Interpretation & Analysis

Since 1955

A spoonful of tastes & Colours in Chow Kit

WESLEY WONG 0330496 TUTOR: MR NICHOLAS NG FOOD AND CULTURE ASSIGNMENT 2

FOREWORD

This research serves as a better public awareness and understanding on the food culture in Chow Kit area, to further improving the quintessence of its place-making quality.

How do different food business typologies influence the local

cultural and behavioural pattern in Chow Kit?

STUDY MACROSITE From a land of drug addicts, prostitutes and gambling den, Chow Kit has turned into city centre since 1980. It boasts of its famous Ramly Burger origin and old standing cultural traditional Malay houses.The establishment of Putra World Trade Centre has brought its zenith into an administrative city.

LEGEND Scale of Engagement

Typologies

Small

Open

Medium

Semi-open

Large

Chef`s recommendation

Lorong Tiong Nam

Lorong Haji Taib Chow Kit Market Area

Jalan Raja Alang

STUDY AREA

I CHOW KIT MARKET

Chow Kit Wet & Dry Market

01

Jalan Raja Alang

Freshest of ingredients Served at the biggest wet market in Malaysia.

Flanking Jalan Raja Alang, it invites & draws the users inside extensively.

First source of food chain leading to reciprocative dialogue between vendors and the local+foreigners.

01 Spices 02 Fish 03 Vegetable and fruits

02

03

USER GROUPS Awesome mix of races and nationalities Social nucleus feeding mainly local,Pakistan,African & European.

The local enhances while the foreigners diversify the participative dialogue.

Cramped with hustle and bustle, the one way pathways in semi-open wet market force the crowd to mesmerise and buy ingredient at both sideway.

Loyal Malay lady visiting the same fruit vendor

Weekly visiting european tour group

Pakistan consumer buying fresh fish

LIVELINESS UNDER ROOF

Unlike wet market that promises only food ingredient and food preparation, dry market enlivens etiquette of food ingredient preparation to overlaps with food consumption under the same roof.

Hakka Taste Pork Curry Legendary Nasi Lemak

Food assembly lined up humbly for clear and precise food request.Dish combination is of each customer`s preference.

People queueing up to exchange time with food consumption. The queue attains purchasing intent of passers-by.

People attract people.

II JALAN RAJA ALANG

Chow Kit night market,Jalan Raja Alang

Fondly known as a dense street, Jalan Raja Alang keeps up the color of Chow Kit market at night, attaining the close-to-life experience of users throughout whole day. The open typology night market with food stalls lining both roadside welcome users warmly at medium scale of engagement with weather and spatial constraint (vehicles obstruct pedestrian flow especially at night).

Food stalls setting up in the evening.

WEATHER AND TIME Vibrance under the canopies

Canvas canopy

Growth of street food business is inversely proportional to the number of rainy days. Thus, fabric canvas is set up stall by stall to avoid uninviting rains as unpredictable factor that will relinquish the purchasing intent of consumers. At night, increasing vehicular traffic flow decreases pedestrian density.

Users` preference on mode of transportation add vitality to the street.

Cars creeping in after sunset.

Chow Kit Market

Nonlinearity

ng ja Ala a R n Jala Pe

s de

ns

Canopy stalls

tria

s le Vehic

SPATIAL LAYOUT

Food stalls

SPATIAL LAYOUT

Building

1800mm Canopy stall (on 5-foot way)

5000mm Jalan Raja Alang

2000 mm Canopy stall

Market space

Life between building

Life

Strategic spatial layout and ample space catering to live capacity for the activity hub between buildings. Not too wide. Not too narrow.

Just nice to increase intimacy that involves visual and action engagement among people.

Food unites people is the culture

Famous chendol durian at cornetlot as the communal contact point brings together the local with different skin colours and nationalities.

They savour this delight on a same table, under the same steel corrugated roofing oblivious to races and religions.

III TIONG NAM MORNING MARKET

TIong Nam Morning Market, Jalan Tiong Nam

A fully open pedestrianised street only before afternoon as another option of myriads of local taste. Early birds buying the freshest here under shade and savouring breakfast at food shop inside and outside residential building. Variety of food consumption nature is vivid here along the stretch.

Large green for shading

Food stall outside residential living

Food stalls

Food stalls

Big trees

Pedestrians

Linearity

Food stalls

SPATIAL LAYOUT Big trees

FOOD CONSUMPTION

Sit and eat witn spoon & chopsticks.

Food in bowl

Food in traditional wok

Stand and eat Food in plastic packaging

Food stall outside residential living

FOOD CONSUMPTION

Tao Xiang Bah Kut Teh Fish Head Noodle

Tao Xiang serves no frills Chinese fare such as bakuteh, stewed pork trotters and fish head noodles.

It is almost impossible to stay cool while slurping the noodles with gusto and gulping the every single drop of the leftover soup.

Does it deter patrons from keep coming back? Apparently not!

The eatery is buzzing with activities always and if you are lucky, you might secure a table right away. If not, be prepared to wait a bit during lunch hour!

Food shop at cornerlot, inside residential living

Food served in claypot keeping the food warm

COMPARISON Lorong Tiong Nam

Lorong Raja Alang

Similarity Open typology Medium scale of engagement

Dissimilarity Fully pedestrianised street before afternoon

Busy street with vehicle and pedestrian evening onwards

Linear pathway

Nonlinear pathway

Tiong Nam Market

Chow Kit Market

Similarity Serve freshest food ingredient, involving particiative dialogue between vendors and users.

Food preparation overlaps with food consumption

Dissimilarity Open typology Medium scale of engagement

Semi-open typology Large scale of engagement

Serve non halal food

Serve only halal food

IV LORONG HAJI TAIB

Lorong Haji Taib

Street of transition into tranquility. It comprises of backlanes as public realm in which hidden liveliness take places deep inside the back alley. Previously an unwanted urban void, the backlanes has been proudly adaptive reused.It is permeable only to pedestrians.

ADAPTIVE REUSE Not merely service lane,but with new purposes

PreviouslyďźŒ an urban void

Now,a public eatery space that gathers people.The old and old. The young and young.The old and young.

Goods store at backlanes

Spill-over apparel wholesale extended into backlane to continue the purchasing intent within this clothes stall area

BACKLANE DINING Whole new experience of congregation social point

Tian YaKe Ban Mian Hawker Stall

It is a fantastic backlane dining with intimate space created by narrow lanes and modest building height, creating more opportunity for social contact. (Gehl, 2011)

The meticulous aunty is kneading the dough then rolling into thin sheets.This explains why the Ban Mee here is on-spot hand made noodle with amazingly fresh favour.

Fried onion sprinkled on top of the noodles adding divinity of the backlane taste.

CONCLUSION

Chow kit is a progressing city with old charm retained. Undoubtedly, it is rich in different typologies of food business, different scale of people-food engagement, food preparation and consumption nature and the location of food business, be it at residential or commercial urban living. Food culture has become another unique form of architectural language and representation in history of humankind. In Malaysia, diversity is a vital trait in almost every aspect of life. It is reflected in our very local cuisine,ranging from Malay, Indian to Chinese food on the same dining table. All is welcome!

REFERENCES

Building up wholesale business in notorious area. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.starproperty.my/index.php/articles/property-news/building-upwholesale-business-in-notorious-area/ Gehl, J. (2011). Life between buildings. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Good ol’ charm of Jalan Chow Kit - Community | The Star Online. (2019).

Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2013/04/05/good-ol-charm -of-jalan-chow-kit/ Ho, A. (1995). At the South-East Asian table. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

What Food Tells Us About Culture – Freely Magazine. (2019). Retrieved from https://freelymagazine.com/2017/01/07/what-food-tells-us-about-culture/

Not only the food But also the culture