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Kuala Lumpur: The tourism, arts and culture ministry has submitted a nomination for Malaysian breakfast culture to be added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) list of intangible cultural heritage in March.

Deputy minister Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan said the nomination highlighted national favourites such as nasi lemak, roti canai and teh tarik.

“If this nomination is successful, we are confident it will further increase Malaysia’s visibility globally.

“This will make the country a tourist destination with a wide variety of heritage food,” he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today in response to a question from Jimmy Puah (PH-Tebrau) about the ministry’s efforts to preserve the national identity of Malaysian cuisine.

Khairul said the national heritage department had taken the initiative to gazette dishes under the National Heritage Act 2005 to protect and preserve them from extinction.

“A total of 213 heritage foods from various states and races have been recognised as national heritage under this law,” he said.

In addition, Khairul said the ministry had published four books on heritage food, including “Makanan Warisan Hampir Pupus” and “Malaysia Culinary Heritage: The Best Authentic Traditional Recipes”.

He said the ministry also provided grants to any party interested in promoting national heritage food.