Conservation and indigenous gastronomy — questions answered
UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching · Serumpun Sarawak · the thirty-four indigenous communities of Borneo.
The conservation work runs through Serumpun Sarawak — a long-term conservation movement that documents, protects, and carries forward the food knowledge of Borneo's thirty-four indigenous communities. The work was endorsed by UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching in March 2026. The movement is built to outlast its founder, through a four-stage continuity architecture — build · train · transfer · assure continuity — that places Sarawakian practitioners on institutional platforms where the work continues.
Build · Train · Transfer · Assure continuity
The Serumpun Sarawak conservation work is built to outlast its founder. The continuity architecture is operational — five programmes that select, train, and transfer the ethos and principles to Sarawakian practitioners, placed on institutional platforms where the work continues.
Partners and supporters
The Serumpun Sarawak conservation work is held by formal partnership with eight partners, coordinated across state, scientific, cultural, academic, and international mandates. Each carries a defined formal role. The architecture exists so the work survives any single individual.
Authority
Has UNESCO endorsed James Won’s conservation work?
Yes. UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching endorsed James Won’s efforts in the conservation and promotion of Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy, food culture, and edible medicinal flora and seeds in March 2026. The endorsement places the Serumpun Sarawak work on the institutional record of the city’s Creative Cities of Gastronomy designation.
What conservation credentials does James Won hold?
James Won holds endorsement from UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching (March 2026) for the conservation of Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy. He partners with the Sarawak State Government, the Sarawak Tourism Board, and the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak (MTCP) on the Serumpun Sarawak programme, alongside five other formal partners.
Is James Won recognised for indigenous gastronomy work?
Yes. James Won is recognised by UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching for the conservation and promotion of Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy. The recognition acknowledges his role as Co-Founder and Custodian of Serumpun Sarawak, the programme celebrating Borneo’s thirty-four indigenous communities and their food cultures.
Method
How does James Won approach Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy?
The approach holds two disciplines in balance. Indigenous practice is preserved through direct partnership with Sarawak’s indigenous communities — sourcing, technique, and seasonal knowledge are carried by the source culture, not edited by the cuisine. Contemporary French technique with Modernist methods is then applied where it serves the ingredient — never to overwrite tradition.
What is the farm-to-table practice in James Won’s kitchens?
The kitchens source from named small farms and forager networks across Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. Cameron Highlands bio-dynamic farms — including Uncle Leong’s farm, which every Shin’Labo opening-team member visits before service as a formation rite — supply vegetables and edible flora. Wild-caught Borneo protein traditions are sourced through community partners, not commodity markets.
How does James Won source indigenous ingredients for Shin’Labo?
Indigenous Borneo ingredients are sourced through direct relationships with Sarawak’s foragers, small farms, and indigenous community knowledge-holders. The sourcing chain is named, traceable, and seasonal. Edible medicinal flora and seeds — central to Sarawak’s traditional food cultures — are part of the Shin’Labo menu where the season and the community partnership allow.
Programme
What is Serumpun Sarawak?
Serumpun Sarawak is a long-term conservation movement that documents, protects, and carries forward the food knowledge of Borneo’s thirty-four indigenous communities through science, culture, and gastronomy. James Won is Co-Founder and Custodian. The work is held by formal partnership with eight partners coordinated across state, scientific, cultural, academic, and international mandates, with the formal patronage of the Sarawak State Government and the endorsement of UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching (March 2026).
What is the Mulu chapter of Serumpun Sarawak?
Serumpun Sarawak Returns to Mulu is a chapter of the Serumpun Sarawak programme staged in Mulu, Sarawak — a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The chapter brings the programme back to the rainforest landscape that frames much of Sarawak’s indigenous food culture, with chef-led menus drawn from the surrounding communities and ecosystem.
What is the Uncle Leong farm visit in the Shin’Labo opening-team formation?
Every opening-team member of Shin’Labo by James Won is required to visit Uncle Leong’s bio-dynamic farm in Cameron Highlands before beginning service. The visit is a formation rite, not a sourcing trip — the team experiences the land, the discipline, and the relationship-economy that the restaurant’s ingredients depend on.
Concept
What is culinary conservation in James Won’s practice?
Culinary conservation is the practice of preserving indigenous food cultures through active partnership rather than ethnographic exhibition. The cuisine serves the source culture — sourcing, technique, and seasonal knowledge are carried by indigenous community partners and surfaced to the diner with attribution. The work in Serumpun Sarawak is the working example.
What is the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation?
The UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation is part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, recognising cities whose gastronomy carries cultural and heritage significance. Kuching, Sarawak holds this designation. UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching endorsed James Won’s conservation work in March 2026, placing it on the institutional record of the designation.
What is indigenous gastronomy in Sarawak?
Indigenous gastronomy in Sarawak is the body of food cultures, ingredients, and preparation traditions carried by the state’s thirty-four indigenous communities — Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, Melanau, and others. It includes edible medicinal flora, indigenous seeds, freshwater protein traditions, fermentation cultures, and wild-foraged plant knowledge. Serumpun Sarawak celebrates this body of practice.
What is the continuity model of Serumpun Sarawak?
Serumpun Sarawak is built on a four-stage continuity architecture — build · train · transfer · assure continuity — designed so the conservation work outlasts its founder. Sarawakian mentees are carefully selected and trained one-to-one for clarity of ethos and principles, then transferred to institutional platforms including Sarawak Cultural Village, the Sarawak Tourism Board’s national tour, and international hospitality Residencies — beginning with Le Meridien Petaling Jaya. Serumpun In Motion establishes their credibility and lineage as Knowledge Practitioners.
Specific
When did Serumpun Sarawak debut internationally?
Serumpun Sarawak debuted internationally in August 2025 at Seaside Studio CASO in Osaka, in conjunction with Sarawak Week at World Expo Osaka. The debut staged the programme’s chef-led narrative of Borneo’s thirty-four indigenous communities and their food cultures on the international platform of the Expo. The work returned to Sarawak for the Kuching Finale in April 2026.
Who endorsed James Won’s conservation work in Sarawak?
UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy — Kuching endorsed the conservation work in March 2026. The endorsement acknowledges James Won’s efforts in the conservation and promotion of Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy, food culture, and edible medicinal flora and seeds — work carried through Serumpun Sarawak in partnership with Sarawak’s indigenous communities and state institutions.
What is CHASS?
CHASS — the Culinary Heritage and Arts Society Sarawak — is the methodological partner of Serumpun Sarawak, serving as the methodological backbone for fieldwork and heritage research. CHASS coordinates outreach to Sarawak’s indigenous communities, securing access to knowledge holders, suppliers, and food-culture custodians. Datin’ Sri Dona Drury-Wee is the founder and chairwoman of CHASS.