TacoCat’s Travels #207 (Penang): Relishing Food Culture through Food Art 😋

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Hey Hive!

If you missed the last few posts, I started sharing about our short getaway to Penang Island, Malaysia, back in July 2022! It was our first trip post-covid and we decided to go on a short 3 day getaway there! It had been at least a decade since either of us have visited Penang so this was a semi-new experience for both of us.

Last week, we started our journey through the Wonderfood Museum! Georgetown, Penang has a few different touristy museums and since we're foodies this one was a must-go for us!

We went through the first floor of the museum where there were some information about the various cuisines in Malaysia, how it relates to culture and different local festivals. Of course we knew most of these already but we did learn a few things about Malay and Indian cuisine.

There was also a gallery of food in different states that was just for taking photos.

And we left off at the main hook of the Wonderfood Museum which was the larger-than-life replicas of real Malaysian dishes!

We thought that was the end of the museum when we arrived here but there was a whole second floor with even more stuff so here we go!

26 July 2022. Tuesday.

On the way up to the second floor we found some background information about the people behind these magnificent replicas and the small figures!

Apparently they've been producing high quality handiwork since 1996, creating sculptures and replicas for food industries and institutions for hospitals, exhibitions and museums.

And this particular museum, it took them 2 years of meticulous planning and creation to come up with all the exhibits we saw! Truly impressive work indeed.

There were some photos of the behind-the-scenes of making both the miniature figures as well as the giant replicas.

Once we got upstairs, the first thing we saw was this roadside stall replica and I got Sean to pose for a photo and act like he was frying the noodles!

There were more miniature figures here, this time depicting how people used to live and eat back in the old days. For example, this is a traditional Malay "kampung", which is a village with houses on stilts that people used to live in.

And how food deliverymen used to be, like this man peddling nasi kandar on two ends of a stick which is what kandar means (nasi means rice).

This was how people used to cook and eat satay, which is skewered barbecue meat.

This was how people used to sell laksa and customers would have a tiflin container to bring it home.

This was how people used to sell porridge and noodles.

And this was how putu mayam used to be sold, in containers carried on the head and served to customers with a side of brown sugar and coconut. It is an Indonesian snack consisting of steamed rice flour noodles and sprinkled with sugar or sweetened syrup.

And this was how Chee Cheong Fun was sold. In that era there were many peddlers like these that have now evolved into the hawkers we know today! It's nice to see that even in those days Malaysia was already multicultural and food definitely helps to bridge that gap.

This whole exhibit was called the Penang Time Tunnel. Obviously we didn't live during this period but we were familiar with kampung life thanks to old storybooks we used to read back in school.

Here's the full description of Penang's Time Tunnel.

And there were some real photographs on the opposite wall depicting the scenes that the artists probably used to create the miniature figures.

Next we came across this interactive exhibit of forgotten food that have been lost to time I guess. Most of them we didn't really recognise!

But it was understandable how some of them became forgotten, like this Pitcher Plant Glutinous Rice became lost due to the rarity of said plant. Some of the dishes looked quite unique and we wondered what they would taste like.

There was also a little corner with some food science and how muscle does not weigh more than fat, which is a common misconception.

There was also a miniature recreation of the famous Malaysia Night Market aka pasar malam, with various peddlers selling common street food.

The lighting was quite dim so I couldn't really take nice photos of these figures but they were really well done too of course!

As we moved on there was a wall of different types of roti dishes, like the common roti naan and roti chapati as well as some other variations and flavours.

There was also a whole stall recreation for people to take photos in! Thankfully one of the staff were there to help us get this shot.

There was also another corner with a huge durian display! While durian is known as the King of fruits, apparently mangosteen is the Queen of fruits! I didn't know that but I just read that it's actually because of a legend that proclaims Queen Victoria promised to knight anyone who brought her back mangosteens from their sea voyages. I'm not sure how true that is but it seems plausible.

And of course since durian is the King of fruits there was a whole wall showing all the different types of Durians.

And a miniature figure of a durian stall!

There were more photo spots here like this roti canai stall:

And this huge wall of all the different types of kueh you can find!

We thought those big ones on the plate couldn't be moved but turns out they're props!

There were even more photo areas here with different themes.

And Sean got this cool looking shot of him "floating"

But to spoil it, there's a seat beside the fork and one of the staff kindly draped the robe around him to hide it.

We also took more funny photos like this painting:

And this one with a falling wedding cake:

There was also a small bunker-like area that had a mini exhibit with the World's Most Expensive Food!

Inside, there was a very fancy looking display of a dinner table with all of the most expensive food in the world!

There was information on the wall about what these dishes were and how much they cost.

But they also put price tags on the food displays as well, and each dish was at least a thousand dollars! I think only the drinks were less than 4 digits in price.

As much as I love food, I can't imagine spending that much on a dish!

After a few more photos, we left the room to see more colourful exhibits.

I think this was one of the more relevant ones especially since everyone is addicted to phones these days.

There was a wall with what I thought was going to be egg timings but they're just quotes about eggs.

Opposite the egg wall were displays showing the different types of tastes like sour, bitter, spicy etc. as well as some food that would correspond to those.

There was also this very cute dessert display about making life sweet!

And of course there was an exhibit about sharks' fin soup as well and why it's bad.

Of course this is pretty old at this point and you'd hardly find sharks fin soup in Southeast Asia anymore but it's still a good reminder.

Then there was a display about how food is art with the Mona Lisa and food made out to look like her as well!

This is what it looks like and I'd say it looks pretty accurate.

There were some interactive displays here with questions and answers within the cupboards.

And apparently this way of takeaway drinks is unique to Malaysia (and also Singapore)! I didn't know that at the time but I guess this is true, although you'd hardly find it anywhere anymore due to everyone using plastic cups these days.

When we came across the gift shop we thought that was the end of the museum.

But on the way to the exit there were still some stuff about food health like this display showing how many spoons of sugar are in these common snacks and drinks.

And posters depicting how sugar is bad for you.

There was also a very creepy-looking display that scared the beegeezus out of me. I swear if this doesn't scare people into not wasting food I don't know what will.

There was also a donation box to feed the hungry there which I thought was a nice touch.

Then we finally arrived at the end of the museum at this staircase with a bunch of food posters and articles on the wall showing Penang's famous dishes and where to find them.

Before leaving we went back to the main area to use the restroom and I found this display and a distorted mirror in the bathroom which I thought was funny especially since it says to "just eat less and exercise more".

We were back in the main hub with all the giant food and I finally managed to get some shots of the room with no one else in them.

It was really impressive and I think these were the most realistic looking ones in the whole museum!

Now that we're at the end of the Wonderfood museum, I think that's gonna be it for today! We still have more to go for our last day in Penang though so stay tuned!

Thanks so much for reading!

To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!

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Check out my previous post in this series!

TacoCat’s Travels #206 (Penang): Discovering Food Delights at Wonderfood Museum! 😋

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