Ambuyat

Photo by e_chaya, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Brunei's national dish, a sago starch paste from an indigenous Bornean culinary tradition that predates the island's national borders by centuries; several sources note a real wartime resurgence during the WWII Japanese occupation, when food scarcity pushed Bruneians back toward sago as rationed food ran short, though that's a resurgence in necessity, not the dish's invention. It's eaten with chandas, joined bamboo forked sticks shaped specifically to grip the sticky sago, twirled and swallowed rather than chewed. The sago paste itself is deliberately unseasoned — all the flavor comes from dipping it in cacah sauces.

⚠ Contains: Shellfish, Fish. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.