Tan prepares the Brooke’s Brew mocktail as Dr Sim (third right), Tiang (right) and Wee (second right) look on.
KUCHING (Aug 3): The Unesco Creative Cities Network (UCCN) Kuching team marked its first participation at this year’s Kuching Festival which is running from now until Aug 21.
UCCN Kuching’s booth features a standing exhibition on Kuching’s journey into the network and creative ecosystem as well as interactive displays and food demonstrations from the Culinary Heritage and Arts Society Sarawak.
The official opening of Kuching Festival last night (Aug 2) saw Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian and Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah treated to samples of Sarawak’s finest foods as well as a tour of the exhibition while escorted by Kuching South mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng.
Wee, who is also head of UCCN Kuching team, said the Kuching Festival played a key role in the team’s application to Unesco.
“It aligns perfectly with the goals of this important network – preserving our traditional food culture, promoting creativity in cooking and also creating links with other countries around the world.
“This year, for example, we have booths from both the China and Indonesian Consulates to showcase their cuisine and meet the Kuching people.
“This festival, which has already broken all records this year in its opening weekend, is the ideal mix of Sarawak, allowing equal opportunity to a wide range of Kuching artisans and food providers to share their skills and talents and also to earn some income after two very tough years,” he said in a statement.
Wee said it was very appropriate for UCCN Kuching to showcase its membership of the network at the festival.
“Our vendors are exactly the kind of people that this network will be supporting. This is why Kuching South City Council (MBKS) have donated the space for this exhibition.
“We urge all the visitors to the festival to drop by and see exactly what the city is offering over the next four years. We know most people come to this festival for the wide variety of food on offer, but a short stop to feed the mind should also be a big draw,” he said.
Meanwhile UCCN Kuching strategic director Karen Shepherd said last night’s opening ceremony said Dr Sim, Abdul Karim and his wife Datin Sri Zuraini Abdul Jabbar, Deputy Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister Michael Tiang and Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) mayor Datu Junaidi Reduan tasting some of Sarawak’s best and most creative food culture.
“Master mixologist, Alex Tan from Bibber’s Tale, created a new mocktail for the guests called Brooke’s Brew, blending Earl Grey tea with our own Sarawak pineapple – East meets West.
“Then, Peter John Jaban whipped up a classic Sarawak umai to accompany it. To finish, Joyce Kho from Bee’z Gelato shared her Signature Teh C Peng gelato, swirled with gula apong.
“All these were served on beautiful dinnerware handcrafted from local clay by Tuson Chong of Gardencraft Co. They seemed delighted,” she said.
She said following the UCCN Kuching delegation’s recent return from the 14th UCCN Annual Conference in Santos, Brazil, it was an important moment to share with the group some of the outcomes from the conference, including a potential bid for future years.
She also said that UCCN Kuching looked forward to welcoming the public to visit the booth over the next 20 days to learn about Kuching’s plans going forward as well as to share their views on potential activities and on their own creativity in the interactive display.
The booth, supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, will feature regular demonstrations of Sarawak’s heritage foods from the Culinary Heritage and Arts Society Sarawak and Tanoti Foods.
Visitors will be able to take part in Kuching’s Collective Creative Rainbow, an interactive installation to gauge the city’s creative feeling.
For further enquiries, please contact UCCN Kuching team at 016-8505743 or email to [email protected]