Exotic food exploration continues

The quest for exotic fruits in Borneo continued so I visited a few more markets to see what I could find.  I went to Kuching’s Sunday market, which intriguingly actually starts on Saturday morning.  It runs until late Saturday night and then starts again at the crack of dawn on Sunday, finishing around lunchtime on Sunday.  The stall owners come from miles away - a complete other part of Borneo - so they actually sleep at the market so they can sell as late as possible and start again the following morning as early as they can.  

I also visited an indoor food market in a town called Sibu, about 114 miles north east of Kuching.  In was in Sibu that that I saw an even wilder variety of new and interesting food – from fruits and vegetables to meats and fish.  The colours and smells were once again incredible, although not always a blessing on the nose!

While looking at all the glorious but strange foods, I realised that I should tell you more about ALL of what I saw, not just the exotic looking fruit.  I can't keep all of those delights from you.  What follows will therefore consist of a photo diary of the different types of produce that I discovered.  I have to be honest, the names of some of the food are still missing – mainly because I don’t speak Malay and the stall owners didn’t speak English.  Still, it was exciting enough just looking at all the products, and of course tasting them where possible.  If you know any of the names please let me know.

Indoor market at Sibu

 

These may look unappetising but the fruit inside was sweet and juicy

My investigation into Borneo food was helped a great deal by an awesome local man called Ming.  He was superb and in the evenings he took me out of town to the local food courts where we tucked into some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten.  It was here that I tried a lot of local delicacies - from sting ray to jungle fern.  Below is a picture of some fresh jungle fern at the market.  It's so tasty when cooked with chillis and served as a side dish.  Mmmm.

Jungle fern

What alarmed me most about the markets across Borneo and, come to think of it, several other countries I have visited is the lack of cleanliness, hygiene and proper storage of the food.  The fish and meat, for example, just sits out in the heat with flies and other insects doing a jolly dance on it all until they are beaten away by the stall owners.  At least the flies are having an absolute blast!  Having said this, all the fish that I sampled while in Borneo was absolutely delicious so I can't grumble too much.  When in Rome and all that...

So there we have it.  The latest in a long line of photos that illustrate my time in Borneo, soaking up the local food, culture and traditions.  I'll be sure to regale more stories and photos from the rest of my trip, which took me to Australia, Singapore and Bali.  Until then...

Simply Borneo.

Simply Nectar

Simply Nectar goes exotic

As you may know, I am currently undertaking an extremely exciting period of travel.  That's right, I've packed my bag and have hit the road in search of awesome adventures and new experiences.  I'm not only doing it on behalf of myself but also for Simply Nectar and our friends at What On Earth.  I feel my travels can help with research and future ideas.

At the moment I am based in Sydney, Australia, and I have been here for just under a week.  I have another week to go and I'm excited about the prospect of what the next few days here will bring.  Before here I was in Kuching, Borneo, for a week and my time there was unforgettable.  The part of Malaysian Borneo that I saw was magical and I would love to explore more of the area.  I have also had a brief stopover in Singapore, which is a country I will be spending a few more days in next week.  Unfortunately it has rained pretty much everywhere I've been but I'm trying not to let that stop my adventures.

Tropical storm in Singapore

One of the biggest elements of my journey so far has been the food and drink that I've tried.  This gave me inspiration and encouraged me to go in search of new fruits that could be used to make delicious Simply Nectar.  We already have eight exciting flavours but we're always keeping our eyes peeled for more.  There are so many different types of fruit out there after all.

My investigations into different fruits started in Borneo and got off to a brilliant start.  Not only could I admire the fruit and all the colours and smells they offered (the durian fruit not included) I could also taste them.  The kind people at the markets allowed me, a clueless foreigner, to tuck into the fruits they were offering before buying them.  I think this was mainly due to the fact they got a good laugh out of watching me eat these fruits, many of which I had no idea how to eat.  Some had hard skin that needed to be peeled, some had stones in them, some needed to be slurped, some chewed and some sucked.  Eventually, after sampling lots of new types of fruit, I got round to eating the durian fruit.  This is the fruit I was most intrigued about as I saw it many years ago when I travelled through Thailand but never got round to trying it.  I was therefore looking forward to giving it a go.  The durian fruit is an interesting looking fruit - it is hard, green and rough on the outside but once cracked open the middle offers beautiful, bright orange fleshy fruit.  Looks can be deceiving though.  The durian fruit may appear amazing but it gives off a pungent pong.  To put it better, it stinks!  In Singapore the durian fruit is banned from public areas because it smells so bad.  And sadly, for me, the smell overpowered the taste.  The fruit tasted just as bad as it smelt.  It wasn't sweet like people described it, it was more horrible than anything else.  What makes it worse is that the stringy fruit got stuck in my teeth so for hours afterwards all I could taste was the eggy, unsavoury flavour of the durian fruit.  Now, don't get me wrong, many people love eating durian.  It is a bit of a delicacy in Asia but for me it was not an experience I would like to repeat.  I'm glad I did it and am pleased to say I finally got round to tasting durian fruit but would I do it again?  Never!  Maybe I had a bad one, maybe it wasn't ripe....maybe it was just vile!  Either way at least I got to try it and I can safely say we will not be going in for a durian fruit Simply Nectar.  I wouldn't put anybody through it!

As well as the durian fruit, there were lots of other exotic looking fruits through Borneo.  Can you name any of the following?

Send your ideas to laura@whatonearth.co.uk, put them on our Facebook page or tweet them to us on Twitter - @simplynectar.

Simply exotic,

Simply Nectar