Well, am I a meat eater? Yes, I am. I love eating anything that has chicken in it. Seafood is my favorite of all. Beef? I would never say no to. Lamb? Only if it’s well cooked.
Would I ever consider eating something live? Woah, NEVER!
That’s what I thought at least. Why? BECAUSE I ATE A LIVE BUTOD IN SABAH!!
Butod, also known as sago grub is known as the MOST DISGUSTING FOOD OF SABAH! Junk food always looks good but does ugly things to your body. However, Butod is the opposite, it’s ugly but is very nutritious and high in protein. This can grow fatter than your little finger and looks like a giant maggot.
If anyone’s to now ask me “what’s the craziest thing you’ve done, I’d go ahead and say – l ATE A LIVE WORM DUDE “. Fast forwarding all the days of my trip to Sabah, on the final day there we were taken to the D’place restaurant in the city Centre to try some authentic Sabahan food. The moment we entered the restaurant I came across a bulletin that said ‘live Butod Eating Challenge’. Never would I even in my dreams consider taking up the challenge however I did. Here’s how:
One of my fellow bloggers was so keen on trying it the moment we entered the place that I was fascinated by the courage she held . I was still not convinced on the whole idea of eating something live as there were a whole bunch of creepy and disgusting ideas running through my head. I and another friend who promised each other not to try eating the little thing grabbed some dinner and sat away from the worm eating people to take our mind away from the very disturbing thought. While we sat there eating and talking to a local and a member of Sabah Tourism Board he explained to us on how he had tried it before and it tasted very bland more like raw cucumber. He also told us how they are cooked or pan fried and most commonly used as pizza toppings in Sabah. That was news to us.
I asked all the other audience to invite me when they started eating the worm as I really wanted to witness the wonderful reactions as they ate the disgusting wriggling worm. First to go was Chef Sushil from Bangalore and Chef and lawyer Gordon Leong from Sabah. They seemed to be so much as ease that somewhere I was reconsidering my decision. The other travel bloggers followed and I was badly wanting the experience but the thought of the liquid oozing out made me want to stop my insane thoughts and quit ! Chef Sushil was however persistent and asked me to try it as that was once in a lifetime opportunity.
While a few travel bloggers tried it I saw my dear companion who promised me at the dinner table not to try it walking to the table laid down with worms to give it a try. I was taken aback because that’s something that both of us were scared to do and his courage made me also want to do it as I thought if he could then so could I ! We all watched him do a little drama for whole of 5 minutes before he actually ate it and said he liked how it felt now, wouldn’t I want to feel the same way after doing something that would be the craziest thing that I’d ever do. Hence, I decided to finally try it.
I went ahead and sat there in front of the camera as they wanted to shoot our funniest of expressions. I told myself that I could just run away and not look back and no one would bother except after the visa expiry). I then told myself that if everyone else could do it then I could too and tried to hold the wriggling thing in my hand. I so just couldn’t do it. I tried convincing my fingers to get a grip but all they did was cry. Thankfully the most courageous Jovina (the one who was keen on trying it in the first place) was glad to help me and she held it for me before I closed my eyes and bit the damn worm in half ! Wow !
How was it ? It was very slimy, felt like grapes as I thought it was that and was bland. I was never that proud ever before!
If you’d like to see the video, you can watch it here.
Sabah, you’ve made me do things that I couldn’t convince myself to do. Sabah is Love!
