0 a starchy substance obtained from inside the trunk of certain palm trees; (also adjective) -- sago; sago-
sago pudding.
Taking a decade to mature, sago palms require much less cultivation than fruit trees (or rice).
The locality is at an altitude of about 610 m and surrounded by sago swamps.
By using 'tree fern' to refer to sago starch, he added further pejorative force to his comment.
There is culture-internal unease about the edibility of sago grubs, and this unease is compensated through protesting a great deal about earthworms.
Twice the larvae were found in beached canoes and once in a sago-tree-swamp.
The man was reporting that the feast hosts served only sago starch, even though beetle larvae are the normal, expected, and prestigious feast food.
That is why a surcharge was imposed on sago flour.
There are alternatives to rice—sago, tapioca and farina.
