jungle food

When I say 'jungle food,' one probably thinks of bush meat, sago worms, raw plants, wild berries and other things Bear Grylls has eaten. To be fair, we did once try some of the porcupine a villager had shot and cooked. However, the food we were served in Muk Ayung wasn't far from the Asian fare I am used to. What made it incredibly special was all the preparation that had gone into it.

Considering that Tuan Nanak, the village headman, was to have 10 of us at his house for lunch, quite a feast had to be prepared.

I call it jungle food because all of the raw ingredients came from the land that the villagers have cultivated. The tapioca leaves had been plucked from their own kebun or farms (we must have eaten a few kilos of veg!), baby bamboo shoots were harvested from the jungle, the salted fish was caught from the nearby river, and the chickens, a short while ago running around, were freshly killed for our sake.

The rice, affectionately called nasi kampung, came from their own paddy fields. Every family will have a few acres of land dedicated to growing rice. I asked if they ever sold their rice or any of their produce - most of them said no. Their produce tends to be less competitive on the market and they earn a very small cut from selling to middle men. Most of what they grow is simply for their own sustenance.

Tapioca leaf dish with salted fish

I particularly enjoyed the belacan stir-fried bamboo shoot. The shoot was sweetish, tender and juicy yet slightly crunchy, fried with belacan to give it that spicy kick. It was also cooked with chicken heart, liver and lung (yes, nothing goes to waste!) - I don't normally eat innards but somehow I found that they went very well with the whole dish.

A bamboo shoot being sliced up

Ayam pansuh is chicken that is cooked in the hollow of a bamboo stem stuffed with tapioca leaves and filled with water and seasoning. Delicious too!

Saying grace

 Lunch was a fantastic first for me as far as natives' food goes. I really didn't expect to be eating this well on the trip and I suspect that the villagers don't normally have such rich spreads except on special occasions and for visitors. I guess I'll never know - but that's Bidayuh hospitality for you.