Food taste merupakan salah satu element yang sangat penting dalan setiap jenis makanan.

Rasa makanan yang sedap dapat menarik perhatian orang untuk cuba merasainya. Taste is considered as one of the important element because it could act as a main factor in determining people food choice. This is because people always choose food that they evaluate tasty. Kim et al (2009) stated that tourists perception towards local food will positively increase when they eat tasty food. Table 2 shows the results of tourists perception regarding the taste of local food in Penang.

Table 2:

Food taste as factors affecting tourists perception towards local food in Penang

Note: _ x = mean, S.D. = std. deviation, 1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Unsure, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly agree Percentage (%) 2 3 4 1.0 1.0 11.0 18.2 42.4 9.0 15.0 34.0 33.3 21.2 56.0 54.0 37.0 31.3 6.1

Statement Item (n = 100) I love the taste of local food because it is delicious Local food in Penang has unique taste Most of local food that I have tasted are spicy I can only taste Penang food only in Penang

1 1.0

5 34.0 30.0 18.0 16.2 4.0

_ x 4.23 4.13 3.62 3.43 2.19

S.D. .649 .691 .908 1.002 1.027

I do not like the taste of local food in 26.3 Penang

From the results, it shows that most of the respondents that include domestic and international tourists both stated that they love the taste of Penang local food because it is delicious. 56% of the respondents agree while 34% strongly agree with the perception

that Penang local food is tasty and delicious. They also stated that Penang local food such as Char Koey Teow, Nasi Kandar and Pasembor taste so good. As stated by Enteleca Research and Consultancy (2000), tourists often associated local food at their travel destination as having better taste and distinctive. Characteristic ini merupakan antara perkara yang sering diberi perhatian oleh tourists about local food yang terdapat at their travel destination. The reason why most of the respondents agree that Penang local food is very delicious because it possesses a special and unique taste that hardly be found at other places except in Penang. Thus, 54% of the respondents agree and 30% of them strongly agree that Penang local food have unique taste and different from other types of food. Jadi, tidak hairanlah kenapa Penang juga sering dikenali sebagai food paradise because at Penang, tourists can have an opportunity to taste variety of local food with unique taste.

As we know, Penang merupakan antara negeri yang mempunyai bilangan pelbagai bangsa yang hidup harmoni antara satu sama lain. Ini termasuklah kaum cina, melayu, india dan juga masyarakat baba dan nyonya. Unlike Kedah and Kelantan yang majority masyarakatnya terdiri daripada masyarakat Melayu, taburan masyarakat yang terdiri daripada kaum India, cina dan Melayu lebih sekata di Penang. Thus, keadaan ini banyak mempengarui cara hidup masyarakat di Penang termasuklah dari segi masakannya. Much of their cuisines or local food was being influence by many cultures such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and Nyonya. That is why Penang local food has different and unique taste due to the combination from these cultures. As compared to other states in Malaysia yang juga berbilang kaum, pengaruh budaya terhadap makanan tempatan

mereka lebih kuat di Penang. This is similar to Tourism Queensland (2003) that views local food as part of local culture product. They also stated that regions that possess unique dishes and food products as a results of their culture and environment can be transformed into food tourism destination with minimum marketing and product development. Consequently, Penang could become food tourism destination because ia sangat terkenal dengan kelebihannya yang mempunyai variety and unique taste of local food due to the influence from many cultures.

Furthermore, a unique taste of local food could also be a key factor for local food to become attractive by the tourists. As stated by Ian Yeoman (2008), tourists nowadays are willing to travel just to taste variety of local food at their travel destinations. For example, there are tourist who willing to travel to India just to taste its authentic curry and Argentina for its famous steak. Begitu juga dengan tarikan makanan tempatan di Penang. From the research, didapati ramai domestic tourists from Perak, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are willing to travel to Penang just to have a taste of its local food yang mempunyai rasa yang sangat sedap. This finding shows how unique taste and distinctive local food could attract tourists to travel to Penang. Besides, Penang local food is also widely known by international tourists as stated in New York Press. Thus, local food could be used as a main attraction for tourists to travel to Penang.

Moreover, by having a perception that many of the local food have special unique taste, ia akan mendorong pelancong untuk mencuba makanan tersebut. However, there

are some tourists who are reluctant to eat or dislike the taste of local food in Penang. From the results, there is only a small percentage of tourists that accounted for 2.19 % dislike the taste of local food in Penang. Perhaps the taste tidak menepati citarasa mereka or they may find that the food is too hot or too salty. Based on the results also, majority of the respondents particularly 37 % of them agree that most of the Penang local food that they had tasted was spicy. This is due to the fact that most of the Malaysian food as well as Penang local food banyak dipengaruhi oleh masakan Melayu dan India yang banyak menggunakan cili dan rempah. Tetapi, walaubagaimanapun they still love the spicy taste of Penang local food. Thus, this makes a reason why tourist especially international tourists perceive that most of local food in Penang is spicy. This is consistent with the findings by Liu and Jang (2008) found that Western people are more likely to taste hot and spicy food and it had become new food trends in US today.

In addition, Cohen and Avielli (2004) stated that tourists sometimes are reluctant to try or dislike the taste of local food at travel destination because they feel that the food is strange with unknown ingredients and unfamiliar to them. For example in the case of visit by Westerners to destinations in some Third World countries which are perceived as remote, mysterious and dangerous. However, due to the globalization in the world today, people nowadays are becoming more exciting and would like to try and taste new food while travelling. Thus, tasting food with strange taste and unfamiliar ingredients is not a fear anymore. Tourists who travel now are more adventurous and willing to taste some exotic food at their travel destination. That is why there is a new form of tourism such as food tourism that keep emerging.

Finnaly, disebabkan keunikkan rasa local food yang terdapat di Penang, ramai yang bersetuju iaitu lebih kurang 31.2 % mengatakan authentic taste of Penang local food hanya terdapat di Penang. Thus, it can be concluded that taste can play a major role in affecting tourists perception towards local food. Most tourist perceive that Penang local food as having unique and great taste and this factor can helps to increase their positive perception towards local food in Penang.