Another Side of The Culture Through Food

Food has always been used as a tool to define culture and identity, especially in defining characteristics of a country. This is especially true in the case of Indonesia where the humble food has taken on iconic status and is rarely separated from the concept of national identity. This can be seen where praise for the high variety and versatility of food is often included in the assessment of the country itself. Food is undoubtedly an important aspect in Indonesia. If it's anything in this multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious society that we have come to notice, it is that we are the classic example of cultural diffusion. While the main aim of cultural diffusion stems from the want of capital gains, it has brought more colour and added variety to the Indonesia landscape that all Indonesian are far too familiar with. Furthermore, a person’s choice of food is also representative of his lifestyle. Someone who is more afraid to try new things and would rather stick to what he knows would probably eat the same kinds of food, whereas someone who is more adventurous would not be afraid to try all different kinds of food and venture out from the more common types of food. This, once again, shows how someone’s lifestyle is reflected through the several choices he makes with regards to food. Basically there is no one singular "Indonesian cuisine", but rather, the diversity of regional cuisine is influenced locally by the Indonesian culture and foreign influence. Indonesia popular dishes such as satay, rendang, soto and sambal is also popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Coconut and Belacan is an essential ingredient when cooking these dishes. Indonesia dishes, use a variety of spices such as the nutmeg, pepper,ginger,turmeric, garlic, ginger and galangal.We can track cultures through food, a short cut to understanding a culture is to sample its cuisine. You can know more about a people when you know more about their food.