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A not-so-quiet culinary revolution in Mollo
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Spiced up: Mollo's cuisine is rich in pulses, spices and vegetables (Courtesy of Lakoat Kujawas). (Personal collection/Courtesy of Lakoat Kujawas)
W
hat happens when an award-winning writer strikes up an unlikely friendship with a rural housewife? They spearhead one of the country’s most exciting gastronomical movements, of course.
Somewhere in Taiftob, a village in the mountains of Mollo, near the country’s border with East Timor, stands a wooden structure surrounded by sorghum fields. It is small, deceptively simple and unfinished. Inspired by uem bubu, the traditional Timorese house, the unassuming structure belies its founders’ grand ambitions.
“We want this to be a space for people interested in finding out what’s possible for our culinary heritage,” said Dicky Senda, founder of community organization Lakoat Kujawas. “It’s a haven for experimentation.”
He takes us to an enticing view of the future. By January 2022, the structure will house a food lab open to the community and experts alike. Crops, pulses and tubers that have long disappeared from Timorese plates will be stored, planted and cooked there. Young people will learn the techniques of old, and transform these forgotten ingredients into innovative new products.
Meanwhile, busy residency programs will pave the way for chefs, culinary researchers and authors to collaborate with the community in a series of creative programs. Housewives and kids will take turns to tell stories about their own culinary heritage, affirming and preserving a sense of common culture.
It is not simply empowerment or culinary nostalgia. It is a conscious movement to regain what is lost.
Rediscovering heritage
