goodmorningpapua.com – Abar is a village located on the coast of the central part of Lake Sentani. From Sentani airport, Kampung Abar takes about 25 minutes. The people in Kampung Abar are known as traditional pottery makers in Papua.
Every September 30, Kampung Abar holds a festival of eating papeda in pottery. Papeda at first glance looks like porridge, made from sago starch, usually squeezed with lime juice, and then doused with boiling water.
The Abar people have been accustomed to eat papeda since childhood. This is steadily done until adulthood, with the intention of not forgetting the food inherited from the ancestors.
Meanwhile, sago trees grow naturally around Kampung Abar. The other processed sago is the wrapped papeda, namely papeda wrapped in fotofe or forofe leaves, a type of banana leaf.
Besides papeda, other traditional foods are taro, banana, breadfruit, and boiled cassava. This food is a garden product, served with stir-fried papaya leaves, papaya flowers or forest fern vegetables. The seasoning is simple, just add salt.
As a side dish, the louhan fish is fried dry. It is also called red devil fish or red devil, many spiny and little flesh. This fish is used as a daily side dish, while for important banquets or for welcoming guests it is usually served with the Tilapia fish or yellow cork sauce.
For one month, the research team from the Papua Archeology Center conducted research on prehistoric sites in the Abar region. Every day, the research team enjoys papeda, whether it’s papeda with fish in yellow sauce or the wrapped papeda with the fried louhan fish, bananas and boiled cassava. To reach the researched site, the team was on foot, about 30 minutes from Abar, follow a path on the slopes of the savanna hills.