KERABU BEKOR: EXPLORING THE TRADITIONAL FOOD KNOWLEDGE OF THE COMMUNITY IN THE LENGGONG SUBDISTRICT OF HULU PERAK

Traditional foods had been an important element of cultural heritage and they played an important role in establishing the local identity. The study focused in the area of the sub-district of Lenggong in the state of Perak. The purposes of this study on traditional foods, specifically one traditional food called Kerabu Bekor were to find out the main ingredients used in preparing and cooking the dish, and to determine the level of knowledge the community had on the dish. Five traditional food experts participated in providing vast descriptive information on Kerabu Bekor. The information were combined and the consensus were derived on each factors examined. Audio-visual aids were used to help in understanding further on how the dish is prepared by the experts. Forty-six members of the community were involved in providing feedback on the level of knowledge that they had on the ingredients, the methods of preparation, cooking, serving and consumption of Kerabu Bekor. On examining the results, both the male and female respondents indicated that they have some knowledge, but on the age categories, 2 age groups (25 to 29 years and 30 to 39 year old) had a full understanding on the details of Kerabu Bekor, while the other 3 groups only had partial knowledge.