Local favourites: tourism products

Datuk Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, Malaysia’s Tourism Minister, says local favourites such as bak kut the, laksa and nasi lemak, should be named as tourism products of the country, not as ‘patented’ products.

Ng, who fired up a debate the previous week by stating Malaysians should demand claim to their food, explained that she absolutely did not suggest ‘patenting’ food or the dishes because that will not be possible.

"I never talked about patenting food", she stated after presiding over a media meeting today on the Malaysia Tennis Open 2009 in her office.

She claimed she was clueless how media reports cited her as stating the local foods should be patented.

She said, "What I meant was that laksa, nasi lemak, bak kut teh and other local favourites must be branded as Malaysian tourism products".

She believes that Malaysians should know the origin of their local foods. In addition, about 500 Malaysian dishes recently have been classified as a heritage food. However, the Tourism Ministry would not venture on branding them all.

She said, "We will carry out a study...and see which dishes we can identify as tourism products and use them to promote Malaysia".

In addition, she emphasised that even though other nations could have the same type of dishes, the focus should be on those that have roots in Malaysia.