Temple sets food record
Staff serves 322 vegetarian dishes to 5,000 devotees in a day
JOHOR BARU: A temple in Taman Desa Tebrau has made it into the Malaysia Book of Records for serving 322 vegetarian dishes to some 5,000 devotees.
Ayyappa Devasthanam Johor wowed the crowd with dishes such as mushroom curry, mango pickle, cabbage with coconut, carrot ladoo, tamarind rice, cucumber with yogurt and cauliflower kolumbe.
Temple adviser M. Soorian said the event yesterday was held in conjunction with the Onam festival celebrated by the Malayalees.
It was also held to educate the public about the variety of healthy vegetable meals, he added.
“For example, we prepared about 12 types of dal gravy and seven types of acha gravy for people to enjoy during the programme.
“We want the public, especially the children, to learn more about the variety of delicious vegetarian dishes that can be prepared in different ways as they are good for health,” he said at the event, which was attended by Tebrau MP Khoo Soo Seang.
He said some of the ingredients used to prepare the dishes were donated by the public and the dishes were cooked by about 100 chefs.
“The programme is a platform for people to strengthen their bond with each other, as some of the visitors came all the way from Kedah, Penang and other states to join in the celebration,” he said.
He added that it was the first time the temple caught the attention of the Malaysia Book of Records since it was built five years ago.
“It is an honour and a great pleasure to celebrate Onam, a harvest festival of the Malayalee community worldwide, together with this record-breaking ceremony today,” Soorian said.
Khoo said such programmes could become a great platform to attract foreign tourists.
“This is a great opportunity to promote Malaysia via our sumptuous vegetarian dishes,” he said.