Comments on: Strange Fruit, pt 2: Mata Kuching

by: dkny

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:06:44 +0000

Hi everybody may i know where can i find this mata kuching fruit in kuala lumpur? please help thanks

by: Bin Gregory

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

hi Zayn-al ~
This fruit is called genips in St. Thomas. They are sweet and delicious and fun to eat. It’s true there’s not much fruit to them, but there they are, hanging from the tree, ready to eat! Yum.

by: Bin Gregory Productions

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

They’re not the same, Mom. The Genip is an arid tropical, Melicoccus bijugatus, and seems to be native to the Carribbean. But! It is of the family Sapindaceae which is the same family as the longan, mata kuching, and rambutan. So you were really pretty close. I’ve never had a genip so I can’t tell you if they taste similar.

by: Nnydd

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

Assalamualaikum,
I read an interesting entry in Footprint: Malaysia under the heading A Town Called Cat, pg 311:

“There are a number of explanations as to how Sarawak’s capital acquired the name Cat (Kuching means ‘cat’ in Malay - although today it is more commonly spelt kucing as in modern Malay the ‘c’ is pronounced ‘ch’.)

Local legend has it that James Brooke (the British explorer), pointing towards the settlement across the river, inquired what it was called. Whoever he asked, mistakenly thought he was pointing at a passing cat.

It that seems far-fetched, the Sarawak museum offers a few more plausible alternatives. Kuching may have been named after the wild cats (kucing hutan) which in the 19th century were commonly seen along jungled banks of the Sarawak river.

Another theory is that it was called after the furit buah mata kucing(!) which grows locally.

Most likely however, is the theory that the town may originally have been known as Cochin - translated as port - a wrod commonly used across India and Indochina.”

I have also checked a map, and found that there is quite a big river not that far from Kuching (i.e. between Kuching and Kota Samarahan) called Kuap River. Whether this Kuap refer to the earlier fruit (i.e. its Iban name) you mentioned or to the Malay verb ‘kuap’ I dunno.

Happy fruit hunting! Wassalam.

by: Lan

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

As Bro. Effendi mention the port of Cochin, which is in India, I remember a story whereby a Prof. of mine by the name of Prof. Dr. Misbahul Hasan (may Allah prolongs his life and gives him health) when he asked me where I come from, I answered “Kuching”, he mistakenly heard as if I say “Cochin”, so we starts talking about the town, finally we found out that we are referring to different town, i talk about Kuching he talks about Cochin. No wonder “sik betemu jakok” as the iban put it.

Bye the way, Kuap is a place in Kota Samarahan, not far from Kuching, and along the said river you will find a malay kampung called Kampung Pengkalan Kuap.