Museums can be boring! But if you’re a history buff, wandering around museums can be fun with a lot to learn. This one museum I visited in Penang is for both – those who love museums and those who are great foodies too. Now, have you been to a food museum? If not, this is the place to feast your senses on the world’s awesome foods. The city is known as the capital for food in Malaysia and is actually one of the best cities to offer delicious street food. To celebrate Malaysia Food Heritage in 2015, Penang opened the first food museum called The Wonderfood Museum and the response was great.
The Wonderfood Museum is located at the centre of Georgetown in Penang Old Town and attracts travellers from across the world. This museum not only embraces food cultures amongst the town but also celebrates Penang’s art culture. Very innovatively created and built, there’s no doubt that you’ll not get bored exploring the artistic walls of food dishes displayed. At this museum, you will learn more about Penang’s food and other world cuisines. It showcases the rich content of Malaysian food in the most interactive way where you also get to learn about the social significance of the food. The workers are very kind and helpful to share information about the best places you can find the food you desire.
The museum is filled with exotic dishes of food and you can take as many photos you’d like, with the gigantic bowl of sticks, satays, noodles and more. The food in Malaysia is a wonderful collision of flavours that includes Malay, Chinese and Indian flavours. Right from the beginning, the museum introduces you to the uniqueness of the traditional food of Malaysia and other countries through varied communities.
The wall art you’ll see actually highlights the famous dishes in cuisines such as Indian, Malay, Chinese, Peranakan and more. These realistic representations of food not only allows you to simply walk through the section but also helps you understand the different cultures to the overall cuisine.
With the many giants and ultra-realistic food replicas, you will literally be taken into the food. Do not forget to dive into the giant bowl of Penang Asam Laksa, one of Penang’s best foods and Cendol, the ice dessert, is quite tempting in its gigantic form. As you walk further, Penang sweets are also featured in a separate section. Besides, do not miss out the food quotes, which are a must-read. Towards the end of the walk, you’ll also notice the world’s priciest foods featured in a lavish room. The food placed on a table ranges from $1,000 and above.
There’s also a section where you’ll notice a very creative illustration of the world-famous Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. You’ll be surprised to see how differently the ingredients have been placed to recreate this amazing piece of art. With no expectations and not really a foodie, I visited The Wonderfood Museum to learn more about Penang food and definitely found it very interesting and worthwhile.
Also Read: Wandering In Search of Penang’s Street Art Murals
If you’ve ever wondered, what a food museum is like, feast your senses on this culinary experience that highlights the power of food.
