Sago from Papua, shaped like noodles, was served in a yellow. Jailolo’s boko-boko, made from sorghum, was served with sliced kenari nut and palm sugar for dessert.
By
AHMAD ARIF
·6 minutes read
Kompas/Ahmad Arif
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Diverse but often underrated local delicacies took center stage at Nusa Indonesian Gastronomy. Sago from Papua, shaped like noodles, was served in a yellow, gindara soup from Kendari as an appetizer. Jailolo’s boko-boko, madefrom sorghum, was served with sliced kenari nut and palm sugar for dessert.
Ragil Imam Wibowo, the chef of the Nusa Indonesian Gastronomy restaurant, seems to have created a display featuring the archipelago’s wealth of dishes on his table. Apart from presenting traditional dishes from several regions, Ragil, who won Jakarta Best Eats 2018’s The Best of the Year award, also combined a variety of local ingredients to create new dishes.
His dishes will spoil your palate and provide you with rich knowledge. No one could have imagined that buffalo cheese from Enrekang could be combined with banana slices, balado chili sauce and swamp eel from West Sumatra. Meanwhile, chicken was cooked in local spices from Jailolo, Halmahera, and presented with soursop fruit, boiled cassava leaves and cassava rice.
Mashed steamed breadfruit was accompanied by Balinese beef heart cooked in Acehnese curry. Compared to mashed potatoes, mashed breadfruit has a smoother texture and is more fragrant.
“This is Indonesia. [Look] how rich we are in our food ingredients,” said nutritionist and culinary expert Tuti Soenardi, who was a guest of the Nusa Indonesian Gastronomy on Saturday evening (24/2).
Other guests of Nusa Indonesian Gastronomy, which won Jakarta’s Best Fine Dining award this year, were geneticist Herawati Sudoyo of the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology; culinary enthusiast Raeshita Hadisurya, writer Irma Hadisurya and nutritionist and culinary researcher Sri Wulan of West Java’s Wanita Tani group. All were enthusiastic in enjoying the food on display, which transported them to all corners of the archipelago, where Chef Ragil found inspiration among the local ingredients.
Herawati, who often traveled to remote regions to conduct Indonesian human genetics research, said she could not have imagined that local ingredients could be used to create such delightful new dishes. She usually does not like papeda (sago porridge). That night, however, she enjoyed her sago noodles.
Tuti said that, other than their delightful flavors, all of the local ingredients could be processed into powder form and most were gluten-free. Therefore, the dishes were completely safe for people who were allergic to gluten, a type of protein found in wheat. However, the lack of gluten demanded the cooks to be creative in how they utilized the ingredients.
“Non-wheat flours make hard bread because they don’t contain gluten. You can still use it [for bread], but you have to combine it. Ganyong and mocaf flours [from cassava] are better for cookies and cakes. For noodles, you can use any kind of flour,” Tuti said.
A study by Drajat Martianto of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture’s (IPB) community nutrition department shows that local flours are highly nutritious. Cassava and sweet potato flours have no gluten and are high in beta-Carotene and fiber. These flours are also good antioxidants. The flours also have a low glycemic index and sugar levels, and are therefore suitable for diabetic people. However, these flours lack protein, so must be accompanied with fish or meat for daily consumption.
Despite their high nutritional content, Tuti said that Indonesian people often underrated the diversity of local food sources. “In 2008, I organized a festival to promote local dishes and I offered cassava noodles. A public official visited the festival and tried the noodle. At first, the official said that it was very tasty. However, after I said that it was made of cassava, the person put it back on the table immediately,” said Tuti, who has written several recipe books on foods using local ingredients.
Underrating local foods was entrenched in people’s minds as a legacy of colonialism, which has resulted in a mindset that imported things were always better. “We have a food caste, and local foods are placed on the lowest level,” said culinary enthusiast Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko, who serves as national coordinator of the Prosperous Village Alliance.
Tejo said that once he brought tubers and breadfruit to an elementary school in South Jakarta. When asked about the foods, the students replied, “That’s food for mbak [housemaids] and the driver.” “Our food literacy is [pathetic],” said Tejo.
Kompas/Ahmad Arif
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Innovative dishes
For Chef Ragil, the public’s poor literacy on local foods is a huge challenge. However, it is also an opportunity. “It depends on whether or not we want to promote our foods. For example, breadfruit. Usually, people only fry or steam it, when it can also be mashed and is actually better than mashed potatoes,” he said.
Ragil said he took much of his inspiration from his travels around the country. “Indonesia is very rich in a variety of food ingredients. Finding them, however, is not easy. Oftentimes, people on my travels simply offer me bread,” he said.
In order to obtain local ingredients and recipes, Ragil usually visits traditional markets and even private homes. “I didn’t gain my knowledge of traditional ingredients and recipes from school. This is because our culinary education is too Western,” he said.
Trisakti Tourism College’s undergraduate and graduate tourism program head, Saptarining Wulan, said that culinary education in Indonesia had yet to include local foods. “This year, we included sago flour in our curriculum. Next, we will include sorghum flour and tubers,” she said.
Apart from her academic work and her work at the Indonesian Sago Society (Massi), Saptarining also has a sago-based culinary business she calls “Puteri Sagu” (Sago Princess). “I make cookies from 100 percent sago flour,” she said.
Saptarining said she was glad about the growing public enthusiasm. “More people are becoming aware of local, gluten-free foods,” she said.
Food is not only about filling our stomachs. It is also about making sure that our bodies have a balanced nutrient intake. The more diverse food ingredients we eat, the better it is for us. Food diversity is clearly available in the country. The key is public perception. With his creativity, Chef Ragil has elevated the status of local food ingredients.
