Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
KOTA KINABALU: The days until the very onset of the coronavirus pandemic were very busy ones for me, with working overseas trips almost every month, if not every fortnight or so. In many of these trips, especially those within and around Southeast Asia, I would be treated to seafood dinners by the warm and generous hosts of the events. I recall being brought to some fancy seafood restaurants — those with large water tanks at their main entrances where live seafood were kept to be chosen by the restaurant patrons. I have never been a discerning seafood connoisseur, and would chomp on almost any sort of delicious seafood, irrespective of price, that was shoved my way, and as such probably could not discern one seafood species from another, not to mention distinguishing among the subspecies.
But sometimes a water tank or two as such would prominently display labels proudly proclaiming in screaming letters that the seafood originated from Sabah, my beloved homeland. Of course, to be more geographically accurate, the fish or crustaceans in question must have mostly come from the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones off the coasts of Sabah, and not from the interiors of Sabah, unless they were farmed onshore. But in any case, that was enough to bring out the Sabahan pride in me, especially when the Sabah seafood obviously fetched spectacular prices that were many leagues above their maritime colleagues. When I smugly proclaimed my Sabahan pride as such at the scene, typically the nice local hosts would rush to order a sizable portion of such Sabah seafood, almost regardless of their horrendous prices, as a sign of their kind hospitality. And Sabah, with all its natural and culinary wonders, would then come to dominate the dinner conversation, and I thus became the appointed tourism ambassador for my homeland.
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