By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 6: Writing about a dish one cannot taste firsthand can be a daunting challenge, but for 13-year-old Claire Chen Ching Yuan, it is not a barrier, even though she is allergic to seafood.
Claire shared that she has been allergic to Laksa since she was about five or six, particularly to he seafood component as the dish is famously made with prawn paste in its recipe.
Undeterred by her allergy, she proceeded to write about Laksa, drawing from nostalgic memories of the dish from childhood when she could still enjoy it. The irony of her situation impressed DayakDaily during a brief interview.
“She (Claire) wrote about Laksa based on what she could remember when she was a child. Back when she used to be able to eat it (Laksa),” said Claire’s sister, 20-year-old Elizabeth Chen Ching Ying.
Claire, the youngest of the 20 shortlisted participants, achieved an impressive feat by winning second prize in DayakDaily’s ‘Gastronomy and I: My Favourite Dish’ writing competition for the Youth Category. Her writing on Laksa captivated the judges.
When asked about being the youngest competitor, Claire expressed her surprise at winning.
“Actually, I didn’t really expect to win anything, so I was really surprised. Especially since there were older competitors, I thought I had no chance.
“It (winning second prize) was really an unexpected surprise for me,” she admitted.
Both Claire and Elizabeth participated in DayakDaily’s annual writing competition, themed ‘Gastronomy and I: My Favourite Dish’, where participants wrote about their favourite Sarawakian dish. — DayakDaily
