http://slowfoodfoundation.org/eng/arca/lista.lasso
The Ark of Taste aims to rediscover, catalog, describe and publicize forgotten flavors. It is a metaphorical recipient of excellent gastronomic products that are threatened by industrial standardization, hygiene laws, the regulations of large-scale distribution and environmental damage.
Ark products range from the Italian Valchiavenna goat to the American Navajo-Churro sheep, from the last indigenous Irish cattle breed, the Kerry, to a unique variety of Greek fava beans grown only on the island of Santorini. All are endangered products that have real economic viability and commercial potential.
and in this list, from malaysia, we have 2 entries. bario rice and rimbas black pepper.
i don't know anything about rimbas black pepper but i'm lucky to be able to find bario rice being sold in the oug wet market!
at rm13/kg, it isn't cheap but think for a moment, how could such rice be cheap? it's a highland rice cultivated manually, without aid of modern machineries, fertilizers nor pesticides. and the kelabit tribe has a current population of only 5000 of which you can bet your dollar the young is slowly shunning away from such laborious activity.
in other words, in a generation or two, we may lose this valuable tradition forever. so at rm13/kg, savour it while you can!
we have cooked this rice. it has soft sticky texture, very unlike other types of rice. we tried the white, red and black variety. the red and black doesn't require additional water to cook, very unlike the normal brown rice.
if you are a malaysian, you may want to try this rice first before we lose it forever.
anyone know anything about rimbas black pepper?
