Cuisine provides one of the most honest ways to get to know a place and its people.
The food in Indonesia is such a brilliant representation of the rich culture and diversity of the people and their traditions!! There are so many beautiful ingredients, spices and styles that make up the countless dishes of this country, each unique to their region and its history. Food tells the story of the land, and of who comes and goes, what they bring along. It can erase borders and make reservations disappear. Anthony Bourdain would agree with me on that one ;)
The people of Indonesia have close ties to the land and the sea through belief systems and work in agriculture and fishing. They are naturally talented in creating and sharing delicacies. I wish I could try them all while I’m here; I will share with you some notes on the ones I did get to.
Staples:
Most dishes here in Indonesia are served with steamed rice. This is the staple of Indonesian cuisine; the countryside is coloured green with many rice fields. It is the common denominator, and from there nothing is quite the same twice. A lot of the food is cooked in and served in banana leaves, which add flavour and provide a sustainable plate. The spices! There are many unique native spices to Indonesia like nutmeg and clove, while many others like black pepper, turmeric and coriander were introduced from India; ginger and garlic from China. Indonesia has been a spice port since the first European settlers and remains so to this day. There are many condiments and toppings that accompany the dishes. Always after the perfect bite, with so many combinations of flavours, textures, colours and preferences!! It is common practice to eat with your hands, something I got used to pretty quickly. Another thing to get used to is that there are no typical breakfast, lunch or dinner foods; whatever you feel like can work at any meal time. Of course my favourite breakfast involved the fresh fruit that grows in abundance here, so it is never far away. There are many coffee plantations, each region with unique flavour profiles, but all strong, rich and delicious. The eateries here are called warung and they are everywhere!
Sambals:
“Many spices are native to Indonesia, and with a lot of ingredients, comes a lot of flavor. One iconic condiment that makes use of this bounty is sambal, a spicy sauce or paste produced from chili peppers and other ingredients.”
(The Jakarta Post)
These are essential in Indonesia, as prevalent as the rice. You see them in little dishes at most eating establishments from homes to fine dining to little street food stalls. And there are many different varieties. Here are a few:
Sambal roa: dried fish cooked with chilies and shallots … pairs well with yellow rice and porridge dishes
Sambol mangga: unripe/sour mango mixed with chili, garlic and shrimp paste
Sambal kandas sarai: lemongrass and chilies… pairs well with catfish or shrimp
Sambal nanas: pineapple and chilies… often paired with goat pilaf
Sambal cibiuk: green tomatoes and basil combined with chilies
Some sambals are a lot spicier than others, depending on what chilies are used and what region you find yourself in. For instance, Lombok is known as the island of chilies to the locals and thats definitely not an understatement. The spice here is intense ha!
Nasi Goreng:
This is the most common national dish. Nasi means rice and goreng means fried, so it’s a fried rice, that can be ordered with various accompaniments. The ingredients that make this fried rice unique to Indonesia are: sweet soy sauce, terasi (shrimp paste) and tamarind. It is said that the original recipe was brought by Chinese migrants to these islands and through the centuries it was adapted to local taste.The basic has mixed vegetables, the special has a fried egg on top. You can order it with chicken or seafood as well. It is often served with sambal, prawn crackers, and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes.
Mie Goreng:
Wherever you can find nasi goreng, you can find the close relative, mie goreng. Mie translates to noodles in Malay, and is a staple food in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore. This sir-fried noodle dish is made with thin yellow noodles, and typically similar ingredients as nasi goreng. Instant mie goreng is all the rage here with the locals. This is like the Indonesian equivalent to ramen noodles.
Chicken Sate:
This national dish is bamboo skewers with chicken, grilled over charcoal or wood fire. It gets served with peanut sauce, that is made with peanut paste and various ingredients and spices (depending on the region you are in), and are added as a dry rub to the meat as well.. A common version in Java is Sate Ayam Jawa and this includes coriander, turmeric and cumin. This dish sees variations of beef, goat, fish, and pork (or a combination).
Soto Ayam
This is a traditional chicken soup made with a clear broth that is brightened with turmeric and ginger, served with herbs and with thin rice noodles. A soft-boiled egg, celery and fried shallots are added as toppings.
Bakso:
This is another delicious noodle soup, but this one is made with beef meatballs (bakso means meatball). The noodles are rice vermicelli noodles, so very thin, and sometimes mixed with mie goreng noodles. Made with a clear beef bone broth, with the similar ingredients as soto ayam. Ask any local, this is a dish they love! It seems to inspire the same kind of comfort we might feel about chicken noodle soup in the west, served to us by a loved one. Bakso is very popular at the outdoor food courts and is so affordable, maybe 10k idr which is less than 1cad per bowl. My friend Alfred and I enjoyed many a bowl when we were sheltering from the rain. Who doesn’t love noodle soup in that kind of weather?! Variations of bakso can be found in China, Malaysia and Vietnam! Often I could spot bicycle bakso stands moving about the streets all over the islands, slinging bowls. I’d hear the familiar sound of their speakers calling out, and find comfort in this.
Beef Rendang:
This is an Indonesian curry dish. Beef is slow cooked in coconut milk with lemongrass, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, red chilies, ginger, galangal root ,garlic, onions and shallots, turmeric, Kaffir lime leaves, tamarind paste, and coconut sugar. The flavour is very complex and layered. It is referred to as a dry curry because the liquid is cooked out of the sauce, giving it a thick texture. Of course, the dish is accompanied with steamed rice and sambal! This dish originates in Minangkabau, West Sumatra. There are variations made with chicken, duck, goat and unripe jackfruit.
Gado-gado:
The name itself means mix-mix in Surabaya (a dialect in Java). This is a salad of fresh vegetables that are either raw, blanched, slightly boiled or steamed, again depending on the region you’re in and the cook’s preference. The vegetables usually consist of green beans, bean sprouts, pumpkin or gourd, spinach, cabbage, whatever is in season. The veggies are accompanied with boiled eggs, boiled potato, fried tofu or tempeh and served with peanut sauce dressing. This dish has been around since at least the 16th century.
Nasi Campur:
This is a traditional Indonesian dish pronounced nasi champour. Nasi, as we know means rice, and campur means mixed (in a Malay dialect spoken here). So we end up with white rice accompanied by a mix of other foods, depending on where you are regionally and and who’s serving it up. The diversity of Indonesia really has a chance to shine through in this dish. It is said that in each region, no two nasi campurs are alike. The cooking methods are as varied as the ingredients themselves: steamed, fried, boiled, sauteed, deep-fried, you name it. The unifying features are the boiled white rice and the toppings on the side: sweet soy sauce, sambals, and often a small bowl of hot soup.
Nasi Padang:
A Padang restaurant is easy to spot with Rumah Gadang-style window displays. The intricate displays consist of an arrangement of stacked bowls and plates filled with various dishes. Nasi Padang is similar in nature to nasi campur but originates in a different place. It is named after the city of Padang, which is the capital of West Sumatra. Nasi padang is very much a part of the workers’ lunch break, so you often see these restaurants in urban areas. I saw lots of them in Jakarta when I was exploring the city! The dishes usually consist of: beef rendang, curried fish, stewed greens, terong belado (chili eggplant), ayam goreng (fried chicken), curried beef lung, tripe and liver, gulai talua (boiled eggs) and of course various sambals.
Babi Guling:
This dish, I got the pleasure of learning about from a friend I made in Indonesia, who is actually from Spain, but has been coming to Bali for ten years. This is a dish she swears by and for good reason!! This is a traditional dish of roasted suckling pig. It is native to Bali, where the religion is predominantly Hindu (rather than Muslim). Before being roasted, the pig’s skin is rubbed with turmeric, and stuffed with a basa gede spice mixture, which usually includes turmeric, coriander, lemongrass, shallots, galangal, chili, shrimp paste, and garlic. The pig is roasted on a spit over open fire. The skin is removed carefully, which calls up memories of the pork crackling of Cuba. The skin, meat and stuffing is served alongside steamed rice, fresh vegetables and sambal. My friend is very close with this very welcoming and colourful local family here in Bali. I’m so thankful that we got to share this dish and some quality time with them at their place, in their beautiful garden. This was such a great opportunity to get way out of the tourist area and experience everyday life as a Balinese family does.
Seafood:
There is so much fresh seafood here in Indonesia. You see it in the markets sold raw and also served up for customers in many different ways. You see fish, prawns, squid, octopus, you name it, on skewers for sate, or often served fresh with lime. There are many whole-fish dishes cooked in chili or banana leaves. Fried catfish, fish curry, fish stew, sweet and sour or chili crab - the variations just go on and on.
The changes in Seafood & Fishing Industry:
Many people in Indonesia make a living by fishing, from the tiny villages to the giant commercial operations. But times are changing. It is time to face reality. The oceans and fresh waters are seriously over-fished here, like many other places in the world. Nearly half of Indonesia’s wild fish stocks are depleted. Indonesia is the second largest producer of fish in the world. There are massive aqua farms here, but they are not sustainable practices, due to the pressure to keep up with the demands of the market. And by demands, I mean those of the Global North (western world!). There is a lot of illegal fishing done here as well, in areas that are protected marine areas with bans on fishing. With this comes a great, great deal of exploitation of the land and the people who work it. This brings me to the place where I must say a few words on food security and what it means for Indonesia.
Food Security:
While we are here on the topic of food, I want to take the time to emphasize the importance of being aware of food security and how Indonesia is under threat of food scarcity. Indonesia, like other developing countries, has a long history of food security issues.
Main Concerns of Food Security:
1) Food availability: that food is available; and not limited to local or foreign production
2) Food accessibility: people can access the food, including it being affordable, that people can buy it at an accessible place or market
3) Food stability: the availability and accessibility remain constant
4) Food utilization: people can utilize food in the correct way for their health and nutrition
These four components must be fulfilled if food security is to be achieved.
(National Library of Medicine, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8459289/)
Overpopulation, among other factors like climate change, land use change, geography and the pandemic are all big factors in this growing issue. A population that continues to grow - especially in the cities like Jakarta- causes local production to decrease, weakening local economies and and creating a dependency on imports. The land is developed for housing rather than agriculture. Climate challenges are a huge factor in food security. The recurring and increasing floods disrupt agriculture and transportation, affecting both availability and accessibility. The food security rate in Indonesia varies by region, and depends the local resources and wealth. More prosperous regions will not have a problem regarding food security. If they cannot achieve food self-sufficiency, they can import food from other areas. Meanwhile, more impoverished regions with limited resources will struggle to fulfill food needs for their people.There are geographic challenges, as many areas in Indonesia are difficult to reach, so access to particular areas may involve extra costs. This can cause food prices to greatly increase. This was extremely apparent when moving between the acutely tourist areas of Bali to the peripheral islands. The pandemic hit Indonesia hard, with big impacts on disruption of transportation and a near halt of the tourism industry, making food security in Indonesia even more challenging. Hearing some of the stories of getting through the pandemic makes my own experience seem like a walk in the park. Its shocking but really puts things in perspective.
Like I’ve said before, the people of Indonesia are extremely resilient in the face of challenges. I think this is why there are so many really great flavours and dishes here; they reflect the beautiful land and the beautiful people who work with what they’ve got. Even if its not a lot, they adapt and turn it into something rich, just not the conventional definition we attribute to rich.
There are efforts and strides being made by the Indonesian government with support from The United Nations World Food Programme, to bring aid to those who face the hardest challenges of food security in Indonesia. Here are some numbers that I hope hit home, even if they are hard to digest:
10% National poverty rate
22.9 million people are unable to meet their dietary requirements
30.8 percent of children under 5 are stunted due to hunger
Learn more here:
Donate here:
Resources and Further Reading:
That was a mouth watering read! 😋
And a sobering reminder of the unsustainable pressure mankind is putting on our planet, particularly by western excess.