Tuak is a drink that is so firmly placed in my understanding of being Iban, of being Sarawakian, that I have no idea when I first tried it, or when it entered my consciousness. Tuak was there from the beginning.
Tuak is brewed from rice, and it is crucial to all celebrations for the Indigenous peoples of Sarawak, Malaysia, such as the Iban. Its flavor, strength, sweetness, and ingredients vary from family to family, making it hard to define in any concrete terms. But wherever it is made, it’s vested with ritual and memory.
