GEORGE TOWN, July 8 ― George Town celebrated its seventh anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage site yesterday with a showcase of some of its traditional food on the final day of its four-day heritage celebrations.
The annual heritage celebrations, which kicked off on Saturday, was themed “Eat Rite” this year with a focus on local traditional cuisine showcased in cooking classes, food presentations and workshops.
There was a walk on the Spice Trail in the inner city, cooking classes and food workshops at the Meng Eng Soo Open Day along Rope Walk yesterday evening.
On the Spice Trail, two guides took two groups of a total of 80 participants on a discovery trail of the spices to be found from China Street to Little India.
Participants were first brought to a sundry shop selling a variety of spices, beans and lentils where the guide explained each spice and its uses.
The aromatic clove, according to one of the guides, David Low, can be used to freshen one's breath just by sucking on it and it also soothes the throat.
“It is also good for diabetics, you only need to take two spoonfuls of ground clove each day and it may improve your condition by about 20 per cent,” Low told the participants.
He also shared the benefits of nutmeg oil, which is supposed to be good to relieve arthritic or rheumatic pain on the joints.
On the two-hour walk, participants were also taken to visit a spice powder manufacturer and dealer, Sri Kaleespari Enterprise, where the spices are ground using large machines and packed before being delivered to shops and restaurants.
They stopped at the Tropical Spice Garden's town outlet along that street before they were taken to several other spice shops around Little India; Low explained the origins of the spices and described the recipes that use these spices.
In the evening, the usually quiet Rope Walk snaking through the middle of town between Chulia Street and Kimberly Street was a hive of activities for the double celebration of Meng Eng Soo Open Day and the heritage celebrations.
Meng Eng Soo, located at Rope Walk, is the memorial hall for leaders and members of the Ghee Hin Secret Society back in the 19th century.
The annual open day sees the temple opened to the public so people can visit its traditional kitchen and find out more about the history of the place.
Held in conjunction with the heritage celebrations, the whole street seemed to have turned back time with traditional-looking stalls being set up to showcase local traditional cuisine, games and crafts.
Even those manning the stalls were dressed in traditional attire reminiscent of a bygone era; walking along the crowded street was almost like walking back through time.
This year, there was more focus on traditional food like ik bwa (a type of sorghum pastry), murukku, mi koo (steamed buns), bak chang (glutinous rice dumplings), nyee (glutinous rice balls) and guek pneah (mooncakes).
There were demonstrations of how to wrap bak chang using bamboo leaves, how to roll the glutinous flour into tiny balls to make nyee, how to deep fry murukku and how to make mi koo.
Other than the food demonstrations and workshops, there were also cultural performances, dances along with lion dance and chingay performances before the celebrations ended at 10pm.
