Traditional Cuisines

If you're wondering about food, Sabah is one of Malaysia's areas with a range of typical food characteristics, ranging from seafood to growing agriculture. 

1. Latok

Latok is a type of seaweed where its body and type resemble tiny green grapes. As weird as it sounds, Latok is eaten by most Sabah people as a side dish.

Sabah people, seafaring Bajau specifically, traditionally combine freshly plucked latok with a birds-eye chilli and tossed it some lime juice and eat it together with kinds of seafood, for example, a grilled fish and a sour salad of some sort.

Besides, some professional chefs in Malaysia include Latok in fine dining cuisine. These delicacies that burst out the flavour of the seas are often available at seasides Markets in Kota Kinabalu where grilled seafood is sold.

2. Bambangan

Bambangan, is more to a traditional fruit rather than a so-called side dish. It is a seasonal mango fruit that can be found in the wild which has a thicker brown skin, not like any other mangoes. But naturally, the flesh of a bambangan is bright yellow and can be eaten raw. It has a very distinctive sour taste, where locals traditionally eat it after they pickled it with a combination of salt, grated bambangan seeds, and chilli. Best paired together with hot steamed white rice and fish dishes. Bambangan can usually be found at Tamu Markets during the harvest month which usually drops from July to August (Chong, C.,2018).

3. Hinava

Hinava is a traditional dish of the Kazadan-Dusun tribe in Sabah. The ingredients of this dish are raw mackerel, young ginger, shallots, bird's eye chilli, bambangan seeds, salt marinated bitter gourd, lime juice or vinegar and cilantro. The raw fish is marinated in lime  juice or vinegar for approximately 10 minutes in order to “cook” the fish. The lime juice also kills the bacteria in the fish. All the ingredients used in this dish must be fresh. Raw mackerel can also be substituted with raw prawns or squid.

This dish is usually a special meal served during the Tadau Kaamatan or harvesting festival, which is celebrated in Sabah, as well as on occasions such as marriages, engagements, etc.(kilau/kinilau/hinava.,2015).

4. Ambuyat

Ambuyat is made of sago palm from the trunk of the Rumbia tree. Only two ingredients are required to make this; sago starch and boiling water. Ambuyat is traditionally used with bamboo chopsticks. Ambuyat is commonly eaten with tasty dips, as it is very soft on its own.