Uggah receiving a souvenir in the form of the recipe book from Empiang while (from left) Nanta, Jabu, Doreen and Senorita (right) look on.
KUCHING: Members of the Dayak community have been told to treat challenges as business opportunities.
These challenges can come in various forms including planting and producing jungle produce on a commercial basis, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas who is also Minister for Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Economy.
He noted the idea of selling popular, exotic and home-cooked-style Dayak dishes is not enough as the Dayak community must now find ways to ensure the steady supply of raw materials for cooks and outlet operators.
“As the raw materials are in fact jungle produce, their supply may not be steady. But they can be planted. The next step is to ensure that there are many outlets throughout Sarawak (to supply the market),” the Bukit Saban assemblyman said when launching a recipe book by Serakup Indu Dayak Sarawak (SIDS) entitled “Sarawak Kitchen Indigenous Flavours” at a hotel here yesterday.
Uggah said SIDS members could take the lead in setting up the value chain and thus, help his ministry to achieve its objective of transforming Sarawak into a developed state with a high income economy by 2030.
“Treat challenges as opportunities. First, look at the production aspect. There is business potential in production. For instance in Miri, a man whom I met recently makes RM10,000 (per month) selling ‘midin’ (a type of local fern) but too bad he is not a Dayak,” he pointed out.
“The challenge is to make sure all materials are available not only in Malaysia but beyond it. So this (challenge) is an opportunity for us especially the 37,000 SIDS members from 27 branches,” he added.
Uggah described the urgent need to ensure constant supply of jungle produce as a major issue unless and until these are planted for commercial purposes.
He also acknowledged the mushrooming of Rumah Asap Dayak (or smokehouses) in Sarawak, suggesting that the Dayaks should see these as a potential market for their jungle produce. Apart from production, Uggah also wanted the Dayak community to look into packaging jungle produce as a business opportunity.
SIDS chairlady Tan Sri Dato Sri Empiang Jabu in her welcoming speech said the publication of the book is not only another milestone for SIDS but “a dream come true” thanks to the hard work, patience and dedication of members and contributors.
The recipe book took a long time to compile.
The written or spoken reference materials used for the book were in Iban with various contributors spread across the various regions of Sarawak; because of this, it took time for the book’s author and editors to decipher what they had wanted to convey, she pointed out.
“For instance, the language used was typical Iban and it needed time to measure what exactly constitutes ‘segenggam asi’ (a fistful of rice) or ‘sejemput garam’ (a pinch of salt). However, we had fun in trying to make sense of them,” she said.
Taking photographs of some of the less common ingredients sourced from rural areas such as ‘kulat mata babi’ which resembles globs of jelly also proved challenging as they spoiled before reaching the city in time.
A chapter of the book has been dedicated to the various type of rice found and planted in Sarawak.
The book is aimed at educating the public about Dayak culture and heritage, Empiang said, adding that some of the recipes documented has already been promoted overseas through celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and food reviewer David Nolan.
During the event, Uggah pledged RM50,000 in government grants to SIDS for their activities.
Among those present were Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) deputy chairman Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi and his wife Datin Angelina Ujang, Uggah’s wife Datin Amar Doreen Mayang, state science research advisor Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang, Council for Native Customs and Tradition (Mais) head Datuk Nillie Tanggai and SIDS secretary Datin Senorita Linang as well as exco members of SDNU and SIDS.