WHEN T’NG TOK is mentioned in Penang, it is in reference to the sumptuous feasts[1] prepared to celebrate occasions like weddings, significant birthdays and funerals. The food is served on a long but narrow table, hence the name t’ng tok (Penang) or tok panjang (Singapore and Melaka). For the uninitiated, the Hokkien dialects spoken in the North and South of Peninsular Malaysia are slightly different from each other, as can be seen in the different pronunciations/spellings used for many of the same dishes—e.g. fish is hu in the North and he in the South.
In my mother-in-law’s Kee family ancestral home in Sungei Bakap in Penang, there is a Kee ancestral hall. When a male descendant passes away, a tablet (sin chew) would be placed behind the altar in the ancestral hall. I happened to be there on a particular day in the Chinese calendar, when food offerings were laid on the usual rectangular tables for the departed forebears. There was also a long table with a setting for each of the other descendants; each setting consisted of a bowl of rice, a bowl of kuih ee, a glass of wine, a cup of tea plus a spoon and a pair of chopsticks. This was the first time I had seen the long table used for ancestral offerings.
