The Brickfields Food Trail was organised by Assoc. Prof. Dr Elise Mognard from Taylor’s Culinary Institute, guided by Mr Nantha Gopal Muniandy from the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Events. The Food Trail was also joined by fellow Food Studies team members, Dr Jacqui Kong, Dr Beauty Thounaojam, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Salini Rajendran from Taylor’s Culinary Institute. This field visit also supported the extension of the ‘Kaki Lima Stories’ project by Assoc. Prof. Dr Camelia Kusumo and Dr Lee Sze-Ee from the School of Architecture, Building & Design.

Students visited three food establishments, where they sampled local beverages, vegetarian cuisine, and traditional Indian sweets and pastries at a neighbourhood bakery. These encounters engaged all the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, thus allowing students to appreciate food not only as sustenance but as carriers of memory, identity, and meaning.

To complement what was taught about local and global food systems, students visited two sundry shops that sold groceries, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other household necessities such as cooking tools and necessities to serve the local community, offering insights into how food provisioning supports local livelihoods and cultural practices. 

Throughout the trail, students were asked to take fieldnotes, in other words, detailed observations and notes about what they encountered on the visit. These fieldnotes were then used as insights into the students’ experiences with the culinary, religious, cultural, and historical elements that make up Brickfields as an iconic Malaysian spot for tourists and locals alike.

To end the field visit, the students and lecturers stopped at Kuil Sri Krishna to visit the temple and observe devotees carrying out their prayers, further reinforcing the close connections between food, faith, and cultural life in Brickfields.