Photo : PAL officers show Guiss mothers how to make meat floss out of Mozambique tilapias
MERAUKE – The Guiss (sub)village in Rawa Kasat, Ulilin District relies on forest and river products to meet daily needs. While usually sold raw, its bountiful fish catch provides an attractive opportunity to create more products with economic value.
Today, fish-based dishes have expanded from grilled and fried varieties to more creative delicacies, like meat floss, crackers, meatballs, satays, and even pindangs (sour and spicy fish soups).
Keeping this in mind, TSE Group set out to the subvillage to provide a meat floss cooking training or demonstration through its subsidiary PT Papua Agro Lestari (PAL). The demo was part of a monthly communication session held Saturday (10/14).
Guiss is a small subvillage surrounded by the Rawa Kasat River, which allows for large harvests. These often include Mozambique tilapias, which come in much larger sizes than normal tilapias. Half of the catch generally goes to the local market, while the rest is brought home by the fishermen to be consumed.
“This homemade fish meat floss business will have a positive value in our community, because it empowers our women. We’re grateful to have an event like this today,” said Guiss youth leader Glen Payes Maikuin.
Turning fish into meat floss has many benefits. Health-wise, fish has a high nutrient and protein content, which makes it suitable as a diet for growing children. Also, it is far more durable as meat floss, providing a good instant meal option and product with high economic value.
Photo : How the event went down on Saturday (10/14)
Its benefits for nutritional improvement and the local creative economy were what convinced PT PAL to introduce the food in the demo, where local mothers were involved.
“It’s so easy to make. I’m happy to have a new recipe,” said a participant, Agnes Ramekuin. The woman felt elated for having discovered something she and the rest of her friends had never tried before.
PT PAL representatives attended the event, along with Park Jibae from the TSE Group management. Meanwhile, PT PAL continues to train communities to create fish products, according to company executive Sabara Dawenan.
“We do all this because the natural resources here [in Papua], especially in Guiss, have great potential in that they help improve the local economy,” Dawenan said.
PT PAL is a part of TSE Group that runs an oil palm plantation in Papua. PT PAL commits to practicing sustainable oil palm governance, and puts out innovations as a way to prioritize making environmental and social contributions. (PR)
