The savoury story behind tumpik

DO you know that the traditional Melanau dish ‘tumpik’ has an interesting background story behind it?

According to the owner of the tumpik stall at the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2024 in Damai, Rose Anthony, 61, this dish was invented because once upon a time, the Melanaus could not eat rice.

“It was not because they were unable to but it is more because they could not eat rice,” she emphasised.

She explained that the Melanau community used to live by the sea where paddy could not be cultivated.

“They do not have access to paddy, therefore, they extracted sago from the thatch palm tree that was planted in the nearby forest,” she said when met by New Sarawak Tribune today.

Adding on, Rose, who hailed from Tellian Mukah explained that if paddy were to be planted in the nearby forest, it would be hard for the community to go back and forth to cultivate it as during that time, the state was still under the Japanese occupation.

“No one would dare to leave their community area that often. Moreover, there is a high chance that other tribal communities would claim ownership of the paddy if it is left in the forest unsupervised.

“That is why the Melanau community would opt to get their sources from trees and plants instead,” she said.

Following this, she also clarified that tumpik is usually not eaten with gula apong by the Melanau community.

“Unlike others where they eat this dish with gula apong, we in the community eat it with salt or umai. Melanaus usually do not like to mix tumpik with anything sweet,” she said.

Tumpik