The official opening of the Kuching Festival culminated in a visit to the booth from the UNESCO Creative Cities Network Kuching team. This first for the festival, marking the first year of Kuching’s designation in this important international platform, features a standing exhibition on Kuching’s journey into the network and also on the creative ecosystem, alongside interactive displays and food demonstrations from the Culinary Heritage and Arts Society Sarawak. The VIPs, including Professor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian and Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, escorted by the Mayor of MBKS, were treated to a sample of Sarawak’s finest foods stars and also a tour of the exhibition.
Dato Wee Hong Seng, who is also the head of the UCCN Kuching team, said: “The Kuching Festival was a key part of our 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 went on to say: “It is very appropriate that UCCN Kuching should showcase their membership of the network at Kuching Festival. Our vendors are exactly the kind of people that this network will be supporting. This is why 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!”
Strategic Director, Karen Shepherd, said: “Yesterday, our VIPS, Professor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and his wife, the Mayor of DBKU Datu Haji Junaidi bin Haji Reduan, and YB Michael Tiang were able to taste 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 steeped 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 this served on beautiful dinnerware handcrafted from local clay by Tuson Chong of Gardencraft Co. They seemed delighted.”
She went on to say: “With our Kuching delegation also newly returned from the XIV UCCN Annual Conference in Santos, Brazil, this was also an important moment to share with the group some of the outcomes of that conference, including a potential bid for future years. This display, designed by Derek Sim of guerillagraphx.com and put together by TEEM Events and Exhibitions, has something for everyone. We look forward to welcoming members of the public to visit the booth over the next 20 days to learn about Kuching’s plans going forward and also to share their views on potential activities and on their own creativity in our interactive display.”
The booth, supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak, will feature regular demonstrations of Sarawak’s heritage foods from the Culinary Heritage and Arts Society Sarawak and from 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. Visitors on its opening evening included established accessories designer Neng Kho Razali and also the talented autistic artist Kelvin Yi who braved the rain on official opening night under an umbrella featuring his own artwork. The festival continues until 21 August so there is plenty of opportunity for the public to visit and make their mark on UCCN Kuching’s future plans.
