PEOPLE say it’s expensive but I just can’t go without canned food.
My earliest memory of liking tin stuff started with a brand named Narcissus, comprising minced pork black bean paste circa March of 1964 that cost around RM1.20 more or less.
That was when my brother Jon @ Chandi and I, then aged 16, were dining with teacher Tom Meludin at Nanga Assam Primary School, Melupa in Saratok. We were lodged with the Meludins after he lost a son a few weeks earlier.
It became my favourite and has remained so till this very day though in Metrocity’s Everrise, it now costs RM5.80. But I still go for it now and then.
Therefore, I see it relevant to share with readers my recollection of memories relating to this continued dependence on the items.
For more than six decades, my dependence on the canned food known to longhouse’s Ibans as ‘sadin’ has remained intact.
Now that I rent at Metrocity and has no access to a kitchen, such dependence has intensified.
Besides the minced pork in black beans, there are so many different choices at the supermarket.
Back in 1964 when I was 10, at the local tuck shops at the Kedap waterfront in Saratok, both owned by Chinese named Ah Chick and Seng Kee whose wives were both Iban, they sold a limited choice of canned food that saw some were way beyond their expiry dates.
I then preferred to go for Ah Chik as he sold more varieties and were comparatively cheaper. Such varieties at Ah Chik included ‘sadin ikan’ (sardines), ‘sadin manuk kari’ (curry chicken), ‘sadin babi’ (stewed pork) of the Maling brand imported from China, ‘sadin sapi’ (corned beef) of Great Wall brand from China and a few others, including ‘sadin kaya’ (Kaya spread) and ‘sadin pusu’ (anchovies).
I recall our small group used to walk from the school to buy the ‘sadin kaya’ plus cream crackers during a lunch break.
We would collect 30 sen each from every participant and then purchased the ‘sadin kaya’ and cream crackers and took the items some distance from Kedap before going back to school.
I would lead the group of around six or seven pupils, including my first cousin Aman Nyireng, second cousin Liap Ujih, third cousins Madil Jatan and Kimbui Bungin and a few others. We did it several times within the three years from 1965 to 1967. These were such memorable moments.
When we left Nanga Assam and went to Saratok Secondary School at Mile 4, old Saratok-Roban Road in 1968, I left a lot of memories pertaining to trips to buy ‘sadin kaya’ at Ah Chik’s and the minced pork with black bean paste at teacher Meludin’s quarters.
For some time, I forgot about the Narcissus brand, but we still enjoyed ‘kaya’ to go with bread for breakfast now and then and were served with corned beef or ‘sadin ikan’ at times.
This stopped when I entered Methodist School boarding house in Sibu in 1973 and 1974. Our food was prepared by Mrs Ling, the warden’s wife and did not include any canned food.
However, at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, we had a lot of food choices in the canteens. This was when I began storing canned food to go with rice. My favourites included the ‘sadin manuk kari’, Narcissus minced pork black beans, Maling stewed pork, Great Wall corned beef, ‘sadin ikan’, canned anchovies and a few others.
I would buy rice, which then cost 20 sen per plate, and would bring it back to be consumed with any of these canned food at our hostel. However, the dependence was minimal.
Fast forward to 1979 when I was hired by Rajang Teachers College in Binatang (later Bintangor), I found myself depending highly on canned food.
My weight was on the rise and my waist was 32 from 29, thanks and no thanks, to the heavy intake of canned food and perhaps chocolates.
That caused me to limit my intake of ‘sadin’ and went for fish and meat as I did my own cooking. But ‘sadin’ was always convenient and led to regular dependence.
When I got married in December 1984, the dependence on canned food became very minimal. Our cooking emphasised on fresh food and vegetables.
This went on well over the years till 1997 when I left for Brunei Darussalam to work there. I spent three months in Kuala Belait but was not depending on tin stuff as I was lodged with a friend who depended on a hired cook from next door.
But when I left Kuala Belait for Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) in early December of 1997, I returned to the heavy dependence on canned food.
In BSB, the supermarkets were selling a wide variety. For example, there were varieties of corned beef, with some imported from countries like Brazil, Argentina, the USA, the Philippines, Thailand and China as well as others.
When I went shopping at the departmental stores, I was spoilt for choice. But my main interest was corned beef and stewed pork of the Maling brand imported from China.
I used to cook it together with young cucumber that I learned from my late mum, and my Filipino colleague and flat mate, Antonia Alabastro @ Tony, liked it very much.
The prices were a bit stiff but affordable and not a single week we were without consuming canned food. Our flat was always stocked with a good number of canned food.
When I left Brunei on February 3, 2002, I left some of the cans with Tony and I heard she already had a friend in mind to be invited to share the flat that I had vacated.
I was rushing to Saratok with a second-hand car, a Nissan Coupe two-door with concealed head lights, as I just received news that my dad was near his end.
However, when I arrived at Kedap longhouse, I found that my two brothers just kept him at home. I suggested to bring him to Saratok Hospital, which we did the next day.
He was given a thorough examination, and they found his body was perfect. He lived till June 23 of that year and enjoyed some whiskey for the Gawai Dayak, perhaps his last dose of alcohol.
Earlier, I left the longhouse for a lecturing job at Akademi ITC in King Centre, Kuching. That was in early May after staying unemployed at Kedap since arriving on February 5.
At King Centre, I was given free accommodation and stayed together with the female students of Akademi ITC.
Some of the students were my relatives from Saratok. This was when I returned to regular dependence on ‘sadin’.
After returning from my dad’s funeral on June 25, I remained at King Centre. My second marriage in December 2003 brought me to a new era.
We stayed in a flat at SMK Tabuan Jaya till we moved to our house in Desa Ilmu, Kota Samarahan, the same venue that is still intact to this very day.
But in 2019, when Tribune’s office moved to Metrocity, I started renting in Metrocity and have remained here to this very day.
At Metrocity, I cook my own rice and bought food from the cafes and shops to go with rice in my own room. But most of the times, I go for canned food, which is easily purchased from stores such as Everrise and Golden Dragon nearby. This makes my dependence on canned food more regular but I enjoy them all.
