north Wales. — TasteMalaysia

But snow in autumn, right in the heart of London? Amazing, isn’t it, that the British capital saw its first October blanketing in 74 years less than a fortnight ago.

Talk of unseasonal flurries, the hostile weather extended right up to Conwy in North Wales where the Fifth Conwy Feast 2008 was held recently.

It was to have been a beautiful weekend of food, fun and entertainment where visitors would come face to face with a host of organic farmers and their animals.

With the media hype surrounding what the organisers have promised to be the best ever feast, many were looking forward to the region’s biggest food festival.

Conwy is, indeed, the perfect venue for the event; it has had a long and illustrious tradition of street fairs dating back to the Middle Ages where they were founded by royal charter more than 700 years ago.

For starters, you can actually enjoy delicious food produced at the doorstep in a beautiful county bordered by the mountains of Snowdonia and the Irish Sea.

Apart from celebrity chefs and street entertainment, the “star” attractions this year included organic hens, geese, turkeys and ducks kept in special pens along the quayside.

There were also Welsh mountain sheep and black cow and calf, which provided useful lessons about where your beef burger or sirloin steak comes from.

Beat it

Well, you can plan all you want but Mother Nature, as it turned out, had other things in mind; the skies opened up but, thankfully, that failed to deter the crowd from thronging the two-day carnival.

The rain, however, forced the cancellation of the Malaysian cultural dances, one of the highlights of the TasteMalaysia Pavilion comprising a row of rumah atap (attap huts) promoting Malaysia’s culinary delights.

Yet that did not deter P. Ramlee’s soothing songs and music from filling the air, complementing the rich, spicy aroma of Malaysia’s mouth-watering dishes, which caught the attention of the locals.

Yes, Malaysian chefs were cooking up a storm – literally – dishing out Welsh lamb bathed in subtly spiced fragrant curry, local stir-fried vegetables and Welsh mussels cooked with sambal (prawn paste). You cannot get more local than this!

Despite the intermittent rain and strong winds, the crowd started filing in, watching with intense curiosity the eye-catching displays of big wok cooking by the chefs.

And they simply loved popular delicacies such as roti canai, which they fondly nicknamed the Malaysian pizza, chicken satay, ketupat and the nutty satay sauce.

“We’ve eaten satay in the UK before many times but this one is definitely out of this world,” one visitor was quoted as saying.

There’s no doubt that the Welsh have been exposed to Malaysian cuisine before but not in the way and authenticity that were presented during the feast.

Admittedly, some might have been a little complacent in what they are showing, selling what they are not familiar with or cutting short the real thing.

As TasteMalaysia@Cardiff’s Alex Wong rightly puts it: “We did not travel for five hours in 10 vehicles and weather the storm to sell junk food in Conwy.”

Crowd favourite

Event organiser Jane Hughes paid tribute to the Malaysian delegation, saying they had brought an exciting and colourful addition to the feast.

She said many locals and visitors alike were looking forward to the Malaysian cuisine which had infused an international dimension to Welsh food.

Hughes’ remarks come across as sincere as she is passionate about food – minus the flashy compliments, promotional gimmicks or tub-thumping sound bites.

After all, she has been running a restaurant in Conwy for many years and also hosts cookery evenings, passing on her culinary skills to local enthusiasts.

The fact that more than 15,000 people, including Welsh tourist officials, television presenters and celebrity chefs visited the TasteMalaysia Pavilion speaks volumes of its success.

Notwithstanding the credit crunch and disastrous weather, Malaysia’s participation had helped to promote greater awareness about the country’s melting pot of ethnic cuisine.

HMS Promotions managing director H. Subahan said this was the third year they were taking part in the feast to showcase Malaysian culture through food and entertainment.

He said they started branding TasteMalaysia (www.tastemalaysia.com) by joining forces with local restaurants to promote Malaysia’s signature dishes last year.

The first TasteMalaysia takeaway restaurant was set up in Reading two years ago, and the second will open in Cardiff soon.

“Our vision is to open TasteMalaysia outlets throughout Britain, including in Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bristol and Birmingham,” he added.

So, despite it being a somewhat soggy, squishy weekend, the red hot response towards Malaysia’s wealth of culinary delights must have left a spicy trail for many.

Choi Tuck Wo is Editor, European Union Bureau, based in London

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