Location : Bario, Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Started in 2005, the Bario Food Festival (Pesta Nukenen) is a three-day event held every year which showcases the food and cultural heritage of the Kelabit highlands and has become an annual highlight in the highland’s festive calendar. Visitors to the festival can experience exotic Kelabit food and authentic cultural displays. Rice and pineapple are the two notable agriculture products from Bario. Other notable items include beads and Bario salt. Beside the culinary treats, visitors are also treated to a wide variety of cultural shows, from traditional dances to handicraft demonstrations, to traditional games. (Wiki)
Since it was our first Nukenen Festival visit we did not know what to expect. We went through each and every booth to have a quick visual inspection of what there was to offer.
Although the food displayed were labelled the language used was only in Kelabit which was of no help to us.

Being vegetarians, we stayed away from whatever looked like meat. So we could only try the cakes and fried ‘bunga kantan’ which were nice. Sorry for not being able to review the food presented here. Most of our meals were catered by Ms Priscilla at her Malindo Café which we found very comfortable watching the activities while sipping coffee. Next…..Kelabit Cultural Dances & sports





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Also please check out our posts on our whole journey of Pesta Nukenen trip:
- Limbang Meritam Mud Volcano
- Limbang Town
- Lawas Awat Awat village
- Fly to Ba’kelalan from Lawas
- Long Langai Bakelalan
- Asang Langai Botanical Garden
- Cross Border to Long Bawan
- Wisata Krayan
- Lesson in organic rice planting
- Bario Kelabit Highlands Finally!
- Kelabit Cultural Dance & Traditional Sports
- Beautiful Kelabits Ladies & Their Beads
- What we did in Bario Sarawak
- Bits & Pieces Of Bario Food Festival
- A brief stop over at Marudi Town
- Miri City, Falling for Succulents
- Miri Updates Part 1
- Miri Updates Part 2 and final