Introduction to the Wonders of East Malaysia

Across the sea from Peninsular Malaysia on Borneo island, lie the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Traditional lifestyles and limited roads still predominate outside of the major cities, especially in Sarawak, where rivers are the only major highways for much of the inland population. The jungles of Borneo are teeming with wild plants, fungi, and fruits, and its sweeping coastlines and many large rivers provide an abundance of seafood and freshwater fish fit for the dinner table. A rich variety of traditional food has been developed by Borneo's many tribes and indigenous groups over the centuries; much of it is healthy food, consisting of foraged (now increasingly cultivated due to modernization) and fermented foods. Because much of the region was once under the Brunei Sultanate's thalassocracy, the Bruneian Malay people have left a lasting culinary influence, particularly on the cookery of the coastal Muslim communities of East Malaysia.

Like Peninsular Malaysia, rice is the undisputed staple food for the majority of the people of Sabah and Sarawak. Rice is central to Kadazandusun culture, and its paramount importance is reflected in the annual Kaamatan festival, as well as traditional beliefs and customs since antiquity which revolve around the veneration of rice spirits. But for other ethnic communities throughout Sabah and Sarawak, cassava or tapioca tubers as well as sago starch are also popular staples. The tapioca tuber is just as important as rice to the Bajau people of Sabah, while the Dayak peoples of Sarawak make extensive use of both the tuber and leaves of the tapioca plant in their cooking. Sago starch is derived from the pith extracted from the sago palm, and is the staple food for the Melanau and the Penan peoples of Sarawak. Sago starch is prepared as a gooey and sticky paste by the Bisaya and Kedayan communities called ambuyat, and is called linut by the Melanau. It is eaten by rolling the paste around the prongs of a bamboo fork, and dipped it into soup, sambal, or other varieties of gravies and dipping sauces. Aside from being the source for sago pith, the sago palm is a source of another delicacy for the indigenous peoples of Borneo: the sago grub. Called butod in Sabah and ulat mulong in Sarawak, sago grubs are typically eaten raw but also served deep fried, roasted or sautéed.

Historically speaking, fresh produce is often scarce for hunter-gatherer nomadic tribes around the world, thus it is usually preserved out of necessity for important events and festivals. The tribal peoples of Sabah and Sarawak are no different - most of them have developed age-old techniques for curing, fermenting or preserving their supplies of fresh meat, fruit and vegetables. For example, during festive occasions the Murut people of Sabah would serve tamba (jeruk or jaruk in the Malay language) made from fresh raw wild boar or river fish, which is stuffed in bamboo tubes along with rice and salt and left to ferment for a few weeks, a technique which is also practiced by the Lun Bawang people across the border in Sarawak. Fermented products are also frequently used as a cooking ingredient besides eaten on its own. Dayak households in Sarawak may saute their version of fermented meat with garlic and tapioca leaves (either fresh or pickled), and fermented durian or tempoyak is a popular cooking seasoning.

The production and consumption of traditional liquor plays an important cultural role for the non-Muslim peoples of East Malaysia. Alcoholic drinks made from rice is the most common form, as well as the widely available. In Sabah, the Penampang Kadazan lihing is perhaps the most well known. Yet due to the lack of a standardized Kadazandusun language used and understood statewide, ethnic groups from other districts in Sabah have very different names for similar fermented rice-based drinks: hiing (certain Dusun languages), kinomol, segantang, kinarung, kinopi, linahas, and even tapai. To add to the confusion, tapai proper as understood by most Peninsular Malaysians is a fermented sweet and sour rice paste served as a snack or dessert, although further fermentation of the tapai to produce alcoholic drinks is possible. The preferred party drink of the Murut, made from the tuber of the cassava or tapioca plant, is also called tapai. The Iban of Sarawak call their rice wine tuak, which must not be confused with Sabahan talak, which is a hard liquor made from rice. To the native peoples of Sarawak, tuak may also refer to any alcoholic drink made from fermenting any carbohydrate-rich substance besides rice.