They not only eat the mountain bitter melon, but also its even more bitter leaves. In a play on words on the Chinese expression "to eat bitterness," (which means to endure hardship), the Amihave earned a reputation as "the people most capable of eating bitterness."
吳雪月說，野菜大多都會苦，阿美族人吃苦吃多了，不但吃山苦瓜，連更苦的苦瓜葉也吃，因此得到「最會吃苦的民族」的封號。