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CHAIRPERSON

Dr Lee Hsiao Yen Fiona, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

What would Pierre Bourdieu think of the Hokkien concept of bee sor with regard to Penang hawker food? While interviewing hawkers in George Town Penang, Malaysia, shortly after the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng proposed to ban foreign workers from becoming hawker food cooks, I found that this word bee sor (“taste”) was frequently used to explain why people support the proposed move. Lim’s proposal, ostensibly motivated by a perceived necessity to protect the “local taste” of Penang’s intangible cultural heritage—its famed hawker food—came under criticism for being uncreative, populist and short-sighted, particularly as it neglected the island-state’s status as a historical confluence of cosmopolitan migration. While not fully dispelling charges of probable xenophobia and anti-foreign sentiment that motivate support for an outright ban (or a revocation of hawker licences) I would however cast these aside in order to examine what bee sor really means. Preliminary research suggests that knowledge, familiarity and experience of this literal taste provide a distinction for its interlocutors, one tied to a specific local/regional pride in identifying with “Penang.” Bee sor when it comes to Penang hawker food is, contrary to Bourdieu, not about class distinction since it is affordable to all and sundry. Instead, it is about pride in clinging to a Penang identity that distinguishes itself against other parts of Malaysia and even Singapore. Nevertheless, this paper explores the complexities of taste: its evolution and ties to ethno-specific cultural preference and personal nostalgia.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Khoo Gaik Cheng is Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus where she teaches film and cultural studies. Recent publications include co-authored book Eating Together: Food, Space and Identity in Malaysia and Singapore (with Jean Duruz, Rowman and Littlefield, 2014) and a co-edited volume of essays in Malaysia’s New Ethnoscapes and Ways of Belonging (with Julian C.H. Lee, Routledge, 2015).

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