Sibu Tales : Personal Dish

Today is the Second Day of RMO or Restricted Movement Order by the Malaysian Government under PM Muhydin from Johor, where he once served as Chief Minister. The Corona Virus has hit Malaysia and two people have already died.

I would like to fill the first part of the morning with some mental exercises, remembering a lovely fact or occasion.

Most of my happy memories are associated with food.

A Foochow wife who loved her husband would especially cook a dish for him and it was not shared by other members of the family, whether the family was poor or weathy. According to my elderly aunt this was the "done practice" among several families that she knew of.

It seemed to be a special offering in the olden days to the head of the family, especially when the father in law was no longer around. No children or any relative could share the dish with him, or even his own mother. Perhaps this also indicated that the wife was already in control of the household expenditure.

This could also be practised because the bread winner of the family should get a dish of special food, not to be shared with the rest of the family. For example, meat was difficult to get, so he should be the one getting the protein and the rest of the family perhaps only vegetables.

I remember Pearl S Buck's book, The Good Earth, O Lan, ate her rice with a bit of cabbage, sitting at the door way, away from the table.

This special or personal dish offering was also associated with my grandfather. My aunt did not know whether he was the one who insisted on it as he had seen it practised in China as a child or he learned about it as he was growing up in Sibu. He probably liked the practice.

Grandmother Siew was a good cook and she would prepare a special dish for him for lunch and for dinner.

As a child I saw this was practised and thought it rather unique. In Foochow it was called Saigah siak (for persoanl eating only個人吃 or 私人吃) It was just one small portion of pork cooked in a special way, or a bowl of special chicken soup. My grandfather nevertheless was not a man who was willing to spend lavishly on food. He would personally buy some of the cheapest cuts of meat for example, pig tails, or pork stomach. He insisted on keeping chickens, ducks, and even doves.

So a personal dish was just a very delectable dish that Grandmother would dutifully and especially prepare for him.

He must have loved me a lot because whenever I came to visit him, and had lunch with him, he would give me a piece from his personal dish. It was something I remember well and truly appreciate. I had especially like the pork ribs.

I remember Grandfather loved blackbeans and pig tails, brown beans with pork ribs, and pig stomach soup.

Today for hygienic practice we have our own bowls of soup and we use a common serving spoon to take whatever we like.