THE WONDER FOOD MUSEUM STORY: CELEBRATING MALAYSIA’S FOOD CULTURE AND CULINARY HERITAGE

Although thematic museums centered around food culture and culinary heritage have been around for decades, the concept of food museum is still fairly new in Southeast Asia. Only in 2015, the first food-oriented museum – “Wonder Food Museum” was established in Penang, Malaysia. Since its establishment, the museum has received positive feedback from both local and international visitors. From 2017 to 2019, the museum has been selected as the recipient of the Certificate of Excellence by international well renowned Travel organization TripAdvisor Inc. Meanwhile, the museum’s contribution to the state’s cultural and tourism development has also been recognized by the state authority. In 2017 and 2019, the museum was awarded the ‘Top Museum Award (Unique Concept)’, and ‘Best Tourism (Museum)Award’ by the INPenang International Awards respectively. By and large, Wonder Food Museum is currently one of the most outstanding museums in Malaysia and a wellknown attraction in Penang. In this paper, to response on the research scholarly interest in museum tourism in Southeast Asia, the researcher has made an attempt to document the development of Wonder Food Museum from 2015 to 2019. The museum’s curatorial concept, exhibits production, exhibition planning and its overall management will be discussed and analyzed. As the aforementioned this paper will provide insights into an understanding of food museum’s development in Malaysia.


INTRODUCTION
According to Tove Danovich (2015), a global enthusiasm for food museums seems to have sprung up almost overnight. Since 2010, museums dedicated to the wider world of food have gotten underway in Brooklyn, Prague, London, Chicago and etc. Danielle Oteri (2019)  also mentioned that, in recent years, "food" has been a hot topic in the field of arts and culture. In the Asia-Pacific region, the cultural and social aspects of food also contribute to many nations' museum exhibition agendas. For instance, in 2013, an exhibition celebrates Australian culinary history, "Eat Your History: A Shared Table"  Kong International airport. In India, an exhibition on India's ancient food culture "Historical Gastronomica -the Indus Dining Experience" was held at the National Museum (New Delhi) in 2020. In 2019, an exhibition titled "Packaging Matters: Singapore's Food Packaging Story from the Early 20th Century" was presented by National Museum of Singapore. Meanwhile, according to Fuchsia Dunlop (2014) showcase a global and independent view of the many aspects of the human diet (AFM, 2020).
Meanwhile, over the last three decades, many countries had also devoted much appreciation to the food culture in their museums. AS reported by Maria Lotfi (2019), currently, there are various types of food and beverage museums around the world, and these museums did not merely educate people about the food's history and culture, yet they also bring a pleasant experience to visitors as food always makes people happy. Joey Haverford (2019) also mentioned that food museums from over the world emphasizing different themes, and each museum focuses on a certain food or kind of food to delve into its respective world. Thusly, each food museum has its distinctive uniqueness and specialness.  (2015), food museums is now a worldwide phenomenon, and the age of the food museum is clearly upon us.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD MUSEUMS IN ASIA
Oishimaya Sen Nag (2019), as a home to some of the world's oldest civilizations. Asia has a vast wealth of historical and archaeological treasures that are protected and exhibited in many museums distributed in its many countries. Meanwhile, with its richness and diversity of dietary culture, it is not surprising to learn that the world's food-oriented museums' fascination has been well celebrated by people living in this continent. Historical research has shown that, established in 1986, Museum Kimchikan or the Kimchi Field Museum located in Seoul, South Korea is currently one of the oldest food museums in the world. The museum is a well-known cultural and educational center dedicated to preserve and promote kimchi culture, and its exhibition features the historical and cultural significance of kimchi in Korean culture and gastronomy (Museum Kimchikan, 2020 In addition to Japan and Taiwan, the mainland China has also developed a strong enthusiasm in developing food museums. As reported by Fuchsia Dunlop (2014) In summary, among the countries in Asia, South Korea is the country with the oldest food museum established in 1986. Japan is the country with the highest number of food museums, and Taiwan is another state that many food museums have established in the last two decades. Apart from these two leading states, mainland China is catching up with an expansion of food museums to showcase its affluent food culture and heritage. Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is the only country with a food museum established in 2015.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For the purpose of the research, the qualitative research method is employed to obtain the picture of food museum phenomenon and the development of Wonder Food Museum.
Data collection was gathered through both primary and secondary sources. Primary data sources included key informants' interview and researcher's on field observation. Secondary data sources mainly covered academic journals, government document, and newspaper (1) Participant observation. According to Barbara B. Kawulich (2005) Meanwhile, an informal discussion with groups of visitors was also been put into effect to obtain visitors' opinions of their experience at the museum.
(2) Semi-structure Interview -Shazia Jamshed (2014) describes the interview as one of the most common formats of data collection in qualitative research, and this data collection method serves as a type of framework in which the practices and standards are not only recorded but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced. M. Easwaramoorthy and Fataneh Zarinpoush (2005) also defined interviews are data collection methods when there is a need to collect in-depth information on people's opinions, thoughts, experiences, and feelings. For this the reason, on April 10, 2020, a qualitative interview has been organized to collect primary data to realize the research objectives. A semi-structured interview was conducted through Skype conference meetings with two key informants. A set of predetermined questions concerning the planning, development and current situation of the museum have been instrumented to collect primary research date from (i) Mr. Sean Lau (Museum Founder and Director), and (ii) Ms. Cheryl Ng (Co-founder of the Museum).
For secondary data collection, with the advent of the Internet, secondary data collection has been undertaken through online platforms. Sources of secondary data related to food museum development in Asia and Malaysia include books, journal, newspaper article, and website have been identified and accessed to generate a deeper and wider scope of understanding of the research subject. (play + learn) with. It is an "edutainment" museum that incorporates elements of entertainment and interactivity into its exhibitions to maximize visitors' experiences. As said by Sean Lau, "Wonder Food Museum is a food museum plus wonderland that aims to provide a rich educational experience on food culture, and inspire creativity and curiosity within every individual."

The Museum's curatorial concept
According to Sean Lau, the idea of opening a food museum was conceived in 2012, yet to make Wonder Food Museum become a reality is a challenging journey. It took the team nearly four years to overcome all challenges and have the museum opened in November 2015. The first and the biggest challenge was, there is no food museum in Malaysia and neighboring countries to serve as a reference, and most of the food museums the team has research and learn about did not able to satisfy their interest. As such, to arrive with the concept of a "wonderland" comes only after months of research and discussion. As said by the co-founder, Cheryl Ng "we want to position this museum as a food wonderland for visitors to engage and enjoy their visit, it is a participating museum that engage visitors in both mental and physical interaction. Therefore, the overall exhibition design and exhibits production are centered around the wonderland's curatorial concept, and title the museum Wonder Food Museum".

The Museum's exhibits
All hyper-realistic replica foods exhibited in the museum are handcrafted by the creative team led by Cheryl Ng, who was trained professionally in the art of "shokuhin sampuru". As said by Cheryl Ng, "my role as the leader of exhibits production is to lead the team to create the most hyper-realistic replica foods with the highest-level of deliciousness. It took the team nearly two years to research and produce close to 200 types of exhibits".   By and large, the Info Zone is devoted to showcasing the wonder of Malaysia's cultural diversity through its food heritage. The Wow Zone is a food wonderland designed to inspire visitors' participation, and the Educational Zone is dedicated as the zone of enlightenment.

An interactive museum
Andrew Pekarik et al. (2002), in recent years, museum visitors have come to expect a high level of interactivity in museum exhibitions, especially non-art exhibitions Kalina Nedelcheva (2019) also describes that, interactive exhibitions have the power to pull the audience closer to artworks and created a more memorable experience. Museums with interactive exhibition design are now in the trend. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that many museums nowadays integrate interactivity into their exhibition design.
The interactive exhibit is a hit, yet the interactivities and interactive design are an open-ended concept, the conceptualization and practice of an interactive exhibition have therefore been interpreted differently accordingly to one's exhibition design objective. For instance, an interactive exhibition could be spaces with exhibits designed to encourages visitor's physical participation. It could also be an exhibition with a physical or virtual presentation that involved multi-sensory interactive design. In sum, interactive exhibitions blurred and blended the fine line between education and entertainment experience in a dynamic way. It is a change that shifted the global museum practices (ShawHong Ser, 2019).
According to Sean Lau, "exhibitions nowadays have moved away from the passive display to dynamic edutainment installation. Therefore, a museum with a physical interactive design is what interests him. Consequently, a food museum with a wonderland's theme that engaged visitors' in series physical interactions was designed as specialness of Wonder Food Museum". As a museum embraces the idea of interactive exhibitions, in each zone's exhibition, there are exhibits for display, and exhibits serve as "prop" to bridge visitor's engagement. For instance, in Wow Zone, visitors are allowed to "play" with exhibits, it is an exhibition area that stimulates visitors' participation through the freedom to create and explore. In addition to physical interaction design, exhibits and spatial planning of the museum have also been designed as a kind of "Pop-up Museum" to cater to visitors' interest, particularly on young audiences' passion for the selfie phenomenon. According to Manuel Charr (  Compared with the "no photo" policy of the traditional museums due to art-works' protection and copyrights issue. The pop-up museum engages visitors to experience and have their photos taken and share on social media. With such a feature in its nature, a popup museum's concept has been integrated into overall exhibition planning of Wonder Food Museum. As said by Sean Lau, "to ensure our exhibition is able to stimulate visitors' intellectually and emotionally, we engage their interests through a series of physical interaction design. Moreover, the exhibition's interactivity is not limited to physical interaction, a cross-cultural content interaction, as well as presentation in interactives, have also be implemented". By and large, Wonder Food Museum is an interactive museum that requiring visitors' involvement in activities that will maximize their visit. The museum offers freedom of navigation in their visit by allowing visitors to explore information to match their interests. It is The development of Wonder Food Museum (2015 -present) According to Cheryl Ng, since its opening to present, the museum received positive feedback from the public and the media. In term of visitor numbers, from 2015 to present, it shows a steady growth of visitor arrivals each year. In 2015, the museum welcomed nearly 5,000 visitors in the first month of its operation. In the following year, the museum received a total number of 90,000 visitors. With around 30% in visitor number increment annually. In 2017, the number of visitors increased to 110,000, in 2018, the museum received 140,000 visitors, and in 2019, 170,000 visitors have visited the museum. In terms of visitor profile, the museum visitors consist of local and international tourists from different age groups and demographic cohorts. Yet, the number of millennials visitor is the highest. As a private museum, the sustainability of the Wonder Food Museum is heavily dependent on the museum ticket sell. In the past five years, with stable growth in visitor numbers, the museum is able to sustain its operation, and hopefully, such growth will be continued to ensure the long-term development of the museum.
Cheryl Ng also mentioned that most visitors were satisfied with their visit, and provide positive feedback by sharing their pictures and comments on social media. Meanwhile, many local and international bloggers have also written interesting articles about the museum.
Moreover, the story of Wonder Food Museum has also been widely reported by local media as well as media in overseas such as CCTV in China, Dong Seng News channel in Taiwan, and other TV programs in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Russia, South Korea and USA. In addition to the many accomplishments mentioned above, in 2019, the museum has achieved another great milestone in its development. The Wonder Food Museum as a "brand" was franchise to China, Thusly, the very first overseas Wonder Food Museum was established at Kulangyu Island in Xia Men. This success is unprecedented in the history of museum in Malaysia.
In sum, although as a small and young museum, the Wonder Food Museum is a museum with great accomplishment. Currently as one of the most celebrated museums in Malaysia, the museum is considering doing well in its overall development, particularly on its

Museum website
Raubi Marie Perilli (2019), small business seems to be believed that a Facebook page is enough for an online presence, however, the truth is, a great small business website is the best channel to showcase business venture. Currently, the official communication channels of the museum are mainly relying on its Facebook page and Instagram. These two channels are no doubt a workable platform for the museum's marketing and promotional related activities. However, an official website (with its own IP address) is still needed to position the museum with a more professional outlook and enhance the museum's branding. Moreover, in today's competitive digital marketing landscape, it is very important to build a professional website to showcase the museum's credibility and gain full control over its online destiny.

Museum membership programs
The best visitor is one who becomes a member. Therefore, to build perennial visitors and long-term memberships is an important strategy that cannot be overlooked by any museums. For the Wonder Food Museum, to develop a membership program is another significant mission that needs to be realized. The museum needs to build up a strong community that can contribute to the museum's sustainability. Most substantially, the membership program is not merely to generate financial support for the museum, it is also an effective channel to cultivate museum's ambassadors who will spread the word about the exhibitions and programs they love and brings even more visitors and potential members to the museum.

Museum Education programs
Apart from the museum accomplishment in promoting Malaysia culinary heritage and food culture, and contribute to museum tourism. The role of the museum in education is another aspect that requires the museum management team to pay attention to. Other than the permanent exhibition and scheduled education tour. There is a lot more need to done to enrich the museum's education programs. For instance, education programs or activities such as special exhibition, public lectures on food culture, culinary heritage, and local history might be a good initiation to consider. Furthermore, cooking workshops or classes that involve local community participation will be another possibility to grow the museum's educational programs as well as interesting outreach activities for audiences' development.

Museum Shop and souvenirs development
According to Micaela Marini Higgs (2018), gift shops contributing up to as much as a quarter of museum revenue, and yet their contributions are not merely economic. These retail zones are also helping to educate visitors, build the museum's brand, and sometimes serve a highlight of museums. For the case of the Wonder Food Museum, the museum's gift corner and souvenir items are sections that need to be improved. Ideally, unique souvenirs inspired by the museum's collections or Penang's history should be available, this will contribute to the museum's unique destination offer.

CONCLUSION
Food museum, as the name suggests, is a museum dedicated to preserve and present the history, culture, and evolution of human dietary. For instance, the official mission of the world's oldest food Museum -"the Alimentarium Food Museum" is to create and develop a museum in Vevey of human food around the world, and contribute to awakening public interest in past and present issues concerning human food (Alimentarium Food . Currently, there are dozens of specialized food museums opened throughout the world, and thematic museums and exhibitions centered around different food cultures are increasingly popular since the early millennium. In 2015, the first food museum celebrates Penang. Based on the curatorial concept of "food wonderland" and interactive exhibition design approaches, the museum takes its collections to celebrate Malaysia's multicultural foodscape. At the moment, as the first of its kind museum in Malaysia, the museum has then become one of the nation's most celebrated museums, particularly by millennials visitor. By and large, as a young museum dedicated to preserve and promote Malaysia's food culture and culinary heritage to the world, the Wonder Food Museum's achievements are remarkable. However, to ensure the museum's sustainability in the dynamically shifting museum and tourism environment, there is still a lot of work to be done to continue its success. As concluded by Sean Lau (Museum Founder and Director), "the management team acknowledges on limitation and challenges of the museum, yet the team will work strategically to ensure the sustainable development of the museum". Hopefully, the Wonder Food Museum's success story will be continued and keeps its special fascination for visitors from all around the world.