Readers will find in our blog page, knowledge and experience enlightening the endless opportunities in the field of agriculture, food and culinary arts. We focus on food and culture activities and travel in Gorontalo on the island of Sulawesi Indonesia, a transition zone between the Asian and Australian continents.

We are based in Jakarta, Indonesia and our volunteer bloggers cover local and international food events, food and culture travels, interviews, policies, initiatives, recipes, books and restaurant reviews and many more. 

Our chair person is a Certified Culinary TRavel Professional and is the Ambassador of the World Food Travel Association for Indonesia.

           Amanda Cole                                                  Dian Anggraini

            Karida Maira Niode                                                   Terzi Niode

                                            Amanda Niode (Chair)                                             

Drop us a line with your thoughts via email: info[at]omarniode.org.

As a global information sharing page we hope to illustrate the vision and missions of Omar Niode Foundation through a wide range of blog posts.

In the Press and Mentions page here  you can see our public events have received wide print and electronic media coverage as well as mentions in social media

Visit our facebook page, join the conversation on twitter, repin our images on pinterest or become our guest bloggers.

About The Foundation

The Omar Niode Foundation, based in Jakarta, Indonesia,  was officially formed in 2009 in memory of Omar Taraki Niode (1984-2009), and is dedicated to social and educational purposes.

Legalized by The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Indonesia under Decree No. AHU-850.AH.01.04, this non profit organization began its work with an endowment fund from Omar's hard earned savings and aimed at generating and providing resources for programs and activities in agriculture, food, and culinary arts.

     Vision

An organization that plays a role in increasing the quality of learning tools as well as the quantity of competent and qualified Indonesian human resources in agriculture, food, and culinary arts.

     Missions

To facilitate and to provide scholarships and awards in the field of agriculture, food and culinary arts for individuals, and for students, faculties and staff in higher education institutions

To acquire and to distribute educational tools and materials and access to information on agriculture, food and culinary themes that will benefit teaching, learning, research and public service.

To encourage networking among agriculture, food, and culinary stakeholders including the government, the private sector and the civil society.

About Omar Taraki Niode 

Omar Taraki Niode , the oldest of three children, was born in Washington D.C on 1 April 1984. He finished his elementary school in Al-Azhar Kemang Jakarta Indonesia. When Omar was 11, his tutor noted: “He was very fond of playing perplexing mind games and interesting puzzles."

Omar  graduated from Ojai Valley Middle School, California in 1998; and from Robert Louis Stevenson High School, Pebble Beach California, in 2002. 

Omar continued his education at the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California Davis, paid his way through school by earning 9 scholarships and grants and working as a maintenance mechanic then as a teaching assistant and graduate student assistant.

Omar was involved in many team and club sports during his high school and university days, enjoying lacrosse, rock climbing, hiking, swimming, squash, and golf. 

Break dancing was the love of his life for many years. He performed with friends in Davis, Jakarta and Barcelona and liked watching break dancing competitions, especially BOTY, a platform for B-Boys and Hip Hop culture.

Omar Taraki Niode was a fast leaner, wrote beautifully and loved leaning all kinds of new subjects. He played classical piano and jazz with skills and enthusiasms and amazed his friends with his magic performances.

His passion in magic led to an article published at The Jakarta Post, when Omar was 17 years old, titled Focusing on conjuring and its many miracles.

Omar  Taraki Niode received a B.Sc. Degree in 2006 and an M.Sc. Degree in 2008, both in Food Science and Technology with a master’s thesis Insight into Asian and Hispanic Restaurant Manager’s Needs for Safe Food Handling.

In 2008 he took an instensive course on  Mastering Culinary Techniques at the Culinary Center of Monterey  in California where he learned about the state of the arts and hands on training on the fundamentals of cooking for food research and development. 

Omar's research project for his M.Sc. thesis was selected by the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) to be presented in its annual meeting.  The IAFP annual meeting draws an international audience of food safety professionals, and has become the leading meeting concerned with the protection of the worldwide food supply. 

His research data was eventually published in the following two papers of Food Control, an official scientific journal of the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) and the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST):

Consumer perceptions on food safety in Asian and Mexican restaurants - Food Control, Volume 26, Issue 2, August 2012, Pages 531-538- Louise E. Lee, Omar Niode, Amarat H. Simonne, Christine M. Bruhn

Insight into Asian and hispanic restaurant manager needs for safe food handling - Food Control, Volume 22, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 34-42 - Omar Niode, Christine Bruhn, Amarat H. Simonne

Omar was a world traveler and has visited many countries including Australia, Japan, Russia and most European countries, but was mostly proud of his solo one month backpacking journey across Northern India after his undergraduate commencement.

With a $600 budget, for 3 weeks Omar visited cities and hamlets in Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Jhansi, Sanchi, Khajuraho, Varanasi, Bodhgaya and Kolkata. A collection of his photos in India was curated, exhibited and published by ANTARA Journalistic Photo Gallery as Omar's Visual Journey, and received huge media coverage.

After a brief stint at a company in Los Angeles, Omar decided to go home to Indonesia in November 2008 to be with his family.

Omar was about to return to the United States for a job interview in Woodland, California. He planned to visit Davis again to explore opportunities and applying for a Ph.D. program. Omar dreamed of playing a significant role in the field of food science and technology in Indonesia.

When asked what he wished to do, Omar said, “I would like to work in food safety, if I could make people safe I would be very happy and satisfied.”

Sadly, Omar Taraki Niode passed away on 10 February 2009 at a young age of 24 due to medical complications.

His friends and family felt that there would be no better way to honor and celebrate his wonderful life than by supporting programs for Omar Taraki Niode M.Sc. Scholarships & Awards to assist those with interests similar to Omar's. The fund being set up is intended to be used for an Endowed Scholarship, meaning that the earnings from investments made with the money will sustain the scholarship well into the future.

Initial investment came from Omar’s hard earned savings and all donations from colleagues, friends and families. Inspired by the assistance that Omar received while he was a student in Davis, we have programs in Omar's name that will go on and on. Each year, his name and short biography will be distributed amongst faculty, staff, students, and individuals who are the recipients of scholarships, awards, and donations from Omar Niode Foundation.

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Photos: Family collection & Sefval Mogalana