Sarawak for the world
With H.E. Axel Cruau and Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, on taking Sarawak's food to the world.
In August 2025 two people who have spent their lives on the world stage spoke for the Serumpun Leadership Series: H.E. Axel Cruau, former French Ambassador to Malaysia, and Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia's Minister of International Trade and Industry from 1987 to 2008 and Serumpun Sarawak's Honorary Patron. Both said the same thing in their own way: Sarawak has to go out to the world.
France has raised its gastronomy to a global culture, to the point where UNESCO recognises it, and I asked H.E. Axel Cruau what it would take for Sarawak. Two things, he said.
First, an explanation of its significance, and nothing does that better than culture and exhibitions that show the whole environment. Sarawak is far from Europe in more than distance, but when French visitors come to Malaysia, and to Sarawak, they are fascinated by the history, the culture, the people and the diversity. That is something to build on.
Second, great chefs have to go to Paris and show what they do. You need a bridge, and only chefs can use the products and recipes to tell a story. If it is only food, it is not interesting. Gastronomy is what you say on the plate, with an ingredient, a sauce, a whole meal. If Sarawak wants a place in the world of gastronomy, he said, it has to send its chefs out to show its story, its history, its plans and its passion. There is no other way.
Tan Sri Rafidah put it in two words: going global. Then you define the area, the how and the when. There is no point keeping Sarawak in a little cocoon, she said. Sarawak for the world. On a national basis it is harder, because each state has different strengths, but Sarawak has come up first. Her last words to me were welcome, congratulations, and push: global.
It's a story, and only chefs can bring that story.
H.E. Axel Cruau, Serumpun Leadership Series
Not Sarawak in a cocoon. Sarawak for the world.