Event celebrates the tasty ritual food of Malaysian communities

Tasty heritage: Visitors getting a hands-on lesson on making ‘adde pariyaram’ at a festive food workshop in Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

GEORGE TOWN: It was food and more food as the city’s heritage celebration this year kicked off.

Thousands of people thronged the heritage enclave to catch various food-related programmes at the ‘Eat Rite – Ritual Foods of George Town’ event to mark the seventh anniversary of the city’s inscription as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

A total of 14 festive food workshops were set up in the closed streets, allowing visitors to try cooking ritual food such as asam daging, bak chang and adde pariyaram.

The asam daging, a zesty stew of buffalo innards, was once served only to nobles on Hari Raya Puasa while bak chang (glutinuous rice dumpling) was first made by villagers who wanted to feed the fishes in a river where their hero had died, hoping the fishes would not eat his body.

The adde pariyaram is deep-fried dough enriched with banana, coconut milk and eggs that was made by new brides for their families before they leave home to join their husband’s family.

The visitors got to sample the food they made and received booklets and flyers on all the festive dishes complete with recipes.

Visitors also thronged 14 community showcases demonstrating more dishes and handicraft workshops.

There were also stalls selling classic Penang fare and trinkets.

Free talks on Jawi Peranakan, Hindu and Chinese culinary heritage were held at the Town Hall.

The celebration, which began yesterday, will continue until Tuesday with more workshops, cooking classes and public talks on ritualistic food and walking trails.

There will be a Kaki Lima short film screening at 8pm tonight at the George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) office in Lebuh Acheh.

GTWHI public relations officer Annie Wong said more than 500 volunteers were roped in to help in the celebration. For details, visit www.heritagecelebrations.info.