01x06 - Henry Golding's Malaysian Adventure

[bunniefuu]

[gentle music playing]

[Antoni Porowski] I'm Antoni Porowski.

Hello.

And as a son of immigrants,

-I know that food

-Hoo!

can tell you more about who you are

Nothing makes me feel

more Polish than this.

and where you've come from

-This is it.

-than you ever imagined.

-[upbeat music playing]

-[mooing]

So now, I'm leading

six curious Hollywood stars

-Are you excited for this?

-Yeah.

[Antoni] on their very own

journeys of a lifetime.

I've been waiting for

this moment my entire life.

[Antoni] I'll be delving into

their family histories

[gasps]

-Florence?

-[Antoni] Yeah!

and tracking down culinary clues

Oh my gosh, it's so good!

to unlock the past.

[Issa Rae] It almost feels

unreal to think that

I descend from a king.

[Antoni] And it all begins

-Ha!

-For you, Nonna.

-[Antoni] with just one

-Mm

-[laughter]

-[Antoni] family recipe.

-[kisses]

-It's crispy!

[Florence Pugh] Mm!

♪♪

[Antoni]

This time, I'm taking Henry Golding,

star of Persuasion, The Gentlemen,

and Crazy Rich Asians.

on a journey to the jungles of Borneo

You're the only person

I've seen in the jungles

-with a tucked-in shirt.

-[laughs]

[Antoni] a place once famous

for its fearsome warriors

I remember seeing the skulls

-Human skulls?

-as a kid Human skulls.

[Antoni] to try to get a handle

on his Malaysian heritage.

I kind of always knew

there was a dark history.

-Iban are very skillful people.

-Yeah.

Along the way, we'll sample

the most unique flavors

-This is so good.

-That's my type of fish.

[Antoni] and unearth forgotten stories

to discover a family history

that Henry can really celebrate.

-[all] Ooh, ha!

-[bottles clink]

♪♪

-[upbeat music playing]

-[birds chirping]

[Antoni] I have to say, when I found out

we were starting our journey in Surrey,

this is exactly what I pictured.

[laughs] Really?

[Antoni] So much brick!

I have to admit, England wasn't

the first place I thought of

when I asked Henry where

his culinary roots begin.

[Henry Golding]

This is your typical British suburb.

We're, like, half an hour

from London by train.

And it's like a totally different world.

And that's because Henry spent

his first 8 years growing up

in an expat community in Malaysia.

We moved over from Malaysia, came here,

lived down the street in the first house,

moved, like, 100 meters up this way,

and that was the start of

my childhood in the UK.

-Your parents are still here?

-They're still here.

[Antoni]

Well, I'm very excited to meet them.

They're your traditional, sort of,

-very embarrassing parents.

-[laughs] Yes!

♪♪

-They better be in.

-[laughing]

-Hi, there!

-[laughing]

Hi, how are you? You've come

just at the right time.

-Mum's already started cooking.

-[overlapping chatter]

[Antoni] Dad, Clive,

was stationed in Malaysia

with the British Army in the 1980s,

when he fell in love with

Henry's mom, Margaret.

-[Henry] Hello!

-[Margaret] Hello.

[Henry] How are you?

Ah This is Antoni.

[Antoni] So nice to meet you, Margaret.

Thank you so much for having us.

-Already busy at work?

-[Margaret] Oh, yes.

[Antoni] What are we making?

[Margaret] Chicken, mushroom, and bamboo.

-One of my faves. Oh, man.

-Really?

-[Henry] Growing up, oh yeah.

-[Margaret] That's right.

[Antoni] Would Henry cook

with you as a little kid?

[Margaret] Yes. He loved cooking.

I was her little

sous chef growing up, so

-What do you need us to do?

-You can, uh,

pound the onion and garlic.

[Antoni] Okay.

-You can open the bamboo.

-[Antoni] Okay.

-The honors of opening the tin.

-Yeah!

[Henry] You're really

like a natural at this.

-[laughs] Opening a can?

-[laughs]

[Henry] We try to use ingredients

as close to the original as possible,

-but it's a little difficult.

-[Margaret] Yes.

[Antoni] So, this is the best

version you can get here?

Yes. Okay,

-let's start cooking.

-[sizzling]

First, put the garlic and onion.

[Antoni] Is this a Malaysian classic?

Mum's from a very, sort of,

special tribe in Malaysian Borneo

-called the Iban.

-Okay.

And so, a lot of Mum's cooking

was, like, derived specifically

-from where she grew up.

-Where I come from.

♪♪

[Antoni] And that is

a place called Sarawak,

part of Malaysia, but located on

the neighboring island of Borneo.

♪♪

Henry went there often as a child

to visit his mom's family in the jungle.

Mum grew up in a longhouse.

Communal sort of building,

by a river usually.

Everybody kinda lives under one roof.

There was no connection to electricity,

like, very remote,

so you would have to cook

with local ingredients.

[Antoni] Right, right.

We go in jungle and pick what we can.

So, you would go to the jungle?

-Yep!

-Pick out fresh bamboo shoots,

or you would hunt.

Really?

-How old were you?

-About 7 years old.

-7?

-[sizzling continues]

[Margaret] Okay. Now,

you can put the chicken back.

A chicken that you k*lled

yourself, I'm presuming?

[laughs]

[Henry] The garden's

just a mess of feathers.

[laughs] The neighbors are like,

"There goes Margaret again."

[laughter]

[Margaret] If you wanna go and sit down.

[Henry] Okay.

♪♪

Here's what we've all been waiting for.

[Antoni] Yeah, yeah, closer to us, please.

-Thank you so much.

-Ooh

-Looks good, Mum.

-[Antoni] Looks beautiful!

Remind me the name of this again?

-[Henry] Rice.

-[laughter]

[Antoni] Bon appetit.

♪♪

-[Margaret] What do you think?

-Really good.

-[Antoni] Mm!

-[Clive] Mm!

[Antoni] Very delicious.

It's perfectly seasoned.

So good. So many different textures.

The bamboo is like that needed crunch.

Feels like It's like a hug for the soul.

-It's soupy goodness.

-[Antoni] Yeah! Mm-hmm.

So, I'm always so interested,

when you think of

people who emigrated to another country,

and it's sort of like what comes with us?

Like, how's it been in your family?

It's interesting from

Mum's kind of perspective

because the Iban culture,

it's an oral history.

It's not like you can go

down to, like, city hall

-and look up the family records.

-Right.

Have you shared stories about

what it was like growing up

in Borneo, specifically?

-A little bit.

-[Antoni] Really?

And why don't you?

[somber music playing]

Um

I think I haven't been

the most communicative

-in terms of her stories.

-Yeah.

[Henry] Growing up, I was, like,

one of the only non, sort of,

Caucasian kids in this area.

and I really felt this sense of,

sort of, shame in being kind of different.

So, I turned away from my heritage.

[Antoni] So, what do you

wanna get out of this adventure?

[Henry] We don't know our family history

beyond my grandfather.

So, to learn a little bit

more beyond that,

-that would be amazing.

-[Antoni] Right.

[Henry] But, also,

I think there's a part of me

that wants to kind of delve into

the uniqueness of being Iban.

[Antoni] Okay. We just have to go there

-and see what we can find.

-Yeah.

[Antoni] Margaret's cooking

offered tasty glimpses

of Iban culture as Henry grew up.

But, he's clearly got

a hankering for the family stories

that should have gone with it.

So, with few written records to consult

[adventurous music playing]

we need to go direct to the source.

And what better place to start than here,

where Sarawak's Iban story begins

at the confluence of two rivers

in Batang Ai.

[Henry] You're the only person

I've seen in the jungles

-with a tucked-in shirt.

-[laughs]

It's so the bugs don't go in!

It's utilitarian, I promise!

Got it, got it, got it. I understand.

♪♪

[Antoni] This area's

historically significant

to the Iban, including Henry's ancestors.

Peter!

And our Iban guide, Peter,

is taking us out onto

the water to explain why.

-Hello.

-[Peter] Hello. Hey, hello!

-Here are two handsome men.

-[laughter]

-Three!

-[Peter] Three, yeah, yeah

-Don't talk so much, okay?

-[laughs] Okay! Thank you.

[laughter]

We know who's gonna be

the boss on this trip.

[laughter]

[upbeat music playing]

-[boat rumbling]

-Wow.

[Antoni] I really wanna jump in.

Today, Batang Ai is a national park.

But around 500 years ago,

long before the land was flooded

to create this reservoir,

the Iban migrated from western Borneo,

claiming this vast swathe

of jungle and rivers

for themselves.

-[Henry] Wow, look at this.

-[boat rumbling]

[Antoni] And you can still see the tops

of some of the ancient trees.

We are now exactly where

the first Iban settlers came.

-This is where they settled?

-Yes, yes, yes.

In the olden days,

we don't have roads. No roads.

The only way for us

to move around or move about

is through stream and rivers.

-Right.

-[Peter] River and stream

is also very important to identify

which Iban you came from.

Iban means "people."

-[Antoni] Oh, okay.

-[Peter] People, human being.

And Henry, do you know where

your mother's family is from?

I'm not familiar with

the name of the river.

Does that mean anything to you?

Ah, I know who you are now!

You came from the same river

as me, Batang Layar.

[Antoni] That's so cool.

[Peter] Yeah, my longhouse

is just above their longhouse

and theirs is just downstream. Yeah.

-[Antoni] Cool.

-[Henry] So, we're kind of

-in the same neighborhood.

-Yeah!

[Peter] Yeah,

same neighborhood. Yes, yeah.

So, we are Iban Batang Layar.

-Amazing.

-Wow, that's really cool.

♪♪

[Antoni] And to welcome us

to the neighborhood,

Peter's promised us

a taste of something that,

even for the Iban, is a rare treat.

♪♪

[boat rumbling]

[Antoni] Well, Peter,

tell us about this beauty.

This is from the freshwater.

-[Antoni] Okay, so this is wild?

-This is wild.

This is wild, and it's called semah.

[Antoni] For Iban old and new, semah fish

has always been a delicacy

and an elusive catch.

[Peter] The only way for us

to catch this fish

is you dive into the stream,

but only at night.

-[Antoni] At night? Wow.

-Yes.

[Antoni] And the dish relies on

other local ingredients as well,

all freshly picked from the jungle.

This is lemongrass.

-[Antoni] Oh, my favorite.

-Lemongrass and fish.

So good.

♪♪

Whoa, what's that?

I've never even heard of that before.

-Oh, wow.

-Whoa!

This is how it looks like. Yeah.

-It tastes sour, okay?

-[Antoni] Okay.

But, it has its own smell,

the aroma smell,

and, of course, the taste.

-That is fascinating.

-Not too strong though.

Is there a specific, like, flavor profile

that the Iban like to use?

-Sour. Yeah.

-More sour?

-Sour palm.

-Yeah, you wanna try?

[Antoni] I can already

smell it just by opening it up.

-[Henry] Buah maram.

-Yeah, buah maram.

-[Henry laughs]

-Oh, wow!

-Let me have a taste as well.

-That is wild.

♪♪

-Oh! [clears throat] Damn.

-[laughs]

-Wow.

-Yeah, it's very sour.

Okay, I think the fire is ready now.

What are the leaves?

This is what we call

[speaking native language].

To protect it from drying and, of course,

-some smell, also, yeah.

-Okay. Fragrant.

-It's Yeah.

-Oh, it grows right here.

-Literally right here.

-[Peter] Yeah.

[Henry] Think one of my

greatest sort of memories

is my grandad always

cooking on an open flame.

-Ah.

-That charcoal flavor.

-[Peter laughs]

-[Antoni] Yeah.

But for Henry, who always

struggled to reconcile

his Iban and Western roots,

memories like these can be bittersweet.

♪♪

For me, growing up,

I was ashamed of being half Asian.

You were embarrassed

that you were from Sarawak

because everybody was like,

"Oh, they live in the jungles,

they do this." So, there was a lot of

-[Antoni] Stigma?

-[Henry] Stigma attached to it.

[Peter] Precisely, yeah. However,

there's some group of people

who still want our culture

to be preserved.

[Antoni] Well, people like you.

[Peter] Oh, yes, of course. Yeah.

[Henry] I mean, one of

the massive cultural aspects

is definitely the tattoos.

I got a lot of tattoo.

You wanna have a look?

Yeah!

-Wow, dinner and a show!

-Take it off! Take it off!

[laughter]

[Antoni] Whoa!

Okay, that's awesome. That's really cool.

-Each has a different meaning?

-[Peter] Yes, yes.

-Achievements.

-[Antoni] Achievements?

What kind of achievements

would the Iban celebrate?

Being brave

-Fearless.

-[Peter] Yeah, fearless.

A good fighter, or good jungle trekker.

Iban are very skillful people.

-Yeah!

-[Henry] Yeah.

[mystical music playing]

-[excited chatter]

-Ah, the fish is cooked.

-[Antoni] Bro, what a reveal!

-[laughs]

-[Henry] Oh, my gosh.

-[Antoni] Oh, my gosh.

Look at the char on that.

The little crispy edges.

[Peter] I'm gonna slice this.

-[indistinct]

-[Henry] Beautiful.

Thank you.

That's my type of fish. You know,

when it's just, like, delicious.

I'm sorry, this is [bleep] incredible.

-[Peter] Really?

-[Antoni] This is so good!

There's a sweetness, a butteriness,

with the fresh torch ginger, it's so good!

But, it's so meaty.

It's meaty like a halibut.

Wow!

Welcome to Borneo.

So, this is how we cheers.

Ba ba ba ba, ooh ha!

-[both] Ba ba ba ba, ooh ha!

-[clink]

-[thunder rumbling]

-[gentle music playing]

[insects chirping]

[Henry] That was magic.

These flavors were really sorta

reminiscent of my childhood.

Like there's something

in the air, there's this

feeling of home for me.

And, you know,

whenever I used to sort of visit

as a child to my longhouse, Skuyat,

where my mum's from,

you know, I always thought of it as

kind of just this little

island within this jungle.

Nowhere in my mind would I imagine

that there was another longhouse

up a river somewhere else.

So, when Peter was like,

"Oh, I'm from, like,

the same sort of area as you," I was like,

that's really interesting.

'Cause I never really imagined,

sort of, there being another

kinda civilization close to it.

Well, maybe we should go visit

some of those longhouses.

[Henry] 100%.

Perfect, 'cause that's what

we're doing next. [laughs]

[laughter]

-[upbeat music playing]

-[insects chirping]

[Antoni] Wow. So cool.

[Henry] Just like this crescendo of bugs.

It's amazing sounds.

[flapping]

-So, there's one little durian.

-Wow! Look, at the little bean!

Henry's fired up,

but there's still huge gaps

in the family story.

So, I'm taking him to

a place he's never been

to find family he's never heard of.

Hey!

Wow.

[Antoni] So, this is

obviously a longhouse.

-[Henry] Yes.

-And it's called Pematoh,

and there's a distant relative

who still lives here.

-No Amazing.

-[Antoni] Yeah.

We barely, like, can sort of, like,

list out our relatives,

so this is, this is insane.

[both laugh]

-You wanna go meet him?

-Yes.

-Okay, let's go. Let's go.

-Wow.

[insects chirping]

♪♪

[Antoni] Pematoh longhouse

is home to almost 200 people,

all living under the same roof.

But this isn't where Henry's mom grew up.

-[bamboo rattling]

-[Henry] Hello.

[Antoni] We're here to meet

a different relative.

[Antoni] Hello. So,

this is your distant cousin, Abang.

Abang.

Amazing.

I kind of [laughs]

It's really strange. A real similarity

-[Antoni laughs]

-with my aki, yeah.

My grandfather.

And this is Nicolas,

who is actually serving as our translator.

Just three generations back,

Henry's great-grandfather, Enggan,

was the brother to

Abang's grandmother, Chandu.

-I hear a lot of noise

-[Nicolas] Yeah.

Because they are welcoming you

-to the longhouse.

-[muffled chopping]

And they are preparing

the food for everybody.

We're just about go

and cook rice and bamboo.

-Can you help?

-[Henry] Yes, absolutely.

[speaks native language]

♪♪

-[water sloshing]

-[muttering]

-[laughs]

-[indistinct chatter]

[Antoni] So, why do we

wanna cook it in bamboo?

-Very interesting rice.

-[Antoni] Oh wow.

It's a very short grain, like an arborio

-or a carnaroli almost.

-Look at you.

-[Antoni] Like for risotto.

-[laughter]

[shaking, rice rattling]

-Don't Yeah, don't tap it.

-[Henry] Oh, don't tap it?

[Antoni] Henry!

Don't tap the rice!

[laughter]

[Nicolas] This one is pandan leaf.

It has a nice smell.

-Oh wow, yeah.

-Yeah.

♪♪

[Henry] God, my eyes!

[laughs] His eyes are stinging as well.

-[Antoni] Ah, no! Ah!

-[laughter]

Ah.

[Antoni] Whoa!

-Okay, okay.

-Alright. Easy, tiger.

So, this is Henry's

-Great-grandfather.

-great-grandfather.

-Enggan.

-[Nicolas] Enggan.

[Henry] Wow.

So, what else does Abang remember

about my great-grandfather?

[Nicolas] Left behind.

[Henry] Skuyat, where my mum was from.

Does he remember my mum?

Did they ever meet when they were younger?

Wow. See, that's what I sort of saying,

when you're from one longhouse,

very rarely will you go

to another longhouse

to sort of meet other people.

So, that's kinda why, like,

our family tree is so kinda

mysterious in a weird way.

Hence why we didn't have

any idea you were here.

[gentle music playing]

[Antoni] Much of traditional

Iban life is communal.

[laughter]

So, I have to hope that

stories of Henry's family

have been passed down

and shared here, too.

♪♪

Wow.

[Henry] Goes all the way down.

-Oh, baby!

-Yeah. Families.

-[all greeting]

-[chuckling]

[Antoni] After a welcome from the chief

[Antoni] Abang wants

to show us today's specials,

starting with sago worms.

-Oh, God. Let's calm down.

-[laughs]

You think it's very funny, uh-huh?

-[laughing]

-You think it's so funny.

-[upbeat music playing]

-[sizzling]

But, there are plenty of other

local delicacies on the menu.

[quiet chatter]

-[Henry] Looks delicious.

-This is a feast!

♪♪

[Antoni] The vegetables

have been stir-fried

with garlic and shallots,

dried shrimp, and chili.

And while they might look similar,

they all taste uniquely delicious.

[Antoni] And no homecoming

would be complete

without Abang's sticky rice.

[quiet chatter]

[Antoni] Mm.

-That is decadent.

-[Henry] Yeah.

I've never had rice

taste like this before.

It's so sticky. Super glutinous.

So, that was the ubi leaf, right?

-Sweet potato leaf. Mm.

-[Antoni] Sweet potato leaf?

This is literally, like,

the gateway to my childhood.

-Really?

-Yeah. The flavor is so unique.

Mm

-[Antoni] Wow!

-Unreal.

[Antoni] Oh, my gosh!

The food is delicious.

But, Henry's still hungry for information

about other relatives

even further back in time.

[Henry] Are there any, sort of, stories,

about, sort of, my family

anybody could, sort of, share with us?

Birai?

[curious music playing]

[Antoni] Birai is the common ancestor

that Henry and Abang both share,

from more than 100 years ago,

when different Iban communities

were often at w*r with each other.

Sounds familiar. [laughs]

His bravery.

[Henry] And what happened to him?

He never made it back to the longhouse?

Yeah, he did not make it.

[Henry] Okay. That's crazy.

You know, I'm kind of processing

everything as we go along,

but I'm happy to have found you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having us.

-[insects chirping]

-[dog barks]

It's really amazing, I gotta say.

It's so nice to be back into

-a longhouse like this.

-Right.

I miss that so much.

That front portion where

everybody sort of congregates,

has dinner, shares stories.

And that's something, perhaps,

that kind of died out with my family.

Right, right.

Well, that was one ancestor,

-but there's more.

-Really?

This blew my mind already,

and you have more?

-Of course!

-[laughs]

♪♪

[Antoni] Although Henry

doesn't know it yet,

we're leaving the jungles and longhouses

and headed for the city

to investigate a darker side

of the family history.

♪♪

[Henry] Wow.

Beautiful.

[Antoni] Henry's search for family history

and Iban heritage has brought us here

away from the jungles

and into the city of Kuching.

It's long been a melting pot of migrants

from as far afield as England.

But, the biggest community

of all is the Chinese.

And there's a connection between them

and Henry's ancestral story.

♪♪

So, at the longhouse,

while I was doing research,

I learned about another ancestor of yours,

your great-great- great-grandfather.

-His name was Gundi.

-Gundi.

Gundi, and he fought in a historic battle

against the Chinese population.

-Way back.

-Way back.

♪♪

In 1857, to be precise.

But, Gundi is from a different

branch of the family to Birai,

on Henry's great-grandmother,

Pudai's side.

And I've brought Henry

to meet local writer

Karen Shepherd to find out more.

-Hello!

-[Karen Shepherd] Hello!

-[Henry] Henry.

-Hello, I'm Karen.

-Nice to meet you.

-Karen, great to meet you.

Love your tattoos.

-Oh, thank you.

-Amazing.

[Antoni] Just like Henry,

she is also of mixed heritage.

I'm half Chinese

and half British, in fact.

And now, here I am, talking

to another Eurasian Iban

-So wacky.

-so here we are.

This is Kuching.

Antoni tells me you have some information

about the family that

I never knew existed.

[Karen] Yes. So, around about the 1850s,

we were actually ruled by a British family

called the Brookes. I mean,

a lot of people now refer

to the Brooke family

as the White Rajahs.

So, James Brooke,

he very much styled himself

as an indigenous ruler,

and the Iban became closely

allied to him over time.

You have to understand that

there were Chinese immigrants

settled all through Sarawak.

So, the Rajah wanted to tax them,

and, well, they weren't

keen on being taxed.

So, about 600 of them came downriver

and attacked Kuching.

♪♪

[Antoni] Caught off-guard,

the British had no choice

but to call on the Iban,

who, even into the 20th century,

remained notorious for

being fearsome warriors.

I have to warn you, what

follows is not the highlight

or the most beautiful moment

of Sarawak history.

The Ibans were famous headhunters,

and your great-great-great-grandfather

-was one of the warriors.

-Wow.

And so, how many Siniawan

Chinese perished, or

[Karen] The estimate is about 2,000.

-[Henry] Oh. Jeez.

-Yeah. 2,000.

And there are a lot of stories

that, apparently,

the Sarawak River ran with blood,

and these are still known today.

I kind of always knew

there was a dark history,

but I really had no idea

about that particular

brutality of that period.

But, it's kind of

fascinating and strangely

I don't know, unnerving to understand,

but gotta get in my head that

that was that period in time.

[Karen] It's a very different culture.

It wasn't just an act of w*r.

Headhunting was a ritual

and spiritual pursuit, actually.

By taking the head, you would bring back

the spiritual power contained in the head

and harness it for your community.

It wasn't considered a brutal practice.

Unless you're on the other end

of such headhunting.

[Karen] Yes, but I think most of

the indigenous groups here

were headhunters.

So, in fact,

if your ancestor had not

been a good headhunter,

that would've been really problematic

-for the rest of your family.

-[Henry] Right, right.

It's a lot to digest,

uh, but

with you putting it into,

kind of, context,

I think it's slightly easier.

Thank you, Karen.

-[mystical music playing]

-[Antoni] Luckily,

the Chinese community

was eventually rebuilt.

And now, their culture

is an integral part of Sarawak's DNA.

[Henry] Oh my gosh, look at this.

[Karen] We're gonna try

something called kolo mee,

and I think that kolo mee is

the thing that most Sarawakians

who live overseas miss the most.

You'll see, the texture,

the simplicity of it all

is just like [kisses].

What's your memory of this then?

Every single morning,

without fail, with my mum,

we would walk into town,

and we'd get kolo mee.

-[Antoni] So, this is breakfast.

-You start the day.

♪♪

[Antoni] Kolo mee is a tasty dish

of boiled and seasoned noodles

topped with char siu,

the classic Chinese version

of barbecued pork.

So, this is historically Chinese?

[Karen] Yeah, and it's

usually served with chilies.

and a bit of vinegar.

You good with spicy?

-I'm fairly good.

-I'm a white boy.

You have to watch the size of the chilies.

The smaller they get, the worse they are.

[upbeat music playing]

[Antoni] Oh, it's beautiful.

Thank you.

Oh, I'm so exci

I'm so excited to have this.

[Antoni] Wow.

There you go.

-So good.

-Oh my gosh.

[Henry] The noodles are so fresh.

Like, it's so different

from a dry noodle, but

These are made in Sarawak?

Yeah, And I think exclusively in Sarawak.

[Antoni] Oh my gosh.

It leaves you wanting more.

Is it rude if I eat from the bowl? Okay.

[Karen] I think you can

do whatever you like.

[Henry laughs]

-[laughs]

-That was incredible!

♪♪

[Antoni] It's amazing

that a bowl of noodles

could have such a wealth

of history behind it.

For Henry, they're the taste of childhood.

But they're also the culinary legacy

of how Sarawak's past shaped it's culture.

And considering

his ancestors' role in that,

suddenly, old memories

are making new sense.

[Henry] Just wrapping my head around that.

I remember, growing up

in the old longhouses,

seeing the skulls, like,

up in the rafters, and

-[Antoni] Human skulls?

-As a kid Human skulls.

Would you ask your parents?

Yeah, and my mum would be like,

"Oh yeah, it was from

the headhunting days."

And never really questioned it,

but, obviously, those skulls

-would've been from that period.

-Sure.

To know that an ancestor of mine

was one of the headhunters

that was kind of recruited,

um, I'm still undecided kinda

how I feel about it all.

But, to know that there

was a source of power

derived from it,

there was a source of pride,

there was a protection element

for, you know, our families.

And their lives after life.

-In the afterlife. Exactly.

-Afterlife, yeah.

I'd like to, sort of, understand

a little bit more of that.

The spiritual side of it.

Yes, yes.

Mm-hmm. That's what we're here to do.

[both laugh]

And I believe this is one family mystery

that we can begin to solve next.

-[birds chirping]

-[light music playing]

[Antoni] It might be

exercise time in Kuching,

but we're not here to get in shape.

They're feisty!

I've got some more family insights

to share with Henry.

So, yesterday, we learned about

-Gundi, the headhunter.

-[Henry] Uh-huh. Yes.

He was in a relationship with a woman,

and her name was Indai Kampung.

-Indai Kampung.

-Indai Kampung.

Your great-great-great-grandmother,

and she was a manang.

Do you know what a manang is?

-Manang? No.

-Manang. No?

So, a manang is a spiritual healer.

-Right.

-A shaman of sorts.

-My gosh. Wow.

-Yeah.

That's crazy.

[Antoni] To find out more, you'd think

we'd be heading to a temple,

but we're going out for drinks.

-[mystical music playing]

-Cool spot.

[Antoni] This is the pride

and joy of Maynard Langet,

who runs a microbrewery making tuak

[Henry] Hi, Maynard.

[Antoni] a traditional rice

wine central to manang rituals.

-Hey.

-Hi. Henry.

-Maynard. Nice to meet you, too.

-Maynard? Good to see you.

[Antoni] He knows all about local spirits,

in both senses of the word.

How long have you been doing this?

[Maynard] Five years now.

Do you find there's still

an appetite for tuak?

It's such a traditional drink.

It's not common for someone

my age to be making it.

It's one of those things

that got lost with time.

I started making it out of curiosity.

In a world where everybody's the same,

in a globalized society,

everybody's going back

to where they come from,

because they want to know

what makes them special.

-[gentle music playing]

-[Antoni] Gotcha.

[Maynard] So, we're going

to try some tuak.

This has been aged for about two years.

-You can sniff it.

-Ooh!

-It's quite strong.

-Wow.

-Before we cheers

-Oh?

the first person has to dump it.

-Dump it?

-[Maynard] Yeah, dump it.

-Why are we dumping it?

-[Maynard] We dump it

because our ancestors like to drink.

-Okay. [laughs]

-So it's, in a way,

we are waiting for our ancestors

to have a drink with.

-They're everywhere.

-[Henry] So, it's for the gods?

Yeah, that's for the gods.

[Henry] So, Antoni revealed that

my great-great-great-

grandmother was a manang?

[Maynard] Ah!

A manang is basically a mediator

between the spirit realm

and the physical realm.

-Okay. Like a bridge?

-[Maynard] Like a bridge, yeah.

When it came to things that

happened to the community,

be it sickness, plagues, w*r,

Ibans attribute it to

the work of the spirits.

So, you need a manang to help "heal"

any form of disturbances

in the physical realm.

-Right.

-Yeah.

And within Iban culture,

were manangs fairly common?

It's common that there is

a manang in every longhouse.

They need somebody to

communicate with the other side.

But it would be rare to have

one in, say, my family?

[Maynard] Yes.

[Henry] That's so interesting, isn't it?

Weird, like, I'm getting

goosebumps thinking about it.

[Maynard] If your ancestor's a manang,

most likely the descendants

will also be manang.

-Yeah.

-Wow.

I mean, that could kind of explain things.

I mean, there's been aunties in my family,

they would be described as,

"Oh, they have the ability

to sort of to see the spirits."

I had a cousin who was very much in touch

with the spiritual world,

and so would either feel the presence

or have the dreams.

-[Maynard] The third-eye thing.

-[Henry] The third eye, exactly.

-That's so interesting though.

-That's amazing.

[Antoni] There's only

one thing left to do.

A toast to another illustrious ancestor

and a supernatural family gift.

Cheers.

[speaking native language]

-Ooh-hoo!

-[laughs]

[birds chirping]

[Antoni] That was really good!

[Henry] It made so much sense.

I've always felt this

-this link to spirituality.

-Mm-hmm.

I could never really, kind of, explain it.

And also, just to see young guys like that

who are so proud of their heritage

and their indigenous roots.

I think it's kind of

urging me to look deeper

within myself and my

relationship with my Iban-ness.

Mm-hmm.

And it kind of inspires me

to kind of look a little deeper

into how I represent my culture.

-There's a sense of pride.

-Yeah.

♪♪

It's great to hear Henry say that,

but we're not done yet.

I wanna help take Henry's

new-found pride up a notch.

But for that, we need his parents,

which is why I've arranged for

them to join us from London.

♪♪

[Henry] Ah, this place is stunning.

[Antoni] Yeah.

Henry wants to impress his mom, Margaret,

with a dish full of the local ingredients

she just can't get ahold of in England.

Oh, wow!

And I've found the perfect

person to help him.

-[Henry] Hi.

-Hi!

[Antoni] Dona Drury Wee is from

the Sarawak Culinary Heritage Society.

-Do you wanna come inside?

-[Henry] Please, thank you.

[Antoni] She's determined

to bring the celebration

of Iban culture into the wider world.

[soft laughing]

-What a wonderful place.

-Wow.

Just goes on and on.

It's the same reaction

we had in the longhouse, right?

[laughs] Yeah. Well it's kind of

fashioned after that, so

[Antoni] Half American and half Iban,

she lives here with her

extended family of 15 people,

longhouse style.

[Dona Drury Wee] We play mahjong here,

and when we have our dinner parties

and all that, everybody just

sort of hangs out there.

-And this is my friend, Laura.

-[overlapping greetings]

[Antoni] Laura's son's family

also lives here,

and, lucky for us,

she's a gourmet Iban chef.

We brought you some tuak.

-Thank you for having us.

-Oh, thank you so much!

[Henry] What can we help with?

Well, we are going to cook pork pansuh,

so we gonna use this bamboo with it.

[Antoni] We're well versed in bamboo.

[laughter]

Fresh local ingredients are

the perfect partners for pork

in this classic Iban recipe.

So, what you normally do

is that you just break it,

and then, you have to get rid

of this fiber thing, yeah.

So, the next ingredient is the turmeric.

It's nice to use fresh turmeric,

but I will also use the powder.

-It's convenient.

-[Antoni] Yeah.

Especially those people

who lives in the city.

-[Antoni] Like your mama!

-[Henry] Yeah, exactly.

My poor mum, she loves cooking Iban food,

but can never, sort of, find it.

[Antoni] Next up,

our old friend, torch ginger.

[Dona] That has a beautiful fragrance.

-Oh my gosh.

-Oh!

That's amazing.

I'm gonna remember this smell.

This is what I associate with Sarawak.

Now, this is the tapioca leaves.

So, you two are very strong.

Can you please

Use those muscles for something.

-[Laura] Use your muscle, yeah.

-[laughter]

[Antoni] Oh, it's getting darker.

[Henry] You're pretty good at this.

[Antoni] And who taught,

like, a technique like this?

-Who taught you this?

-[Laura] Grandmother.

Yes, Grandmother knows best.

Passed down from generation to generation.

Is it hard, sort of,

keeping up traditional recipes?

That's a good question.

This is what we are trying to do now.

We want to pass the old

traditional to the young people.

-[Henry] Mm.

-[Dona] Yeah.

[Antoni] It's time to stuff the bamboo

with the pork and vegetables.

[Laura] Oh, slow down, Henry.

Just take a bit and put it in, yeah.

Wow, that was very seductive.

[laughter]

[Antoni] Traditionally cooked

over charcoal in the jungle,

Laura uses a regular oven

while we welcome some very special guests.

-Nice to meet you!

-Nice to meet you.

[Antoni] Henry's mom and dad.

Hello!

-[laughter]

-[overlapping chatter]

-[indistinct]

-[Antoni] So good to see you!

And their son has helped prepare

the food of his forebears.

That's beautiful.

A very proud moment.

You get to carry the pièce de résistance.

[Henry] Oh, that looks phenomenal!

[Laura] Mom will be impressed.

-[Dona] Ah, here they come.

-[Henry] I heard our name.

Look what we have here.

Very special pork pansuh.

-[Dona] Smells so good.

-Created by yours truly.

[Dona] He did.

[Henry] Uh, oven.

[Dona] This is the urban version.

Yes.

A bit of the old, a bit of the new.

[Henry] We come with the new age.

[Clive] It looks great.

[Dona] They look lovely.

-[Laura] Bon appetit.

-[Margaret] Yes, very nice.

[Antoni] Did he get it right?

[Margaret] It very, very good.

It's a long time that I have this.

[laughs] Because in England,

you can't do things like this.

[Henry] Mm-hmm.

So, do you think you've learnt more

-about the culture, Henry?

-[Henry] I would say

I learned more of

our family's history.

I learned about

Great-Great-Great-Grandfather,

who was a headhunter,

and he had a relationship with a lady

who was a spiritual healer,

witch doctor of sorts.

♪♪

What do you think of that?

[laughs] Quite surprised.

The family never tell the story.

I just first heard it.

[Dona] First time you're hearing it?

-Yeah.

-[Antoni] Wow.

[Henry], But I think seeing

people like yourselves,

who's very proud to be where they're from,

and it was really sort of

rekindling that curiosity.

Actually, you know what?

It makes me so unique.

-It's just so special.

-[Antoni] That's beautiful.

[all] Ooh ha!

[gentle music playing]

So, what do you think

you're gonna go back with

after all this?

Do you feel like it helps you

understand your own mom more?

-Absolutely. Absolutely.

-[Antoni] Right?

I think, you know, growing up,

Mum was always very, sort of, quiet.

When we were younger,

we would always push her away.

We would always try to side

with our, kind of, British side

because we were, perhaps, embarrassed.

But then, when it got to a point

where I was curious about it,

she had already got into a habit

of not speaking about things to us.

And so, I think,

moving forward, I'm gonna, uh,

I'm gonna dig a little deeper for sure.

[Antoni] I love how food unlocks memories.

-It's the great connector.

-Yeah, it really is.

-Absolutely. Absolutely.

-[Antoni] Right?