BORN and raised in the northern part of Sarawak, specifically in Long Tanid and Ba’Kelalan during my early childhood, I grew up with limited access to the outside world. Despite this, we were – and still are – blessed with an abundance of fresh ingredients: meat, fish, and produce sourced directly from our surroundings. The forest, river and mountains served as our supermarket, providing us with everything we needed.
I have fond memories of the dinners my late grandparents served me, especially their smoked fish patties. They made these patties with freshwater fish, marinated them with salt, and smoked them until they were dry.
These small fish patties can be eaten any time of the day with the Lun Bawang ‘nuba laya’, rice wrapped in leaves. These memories never fade. Even after more than 40 years, they still linger in my head.
These days, whenever I crave fish patties and wrapped rice, I travel to a local restaurant that serves authentic Orang Ulu cuisine – even though it takes me over 45 minutes to get there.
This is how food can affect us in our daily lives. I believe we have our memories when we talk about food.
Sarawak boasts a wealth of cultural heritage and natural beauty. Its diverse population and stunning landscapes offer visitors an array of cultural attractions, as well as beautiful beaches, scenic mountain parks, and lush tropical rainforests. Additionally, Sarawak’s accessibility and warm tropical climate make it a top destination for travellers.
Most importantly, Sarawak’s diverse society has more than 26 ethnic groups. All these communities live in harmony, each contributing a unique identity that can be used to showcase Sarawak on the international stage.
Due to its rich ethnic diversity, Sarawak is a melting pot of culinary traditions that have become an essential part of the tourist experience and contribute significantly to the tourism sector.
It also has the potential to entice international travellers seeking culinary pleasures. The different tribes have a multitude of diverse cuisines.
Each cuisine represents a tribe; for the Iban, ‘pansuh’ is their forte, ‘umai’ represents the Melanau, and so on. These various cuisines have much to offer to food lovers, domestic tourists, and international tourists.
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture has designated 2026 as Visit Malaysia Year. This presents a significant opportunity for Sarawak to showcase its cuisine as a key element in driving tourism growth and promoting tourism products in the region.
The abundance of cuisine varieties that Sarawak has to offer can be part of the strategy to attract tourists to visit Sarawak in 2026 in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2026.
The diverse and distinctive cuisines of Sarawak significantly contribute to attracting tourists to the region, making it a favoured destination. Researchers in the field of tourism suggest that local food tourism, also known as gastronomy tourism, serves as a compelling form of tourism product. This culinary experience not only sparks curiosity but also plays a crucial role in influencing tourists’ travel decisions and destination choices (Kim & Lee, 2003).
In Sarawak, we possess a rich array of ingredients that uniquely position us to become the premier destination for Gastronomy Tourism in Malaysia. Let’s utilise these resources to show our culinary creations and draw visitors from all over.
Perhaps we should take inspiration from a country like Singapore. Research shows that Singapore’s cuisine has become a major attraction for tourists, drawing many visitors to the country.
According to the researcher, even though Singapore does not have abundant natural resources to develop a more diverse tourism experience, it manages to forge a Gastronomy Tourism as a creative way to attract people’s attention by creating a slogan ‘Singapore; the Food Capital of Asia’.
As we approach 2026 as Visit Malaysia Year, we can take advantage of the multitude of cuisines that Sarawak has to offer. Sarawak cuisine, like laksa, has made Sarawak known internationally. As a Sarawakian, I am proud of our Sarawak laksa.
As quoted, what has been described by the late Celebrity Chef Anthony Bournaid, during his trip to Sarawak, he posted a picture of the laksa via Instagram, captioning it, “Breakfast of gods”, and this has bequeathed an international impact to Sarawak Cuisine.
Subsequently, Sarawak laksa has also captured the taste buds of three international judges of Master Chef Australia 2014, which enabled Emily Loo from Brisbane, Australia, to go through the competition. According to Emily, laksa is one of her favourite dishes.
With the abundance of different cuisines that Sarawak has to offer to the world, as a community, how do we play our part to support the local government to position our Sarawak cuisines to become the preferred destination and to be the top preferred ‘Hub for Gastronomy Tourism’ in Malaysia?
As a community, we should play our part. According to Dahles (1997:23-24) and Sharpley, Richard and Telfer, David J (2002, 59), involvement of the community is important because nobody knows their food better than the locals themselves, which will eventually benefit the residents in terms of economic activities from taking part in these Tourism activities.
On the other hand, as a community that provides different types of cuisines, it is imperative that these cuisines be prepared and produced to the highest standards, in terms of safety and quality.
With the assurance of practising food safety and good food quality, tourists will be able to enjoy the quality-assured cuisines. These are the least that we as a community can do to uplift our Local Cuisine as a Gastronomy Tourism destination.
Today, consumers are better educated, wealthier, have travelled more extensively, live longer, and are more concerned about their health and the environment.
As a result, food and drink have become more important and are a higher priority amongst certain social groupings. To the extent that food is the new culture capital of a destination, as if culture has moved out of the museum to become a living experience of consumption.
To conclude, we hope that our Sarawak local Cuisines can maximise the Visit Malaysia 2026 promotion as the catalyst for the growth of tourism in Sarawak.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
