Holiday Ayo - The sago palm produces ambuyat and butod; rice yields the heady tuak liquor; and the seas provide the fish necessary to make hinava and pinasakan.

The Melanau of Sarawak and Kadazan-dusun of Sabah prize this strange protein source: palm weevil larvae that inhabit dead sago palm trunks.

Known as Butod locally, Sago Grub or Sago Worm is a delicacy, as well as the most disgusting food of Sabah.

Junk food always looks good, but it does ugly things to your body. Sago Grub is the opposite, it’s an ugly but nutritious food. However, it’s a test of bravery to put this wriggling bug into your mouth.

Called “butod” in the local language, sago worms have a fatty texture that may fascinate brave eaters who don’t mind eating invertebrates.

Kadazan-dusun folklore believes that butod are a powerful aphrodisiac if eaten with honeycombs and rice wine (tuak)—though one guesses it’s only the tuak talking.

Butod is the larvae of Sago Palm Weevil, a species of snout beetle that consumes sago palm during its infancy. Sago Grub can grow fatter than the little finger and looks like a giant maggot.

This creamy yellow color and the fat worm are rich in protein and sold at US$0.25 each, quite expensive, but still a hot selling item in the local market.

Sago grubs can die fairly quickly under direct sunlight and dry place. Keep them in shade, preferably with pieces of damp sago wood, and they can survive for a few days.

In Sabah, though everyone knows about Sago Grub, not many are actually eating this soft-bodied larva. Bugs seem to be doing filthy things all the time. Just look at fly and cockroaches that make people sick. So it might be a bad idea to eat bugs. Anyway, sago grub is very clean because it only feeds on and lives inside sago pith.

The simplest way to cook sago grubs is to stir-fry them in a pan, until they are totally dry and turn crispy. The first step is to wash and clean the Butod with water.

The next step is quite cruel. You tear an opening on their bodies, with a finger or knife, so they won’t expand and “explode” while being fried.

The yellow soft stuff that gushes from the cut is the fat. Butod is packed with oil like natural energy bars. The locals believe butod oil can thicken their hair.