Meet Mak Ani, Rumah Tiang 16's chef

“The first time I met Nash was in 2019. He came over to my neighbour Mak Lang’s house because he wanted to see how she made atap rumbia (thatched roof). It is a craft that requires skill. After that, he brought two guests who wanted to learn from Mak Lang. That was how I knew that Nash was the son of a Lenggong teacher, and after being overseas many years, he wanted to create tourism awareness amongst locals.  

After that first visit, he continued to bring more people. Somebody in the kampung would provide lunch while Mak Lang would serve the guests a sweet at the end of the meal, cendol sagu rumbia. I provided the sago using our harvest from sago palm trees in our garden. 

Then during one of the visits, Nash’s lunch caterer couldn’t make it. He asked me if I could do the cooking that day so that he could bring them over to my house instead of taking the guests to another place. 

Honestly, I panicked a little at the beginning. I had nothing fancy to serve the guests, no meat or chicken. But Nash told me, ‘No need. The guests are interested in eating something traditional, kampung cooking.’ He told me to just cook what my family eats, using whatever I have. So that’s how we began. We initially started at an old dangau (shelter) in my orchard that seats only a few people. Later we expanded it to cater for groups of 20 to 25 people. 

I really enjoy having guests come to my home. It gives me so much pleasure to see people from all over the world enjoying dishes that are unique to our kampung such as ikan pekasam, gulai rambutan, sambal nyior, masak lemak and many more. I learnt these dishes from my mother and grandmother before I got married.

I have not worked outside, as my responsibilities as a mother and homemaker take up all my time. In addition to taking care of my five children, I also look after our orchard, where we plant fruit trees, herbs and vegetables for our own consumption. One of my daughters helps me with the cooking for Rumah Tiang 16, so I get to pass on my skills and knowledge to her.

Before Nash came into the picture, we didn’t have many visitors to Lenggong even after the UNESCO award was given. Nash explained that his intention was to introduce Lenggong to the outside world. He said that we have a lot of history and culture and by sharing it, we can preserve the future of Lenggong. When he started, there were naysayers. But now they can see with their own eyes, there is a regular stream of visitors from both local and overseas.

I am happy I got to play a part in this change. 

We started working with Nash in 2019, but had to stop during the pandemic for more than a year. During that difficult period, we had to survive on my husband’s pension. Now that the borders have opened again and we are back in business, the extra income enables me to treat my family, buy clothes and give pocket money to my six grandchildren when they come back to Lenggong. 

We are very thankful to Nash for helping to bring all the visitors to Lenggong. We nicknamed Nash the tourism ambassador of Lenggong. I hope we will continue to work together so that our community will benefit from tourism and our town can prosper.”