Tengayen at Bario Food Festival

Tengayen is a type of wild spinach that grow in shrubs.

It is a much favoured vegetables of the Orang Ulu of SArawak who usually cook it in a soup.

I had my first taste of this vegetable, which some people would also call the Asparagus of the Highlands of Sarawak during the three day Food Festival of Bario.

Many stalls were set up serving different kinds of food. Some stalls offered seats and tables, while others just offer take away. Each Kelabit village was represented by a stall.

A huge range of farmed and wild fruits (jungle products) were on sale and  and some were served as cooked dishes To me every thing was  more like a kind of living exhibition.

This kind of festive atmosphere also helps the younger generations meet many relatives, friends who they have not seen for several years. It is also an eye opener for local and foreign tourists. Homestays provide accomodation as no hotel is available in Bario.

But most importantly the festival provides a platform for visitors and the younger generation "to better understand the “gold mine” inside the forest which must be safeguarded against deforestation and extinction."

Today, Orang Ulu Food stalls can also be found in Miri, and Kuching. You can look for “kikid luang” (fish porridge) and “ kikid labo” (meat porridge), “nuba laya” and “senape” (Bario rice dishes wrapped in palm leaf), “labo senutong” (meat steam cooked in bamboo with tapioca leaf, wild herbs mixed with local spices), “akap” (river snail), “lanau” (wild Kelabit asparagus), “bua kabar” (Kelabit pineapple), “kelatang” (bettle grubs), “uet” (coconut grubs), “tengayen” (wild Kelabit spinach)  and “labo pull” (smoke or grill meat arrange in satay style) and “abang” (Kelabit vegetable)