Kutien Treat and the Drinking Culture

The Kutien liason officers were kind and very keen to help the Sibu group to retrace their roots and food of their ancestors.

We spent one day and one night in this very delightful new city. More than 80 years ago the village known as Kutien was what our pioneering fathers knew. But today that village is now more than 800 feet below water level. The new city is thriving and the people are enjoying a high standard of living with modern facilities.

The food at the feast was no less sumptuous and the company merry.

We were better at Kampei (bottoms up) and have cultivated a bit of the Jin Chui (offering a cup of wine) culture. Any one going to Mainland China must have a good vocabulary of good words and phrases when the host comes around to kampei with you. "May you be blessed...may your business be successful...may you pass the exams with flying colours...may you have a good and long life...etc" This is called :"jui wen" or "language of the wine" according a learned friend of mine. Those who are good can even break into poetry.

Let's drink to Li Bai!! Perhaps a glass or two will loosen our tongue and we can become "inebriated in our own verbosity" (sorry no offense meant). But there is also a Chinese saying "Wine does not make me drunk...I am drunk in my own thoughts..."

This is the line up for our post-dinner "official" photo. Books are given in exchange.



Excellent sausage meat


Pickled toufoo...very refine and tasty. This is very appetising.


This is fried preserved hu liu...a kind of small fish.



An array of rice wines.



Very good hot pot of toufoo and sea food.



A special yam and glutinous rice cake with lots of sesame seeds.

Braised chicken


Vegetarian fried green cake made from a wild herb....very tasty and very healthy. (We have this herb in Sarawak too) The herb is a good anti-dote for stomach discomfort. And eating one of these would help with digestion. Many mothers would just boil the herb and ask their children to drink the tea as it helps to de-tox. If I am not mistaken years ago I even heard that this herb also helped to de-worm small children if they were suspected of having intestinal worms. But I am sure this Kutien cake is not only meant for de-worming. I find it a very delicate and tasty snack. In fact it is be promoted world wide.



fresh razor clams. this is really very tasty. I only wish I could bring kilos and kilos of them home to Sarawak.

Very tasty Ba Kuih stir fried with leeks and spring onions.

You would have noticed that each dish is presented with flowers. The more exotic and rare dishes are decorated with orchids. Orchids are symbolic of good fortune.