Quite often, during the fruit season, the long house communities will just offer their guests an afternoon snack made up of fruits and tea.

The fruit can be the terap which is served on its skin. It is a fruit made up of small fruitlets and hence a large number of guests can enjoy eating the small fruitlets by plucking them from the core with their hands.

The use of hands (after washing properly) is polite eating etiquette in the longhouse and every one does it. So just a kind reminder that one should just enjoying using the hand when eating this fruit, and of course durians, chempedak and any cousin of the jackfruit too

The terap and its cousins are found in South East Asia and enjoyed by all indigenous people. Its scientific name is Artocarpus odoratissimus. An unripe terap can be dissected and cooked as a soup in the longhouse, making a very delicious and savoury side dish. It is very tasty and well loved.

We must never waste what God has given us.

Give praise and enjoy God’s feast at the table.

By Changyi
Grace Methodist Church, Miri