While the disappearance of Malaysia Airline is
still a mystery, and it might hurt the tourist industry of the country, Malaysia
is celebrating the tourism year 2014 with various events lined up during the
year. There are great variety of musical festivals stealing the show during the
month of April (Penang World Music
Festival), May(Borneo Jazz Festival),
June (Rainforest World Music Festival),
July(Morneo Cultural Festival) and
December(Penang International Jazz
Festival)
The show must go on…
The Director General, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, Dato
Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, who was speaking at a news conference in Mumbai, said
that the travellers would overcome the sense of fear.
During the Q & A session, although there were repeated
questions on the safety of the tourists, the talk was still diverted towards
what they offer to those interested in travelling to Malaysia.
We were very amused to learn about Shoe festival that is just round the
corner; this might interest women who are fetish about shoe collection.
Friend confirms that the shopping is cheaper in
Malaysia as compared to India, and informs me of big range of gadgets that she
has collected during her trips to the city. There is one Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival during the months, (June to September) and the year-end sale in the month of November that promises incredible
discounts and promotional offers.
But the most useful events that interest me is the one that is related to food
events and this will be in full swing during the end of the year from October to December. The three-month-long
cuisine event is divided into four segments:
the Malaysia International gourmet Festival,
The Asian Food Heritage
trail,
the Street Food Festival and
the Restaurant Food Festival.
Now into its 13th Successive year,
the Malaysia International Gourmet Festival made its debut in September 2001. During this festival,
restaurants put aside their competitive differences, share contacts and come
together in a collective marketing effort. Rather than bringing the chefs from
abroad for a one-off food promotion, the Festival’s unwavering focus is on
skills of the world-class chefs already residing in Malaysia and the all-year
round of their cuisine and restaurants.
During the year 2012, group of food bloggers
were invited for ASEAN Heritage Food Trail in Penang by Ministry of Tourism Malaysia to witness this culinary
showcase building bridge and linking culture with Indonesia and Thailand. The
challenge for chef from three different countries was to use a common
ingredients with innovation cooking method to create delicious dish, the
ingredients for appetizers had to include bamboo shoot and fern, main course
should have shallots, lemongrass and galangal and dessert was mainly on sago.
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| Image Source |
Malaysia team prepared Bamboo Shoot and Fern
Kerabu, Delicious Malay style salad with springs of fern, raw bamboo shoots,
shredded coconut, local lettuce and spicy seasoning
The
Malaysian Street Food Festival gives an opportunity to
explore and purchase traditional Malaysian art and craft. Besides street food,
there are many added attractions like martial art performances to music shows,
traditional dances native to various regions around Malaysia, cultural display
and many more
The detailed list of itinerary of fabulous food
at Street and Restaurant Food Festival can be found at their site on Malaysia tourism
Four other food bloggers, Sameer Malkani
@FoodBloggerAI, Nisha Jha @Cemonde , (a common man dines)@Ajit Balgi and @BhaktisBanter
(Just Let it B) were also present at the news conference and together(in between
our private tweets) we wished for a special privilege to travel to Malaysia to savor the flavors of their cuisine, preferably a pure
vegetarian one.
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| picture courtesy: Sameer Malkani |
