Before I talk a little bit about the food I’ve tried (which admittedly hasn’t been too much) and that I’ve seen, I want to send a huge shout out to Ibu Yumi, the cook at Anne’s house. She’s been a cook for many years for expat families and she can equally make a delicious tofu and stirfry as she can tacos or lasagna. The first few nights I thought, “Hmm, American food…not too exciting.” And now, I long for her cooking. My first day we went to a shopping mall, to the food court for lunch. Looking around, it was mostly Indonesian restaurants, but also Malaysian, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese. The descriptions of food included cow’s feet, chicken feet, duck eggs and other mysterious delicacies that I didn’t want to venture into on Day 1. I also learned that a lot of the dishes are based in coconut milk, which isn’t abnormal for Southeast Asia. Normally, I love coconut milk and I even jumped for joy at Trader Joe’s when they brought back their Thai tuna packets that were based in red and green coconut curries. But I also took a cooking class in Thailand where all 9 of the dishes I learned to make were based in coconut milk and part of the class was to taste everything afterward. As of May 2009, coconut milk is one of my least favorite things. So, when I found out that the majority of the dishes are in coconut milk, my excitement level dropped considerably. The upside to Indonesian food is that all meals have rice! Even though I love a little variety in my diet, I could eat rice every meal for the rest of my life; that’s the Mali in me. All that said, when we’re not in Jakarta, food options are sparse. I’ve become very fond of this one “sauce” (based in coconut milk, can you believe it!) called renda (from West Sumatra), and of course there’s always a variety of friend noodles to be found. But in general, I eat a midafternoon lunch and try to avoid the food the rest of the day, instead searching for some fruit vendors on the streets.
The window of a padang restaurant
I thought I was doing alright, if not loving the food, at least tolerating it and eating what I found edible, but the other day we went to a restaurant that serves Padang food (the same food where the renda sauce that I like originates) and the style in these restaurants is to bring small plates of everything to the table. You then choose what you want and you only pay for what you eat. Afterward, I’m assuming, they take the plates back and return the dishes to their larger serving bowls and waits for the next customers. My issue with this style of serving food is that unless you arrive as soon as it’s cooked (presumably at 6 or 7 AM), the food is always cold. The rice is warm and the idea is that eating the padang food with hot rice will heat it up, but one of the many lessons I learned in Africa was not to eat cold or luke warm food; hot food meant that any germs, parasites or other contaminants would be less harmful to my digestive track and system. Nevertheless, I eat this food with caution and hope for the best. My other issue, and possibly the reasons I will limit my visits to padang restuarants, was the choice of dishes that were brought to our table. My renda was there, this time with a choice of beef or beef liver, two things I generally like, but then there was also chicken brain, tripe, intestines, lungs and spleen.
A variety of padang food brought to our table
I considered taking photos of each of these dishes and then decided against it. While I’m happy that all parts of the animal are consumed here – for many reasons, among which are the ever growing worldwide desire for meat, ensuring that the population has protein and not wasting it – it was a bit of a shock to see my fellow colleagues eating and enjoying these dishes. It also renews my vow to continue searching for greens and fruit, while outside of Jakarta, whenever possible. I promise more food photos, plus a trip to the market coming soon.
