Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Sarawak to dazzle the world with Serumpun Sarawak, with a huge culinary-cultural activation to debut in Osaka, Japan, this August, and a follow-up activation in Mulu National Park, Sarawak come October.
The pair of TASTES exhibits are bold testament to Sarawak’s commitment to embed its supremely extravagant indigenous repertoire to a modern and global narrative through food, craftsmanship and story telling.
Vision & Leadership: Indigenous Wisdom It’s going global
A joint initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak (MTCP) and the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), Serumpun Sarawak is more than merely a platform – it is a statement and a strategy. Led by renowned chef, James Won and inspired by local creative agency Atlas Collective, the venture aims to redefine the indigenous identity and heritage of Sarawak into a compelling currency on the world stage of creativity and tourism. Kuching’s UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy recognition:
More than a feather in your cap A simple feather in your cap it was not,” Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, the minister, said during the announcement of the initiative when it was unveiled.
He said that through Serumpun Sarawak, “ancestral knowledge meets cutting‑edge creativity” and “native ingredients become narrative” that travels through cultures and continents.
Osaka Activation: 5–8 August 2025 at World Expo 2025 5–8 August 2025 at World Expo 2025
In conjunction with World Expo 2025, Sarawak will present Serumpun Sarawak on 5-8 August at Seaside Studio Caso, Osaka. This 4 day taste and culture festival will showcase Sarawak’s multiplicity in craft, culinary artistry and eco-conscious education to both the Japanese public and international Expo audience.
The experience—consisting of curated tasting menus, visual storytelling installations and cultural performances—will be interconnected to reflect Sarawak’s living ecosystem and how food weaves together land, people and culture in a very powerful way.
Experience At Mulu National Park: October 2025
Taking it home for their second act, Serumpun Sarawak will roll out their activation at the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Mulu National Park this October 2025. Now there, amid the park’s unsoiled rain forest, streams and karst formations — and guaranteed to be community pitched and deeply attuned to indigenous traditions — the showcase will be community-led. It’s a festival that revolves around the respect of the environment and its precious resources, all the while keeping in constant mind the traditional tribal wisdom and cultural heritage of the Malaysians, so much so that within the featured workshops are tours of beautiful rainforests and utilisation of ancestral recipes and traditional farming techniques.
Collaborative Foundations: Enabling Grassroots Impact
The authenticity of Serumpun Sarawak flows through collaborations with local creative and cultural organisations:
Earthlings Coffee Workshop (featured on Sarawak’s artisanal coffee terroir)
Tanoti Crafts and The Tuyang Initiative (supporting traditional craft making)
Culinary Heritage & Arts Society Sarawak (CHASS) (main ethnic cooking displays). These collaborators introduce integrated programming — from ethnic cooking demonstrations and artisan workshops to short films and curated tastings — centered on indigenous pride and community agency.
At the launch press conference, a sneak peek at the project was unveiled: a cooking showcase with CHASS as its host and short-film premiere (The Serumpun Story) as well as a coffee-tasting session by Earthlings Coffee—a sample demonstration of the initiative’s multi-sensory storytelling.
Beyond the Dinner Table: A Comprehensive Cultural Diplomacy
More than just a food festival Serumpun Sarawak is conceived as a form of cultural diplomacy-using native wisdom to nurture cross-cultural dialogue, economic sustainability and creative innovation.
Minister Abdul Karim said the initiative acts to place Sarawak as a living ecosystem, a gallery of creativity, ancestral wisdom and biodiversity – “where food is a carrier for stories, identity and relation”. Echoing the same sentiment, BusinessToday highlighted that Serumpun Sarawak represents “a reinvention of heritage,” as something “living, dynamic, and cosmopolite” and that the agency to transform itself from a cultural hub into a creative force within the international community can be seen as “a statement of intent”.
Economic & Tourism Significance
The move comes as part of Sarawak’s focused drive to achieve 5 million tourist arrivals by 2025 through depth of culture as a key attraction. By showcasing unique indigenous food systems and the creative industries—in deforestation-prone areas such as Mulu—MTCP and STB hope to enhance community livelihoods, create fresh visitor attractions, and further position Sarawak as a progressive cultural destination.
What’s Next: Beyond Osaka and Mulu
While the debut of Serumpun Sarawak centers on Osaka and Mulu, organizers indicate that they intend to continue its development. The movement is anticipated to continue—answering the call to nurture new indigenous talents like (apprentice Chef Ramos Jalang Anak Nyawa), to deepen community partnerships, and to explore moreforeign activations to carry the momentum of Sarawak’s cultural momentum forward.
In Summary
Serumpun Sarawak is ushering a new era for Sarawak’s cultural economy that combines indigenous knowledge, biodiversity conservation and gastronomic creativity in telling a coherent global story. From Osaka’s urban platform to Mulu’s wilderness, the project positions Sarawak not as an inert “heritage” artifact—but as a living, evolving cultural organism capable of inspiring a refreshed understanding of the depth of Borneo.
As the upcoming August opening in Osaka and October event in Mulu approach, the tone is hard to miss: Sarawak has not only prepared to share its tastes, it is at the ready to determine how the world connects with cultural heritage, creativity and sustainable living.
