WHO would have thought of writing a book on old-fashioned tiffin carriers?
This question must be on the minds of many guests who attended the launch of the book, entitled ‘Tiffin – An Untold Story’ – written by J. Prakash, 41, and his wife, M. Punita, 40, at the compound of the Penang Hindu Endowment Board (PHEB) building in Macalister Road last night.
In fact, this unusual effort by the couple even baffled state Deputy Chief Minister II Prof Dr P. Ramasamy when he had the honour of launching the hardcover 216-page pictorial narrative.
But it was a dream come true for Prakash, a former lecturer at KDU Penang University College and now an administrative officer at PHEB, and Punita, a staff nurse at Penang Hospital, to finally come out with their first ever book. It celebrates 200 years of history and evolution of tiffin carrier.
“Today’s event is and will be one of the most important things to ever happen in my life. The book is a culmination of 12 years of effort, research, dedication, hard work, love and care. I want to protect and conserve this precious antique and artefacts,” Prakash told the guests, friends and well-wishers in his speech.
“Tiffin is also one of the recognised trademarks of Penang heritage that belongs to all, regardless of race and culture. Food has always been binding. And tiffin carriers have always been a part of this connection and still is.
“However, I feel it is a dying custom and it is truly sad that a lot of young people have no clue what a tiffin carrier is about. So, this book records the beginning and the journey of tiffin carriers in multiple cultures.
“In the book, you will get to see more than 160 different tiffin carriers all around the world, some almost 100 years old. It also features tiffin collections from the Penang State Musuem as well as Intan Peranakan Museum from Singapore.
“There are hundreds of photographs for you to feast your eyes on. Not only are they food carriers but they are also beautiful works of art.
“I really hope this book will educate and inspire the present and future generation and safeguard this historical and cultural artefact.”
According to Punita, the seed to write the book was sown in 2014 when they landed themselves in the Malaysia Book of Records by having a collection of 185 tiffin carriers in their kitchen. Now, they have over 200 after spending over RM200,000 on their purchases.
Besides sourcing the items from all over Malaysia, the couple have tiffin carriers from Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Austria, China, Myanmar, Holland and Turkey.
A brass tiffin carrier, made in India in 1870, is their oldest collection. Weighing 6kg, it has a bottom compartment for charcoal to keep the food warm.
Initially, they just wanted to have a tiffin carrier or two to display as antique in their house. Never in their wildest dream would that changed to becoming a passion.
Ramasamy praised the couple for loaning their items to PHEB on various occasion to display at the Indian Heritage Centre as well as their great effort to produce the book.
“We need more people to write books like this. The authors have painstakingly collected the tiffin carriers. I would never have thought I would collect this sort of items. It’s very much cultural.
“On behalf of the Penang Hindu Endowment Board, I’m glad to contribute RM10,000. This kind of book will be appreciated by those who are actually interested in art and culture,” said Ramasamy, adding that from what he googled, tiffin could be a type of a meal like dinner, lunch or breakfast.
Locally, tiffin carriers are known as ‘mangkok tingkat’ in Malay, ‘u-wah chan’ in Hokkien and ‘thukku chatti’ in Tamil.
Penang State Museum director Haryany Mohamad, who was also present with her family at the book launch, said she was glad to have collaborated with Prakash and Punita for the first time in an exhibition in 2014.
Then, in 2015, they loaned their collection to complement an exhibition that Haryany curated. This was followed by Prakash volunteering as a facilitator for the museum’s tiffin project in 2016, called ‘Silang Budaya II’.
The ‘Tiffin – An Untold Story’, being sold at RM75, was written in four languages – Bahasa, English, Mandarin and Tamil.
Prakash, in his speech, acknowledged the contributions of Emily Wong (researcher and Chinese author), Tang Wai Kei (researcher), S. Pretika (arts and drawings), P. Mahalinggam (Tamil editor and researcher), Pauline Ng (Malay editor), R. Umachandran (all tiffin photograph), M. Jeevan (front and back cover designer) and Suresh Ramsky (editor).
Wong and Tang, who are Prakash’s former students, played a tremendous role from the beginning until the end of the project,
Prakash also thanked Ramasamy and PHEB chief executive officer Datuk M. Ramachandran for their support, friends for their encouragement, and Manmad Studios for presenting a documentary.
After the book launch, Prakash and Punita were as busy as a bee as they were congratulated by guests and well-wishers, asked to sign autographs or to have their photos taken with them.
The fantastic morale support they got have given them the impetus to set another goal.
“The story of tiffin carriers never ends. It is interesting to explore. The warm response we received has inspired us to think of doing yet another book on tiffin carriers,” said Punita.
For now, they are looking forward to the international launch of their book at Intan Peranakan Museum on April 25.
Story and pix by K.H. Ong