Food and Beverage

50 Interesting Facts About Indonesian Cuisine

So, after talking about so many kinds of arts that resembled via some instruments of art in Indonesia like the masks, the musical, and the dances, we want to dig some more, but not for the culture this time, but for its Cuisine.

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Talking about cuisine, maybe Indonesia is one of so many countries who have so many collections of traditional foods. In here, each area has their own unique foods. So, doing culinary hunt in Indonesia would be an endless journey. Without further do, let us tell you about the interesting facts about Indonesian cuisine, below :

1. Smaller, the hotter

One thing for sure, one thing to know first about the chilli is, the smaller the size, the hotter it will be. That’s why, some snacks in Indonesia like Lumpia or Fried Tofu, always having these small size chillis inside their package. So, if you’re the kind of people who like to taste the hostest chilli, you should pick the smaller size first.

2. There are 17 kinds of Sambal

As you can see, there are lots and lots of sambal in Indonesia. The ordinary sambal, which is usally consist of chilli plus tomato and sugar, is sometimes can be boring. That’s why, the people of Indonesia make this “media” for giving in their creativity. And you can see the results now. The people can now choose so many kinds of sambal like sambal matah, sambal terasi, and many more.

3. 17 kinds of Soto

Beside Sambal, there are some numbers of the traditional food called Soto. This Soto is basically a soup that added with spices, vegetables, and slices of chicken meats. But in Indonesia, there are some sotos that you can choose. Each has their own unique flavor.

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4. and 17 kinds of Satay or Sate

Once again, there’s one thing that also has 17 kinds. That thing is the other traditional food in Indonesia called Satay, or Sate. In Indonesia, there are numbers of Satay based on the basic ingredient, which is the meat. That’s why, we can find so many different Satay in here like Sate Ayam or Chicken Satay, Sate Kambing, or the Goat Satay, even the Sate Kelinci, or Rabbit Satay.

5. There are so many cracker types

Maybe, the word cracker may different between in Indonesia and the other countries, like European. In Indonesia, cracker is basically called Kerupuk. And like the food above, kinds of Kerupuk are based on their basic ingredient. The examples of this are Kerupuk Udang (shrimp), Kerupuk Kulit (cow’s skin), and also Keripik Tahu (Tofu Cracker).

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6. Each tribe has their own unique traditional foods

Like it used to be, each tribe in Indonesia also ave their own unique traditional foods that even can not be found in the other areas. Like for example, the tribes in the eastern area like Maluku used to eat a thing called Sagu. And the tribes in Java also have their traditional foods, like Gethuk.

7. Indomie is the most favorable instant noodle

The brand Indomie is like the most famous noodle brand in Indonesia, even for foreign countries. There are some conclusions that Indomie is one of the tastiest noodle in the world. It’s not a strange thing anymore that people around the world started to like it.

8. The important of rice

As Indonesian, we cannot be divided from the rice. Rice is like the most important stuff that must be present during breakfast, lunch, and also dinner. Maybe it’s beacuse of the tradition. Since child, the Indonesians told that rice is must be eaten, to respect the farmers.

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9. So many numbers of Warteg

For you who don’t know what is a thing called Warteg, here’s an information for you. Warteg is basically the food stalls that usually located just by the road. Many people love it because of so many things. Those things are the environment, the atmosphere, taste of food, and also the cheap price of course.

10. and so many numbers of Rumah Makan Padang

Beside warteg, people really love to come and hunting the Rumah Makan Padang, or basically means Padang Restaurant. Why this Padang restaurant must be present in almost every city in Indonesia? Because they serving the Padang meals that always have very favorable taste, even for the people who live from the foreign country.

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11. Countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia often share the same kind and name of a food

This happens in the last controversy, when there’s one chef discualified a contestant who serving this meal called Rendang. Many said that it came from Malaysia. And there are others claim it to be Indonesian food. This is the perfect example that the three countries are always having the same foods, even the name of foods. This happens because of the people of the countries basically live as one rumpun, called rumpun Melayu.

12. The country of spices

It’s not a new thing that Indoneisa has a lot of kinds of spices.  That fact is also the reason that many colonialist came to Indonesia like Deustch, Portuguese, and Japan. They always wanted to conquer Indonesia for so many reasons, one of them is for its spices.

13. Indonesian toppings

The people of Indonesia really like to put almost the same toppings on foof that has the basic same taste. For example, they really love to put nuts on the foods that have this fresh taste. And the thinga can get more different from that.

14. Cooking techniques

Also, the cooking techniques that Indonesians have are also abundant. Like for example, days before modernization, they used to have this stove that must be lit with woods for cooking, and also using pipe to increase the heat. It’s more simple now.

15. Not all the people of Palembang can make Pempek

Many people from Indonesia always though that the people who live in Palembang are always be able to make its traditional food called Pempek. Of course, this fact is not true at all, but sometimes can be funny when you actually have a friend from Palembang and asking him to make Pempek all the time.

16. Soto doesn’t have direct translation in English

One of the Indonesian food, Soto, is actually doesn’t have direct translation in some language like Englih. That’s why, so many tourists refer this as a soup, which is actually isn’t. But ayway, the taste of Soto is way different from the other soups.

17. Otak-otak doesn’t made of brains

Funny fact again, some people, even Indonesians, are thinking that Otak-otak is actually made out of brains (otak). It’s goofy one and can not be unremembered again for the next couple days because of the goofyness.

18. and Sate Laler (Fly Satay) doesn’t made out of flies

And thing to notice again, the food called Sate Laler, which has direct translation Fly Satay, is of course isn’t made of flies. It was called Flies because the size of it is way smaller than the other satay in Indonesia.

19. Bakwan can have so many things inside

In Indonesia, many people fill bakwan with so many eatable things like meatball, nuts, and something good and tasty.

20. Gado-gado

Gado-gado is basically the Indonesian salad. Why salad? Because if you thinking about it, it has the same specification like the ordinary salad. It has vegetables, fresh ones, added with some souce. The difference is maybe the usage of fruits and also the nut sauce in Gado-gado.

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21. Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng is also the tastiest food in Indonesia, which mean fried frice in English. Usually, it comes with several addition like eggs, meats, and cucumber.

22. Soto Ayam

Soto Ayam is the ordinary form of a Soto. It consist of a fresh soup, that added with chicken meats.

23. Sate Ayam

Sate Ayam is also the basic form of Satay which use the chicken meats too to make it.

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24. Rendang

Rendang was called as the tastiest food in the world. Is it true or false? Try it yourself and give professional judgement based on your tongue.

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25. Tempeh

One thing that cannot be divided from the live of Indonesian is Tempeh. It’s cheap, and easy to get, make it important thing for daily use.

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And beside having all the interesting facts about Indonesian cuisine, it doesn’t complete if you still don’t know what kind of foods that Indonesia has. And to answering that, we also provide these other number of collections of foods for you. So let’s start with the first one.

  1. Aceh Noodle
  2. Bika Ambon
  3. Gulai Patin
  4. Pendap Bengkulu
  5. Gulau Belacan
  6. Pempek Palembang
  7. Bangka Noodle
  8. Seruit Lampung
  9. Kerak Telor Jakarta
  10. Kocok Noodle of Bandung
  11. Bandeng Presto Semarang
  12. Gudeg Yogyakarta
  13. Sato Rawon Surabaya
  14. Chicken Betutu Bali
  15. Chicken Taliwang
  16. Soto Banjar
  17. Manado Porridge
  18. Coto Makassar
  19. Fish Gohu
  20. Papeda
  21. Soto Kudus
  22. Tude
  23. Fish Tempoyak
  24. Asinan
  25. Balinese Nasi Campur

So that is our list of the interesting facts about Indonesian cuisine. For you who didn’t know yet about this, we hope that our list can be helpful for introducing to you the new things about the Indonesian cuisine, that are so abundant.

Maybe in your next holiday, you can visit this country some times, for having a little journey of culinary. The costs will be much cheaper, but the experience you’ll get will be more colorful in here. Be sure to mark your calendar, and let’s roll!

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