Food!

Today I did a presentation on food in Indonesia. It is quite interesting when you look at the history of the food that they eat. Indonesia was a country of traders and many traders from other lands came here and introduced their foods to the people. The Chinese introduced them to Nasi Goreng and the wok, people from India introduced curry's and other spices and tomatoes, and the Dutch introduced sweets and cakes and rijstaffel. Of course every area of the country has its specialties, but the most popular Indonesian foods are nasi goreng, rendang and sate. But as many people can't afford to buy meat, tempe (made from soy) and tofu and baso (meat balls that have the consistencey of a hot dog - kind of yucky) are very popular. Indonesians typically cook once a day in late morning and eat whenever hungry. They don't usually all sit down together to eat but just eat whenever the mood strikes. The rice cooker is on all day long keeping rice hot for whenever they need it. Meals are usually quite simple consisting of nasi putih (white rice) some fish or chicken (if they can afford it otherwise tofu or tempe) some vegetables and maybe a fried egg (they looove fried eggs) and of course, sambal. No meal is complete without sambal. They also drink only water with meals. They don't usually eat fruit. According to my helper, it's not that Indonesians don't like fruit, but if they are poor and have some money for food, they will buy rice first. Indonesians usually only cook fancy meals for special occasions like a wedding, circumcision, funeral or religious holidays. Then they fork over the cash to have sate and rendang. Rendang is beef with lots of spices and it is very yummy. Indonesians usually eat with just a fork and a spoon or if you are from western Java, where we live, you just eat with your right hand. Your left hand is considered dirty as that is the hand you are supposed to use when you go to the bathroom.
Food is also a status symbol here. If people ask you what you ate for supper and you say went to McDonald's, that means you have money, you are wealthy. If people ask you what you had for supper and you say tempe or tofu, it means you are an average little person, not much money. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in our country we don't put that much emphasis on what we eat with regards to status (especially not with regards to McDonalds...). Indonesians will say that there are no classes in their country, but the truth is that there are. Education means a really big deal here and you can only get it if you are rich. There are no such things as government student loans. Everyone here knows their place and they just accept it as a fact of life.