The Banda Sea and the Tuna Grounds

The Banda Sea lies in the eastern archipelago, enclosed by the islands of Maluku and the chain running east from Nusa Tenggara. It is one of the deepest basins of the region, and it surrounds the Banda Islands, the nutmeg Myristica fragrans and mace islands that drew the world's traders east and were taken by the VOC under Jan Pieterszoon Coen in the conquest of 1621. The fishing of these waters is older than that trade and has gone on beside it, island by island.

The sea here is deep close to shore, and the water that comes up along the island slopes carries the pelagic fish that the eastern kitchens depend on. The skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis is the fish of the region above all others, with the mackerel tuna Euthynnus affinis taken alongside it; both are caught in open water from small boats and brought in whole, to be cooked the same day. Where the catch is large the fish is also smoked or dried, which is how it travelled inland and to other islands before ice was common. The cooking of Maluku follows from the nature of the catch. Fresh tuna is cut into steaks or chunks and grilled over coals, simmered in a light yellow broth of turmeric Curcuma longa, lemongrass Cymbopogon citratus and lime, or served raw-sharp with chilli and citrus. William Wongso, writing in Flavors of Indonesia, treats the eastern archipelago as a cuisine of fish, chilli and acid rather than of the long-cooked coconut dishes of the west, and the tuna of the Banda Sea is the clearest case of it. The seasoning is kept simple because the fish is fresh, and the dish depends on that freshness. The islands also give the fish its companions. Sago from the swamps of the east, from the sago palm Metroxylon sagu, stands in place of rice as the staple, and tuna with sago is a pairing of the whole region. Nutmeg, which grew on Banda and nowhere else in the world in the age of the spice trade, belongs to the same shore, though its flesh and fruit are used more often in preserves and sweets than with fish. The history of the sea and the history of the spices are therefore one subject seen from two sides. Ships came to the Banda Islands for nutmeg and mace, and the islanders who fed them, and later those who replaced the people driven out in 1621, lived from the same water. The tuna grounds are the quieter inheritance of that place: a food that never drove a trade war, and that is still the daily table of the eastern islands.

The taste of the Banda Sea table is clean, sour and hot: grilled or poached tuna, lime and calamansi-sharp juices, bird's-eye chilli Capsicum frutescens and a sambal made at the moment of eating. Sago, served as a thick paste or as baked cakes, gives a neutral, starchy ground against which the fish and chilli stand out.