My early years, the way I remember it...5

Sustenance 2

The forest and rivers (Sungai Golok river and its many tributaries) were supplying us food in abundance.  During the dry season of the year, a particular stretch of the river provided us ample etok (Corbiculacea) supply.  This is a bi-valve mollusk best eaten smoked after marinating with salt mixed with garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric and lemon grass.  I remember us going to the river and 'harvesting' the etok just using our bare hands.  There were just so many of them that we were just scooping them into gunny bags.  Ma would wash and marinate them ready for the smoke the next day.  She will have them evenly spread out in a big rattan/bamboo badang (normally used to winnow rice grains) over glowing ember.  She prepared the fire by a big timber stump where one edge on the badang would rest.  The opposing edge was propped by a platform that father (he is known as Wan to us kids) constructed earlier.  The days that we were smoking etok, Wan would just be working the farm closest to the house.  He never fail to join us to feast on the etok when it was ready.  Wan would pry open the bivalve using a small knife or the shell of an already opened etok.  I would sit beside him to get my share.  Later I would use my front teeth to get to the flesh.  Star etok eaters would just popped a few etok in the mouth and spit out the empty shells!  We did at times have the neighbours over or us going to the neighbours to share the smoked etok.

Incidentally on the opposite side of the timber stump where Ma smoked the etok was a kelulut (Trigona sp, a type of stingless bee) hive.  The stump was really massive and I doubt that the bees were at all disturbed.  They do not sting but can ran havoc to the hair when they get them all tangled up with their wax!  The do supply honey but the hive that we had was way too small to offer us any.  Close to my retirement, there was a paper presented by an entomologist claiming the merits of this stingless bee as a pollinator and their honey as having special medicinal qualities.  Those in the audience were agape with the terminology, 'stingless bee'.  Memories of the past was overwhelming and I just asked aloud, "Are you talking about kelulut?".  "Yes, I am," was the answer.  Duh, 'stingless bee'. Just call it by the name that it is being known as and stop confusing us!  These kelulut do have another function though.  As they do not sting their hives served as good PR gimmick for visiting school children and dignitaries.  Using drinking straws, kelulut honey may be drawn straight from the hives and visitors invited to do so can get really excited.

Water flow was much slower in the tributaries and near to stagnant in the many ox-bow lakes.  By the shallows in these environments were siput sedut (Cerithidea obtusa) for the picking.  They were easily collected clinging to submerged fallen tree branches.  Cooked masak lemak cili api style with tapioca shoots thrown in, we had both protein and vegetable to go with the rice.

The river did offer us fish aplenty.  This deserves a write-up by itself.