Why Hongkongers are getting a taste for Penang

Thanks to shared histories and cultural connections, travellers from Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan are getting a taste for the Malaysian state of Penang.

That’s good news for Heritage on a Plate, which offers tours of Georgetown aimed at satisfying appetites for both history and food.

Manned by Penangite Danny Mahes and American Jeremy Bernozzi, the tour operator takes guests to some of the best street food outlets in Penang, while explaining the area’s history and culture.

“I think many of our guests are very surprised at the cultural connections, because although Penang is well known as a food destination, its place in the Chinese diaspora is not as widely articulated,” says Danny, 36.

“Some guests have been taken aback at how long the history of Chinese trade and migration here stretches, and the contributions of the Chinese community in making Penang what it is today cannot be denied.”

Although the entire region has had trade and migration links to China since at least the 15th century, Penang specifically functioned as a “metropolitan nexus” of trade, culture, politics and beliefs, says Bernozzi, who has come across historical records that say – anecdotally – that Admiral Zheng He used to stop his fleet here for water, as “the springs here were known to the Chinese to be of higher purity”.