BELOTAK: TOWARDS PRESERVING THE TRADITIONAL FOOD OF LENGGONG, PERAK

The purposes of this descriptive study were to identify the traditional foods in the sub-district of Lenggong in the state of Perak, to find out the main ingredients used, to understand the manner in which the ingredients were prepared and cooked, and the way the food is served and the occasion it would be consumed. The overall purpose would be to help preserved the traditional food knowledge. For those purposes, 5 traditional food experts on Belotak were invited from among the community of the area to provide detail feedback on the required information. The findings were very interesting for it had shown the reason why Belotak had become a traditional food and the comprehensive knowledge that the experts had on the dish. The study was able to assemble the detail information on the dish. Additionally, the community members knowledge on the food was gathered via a structured questionnaire and the findings indicated that some distinct difference in the level of knowledge among the 5 age groups, but on the basis of gender there was no difference. Apparently most of them had some knowledge pertaining to the ingredients used and the methods of preparation of Belotak. The study had indicated to some extent on the importance of preserving the traditional food as a culinary heritage of the area.