In What Sense. A Short Guide to Sensory Education, Slow Food International confirms that we are experiencing progressive separation from the natural world, with its rhythms coming from thousands of different aspects of climate, vegetation, colors and smells, in contrast to increasingly identical, anonymous and standardized urban environments.

The repetitive and always-the-same taste of many industrial products, combined with the massive overuse of sweeteners, salt and artificial flavorings, leads to a progressive decrease in taste sensitivity, which in turn increases the use of these additives.

To respond to this unfavorable trend, as part of Terra Madre Day Celebration with Slow Food Kemang, Omar Niode Foundation organized Food Taste Education using honey, in collaboration with JMHI- Indonesia Forest Honey Network.

Honey is an organic, natural sugar alternative with no additives that is easy on the stomach, adapts to all cooking processes, and has an indefinite shelf life. It is formed from nectar that bees collect from flowers. Tracy V. Wilson wrote in How Bees Work: the foraging bees regurgitate the nectar and pass it to worker bees in the hive. These bees then gradually transform the nectar into honey by evaporating most of the water from it. Nectar is as much as 70 percent water, while honey is only about 20 percent water

Rio Bertoni & Emban Suwarsih of JMHI enthusiastically led 75 elementary school children in bee dancing and honey taste test game.  To make lively activities, we ordered honey bees costume from a costume shop in Kemang that sells Halloween attires. Kid laughed out loud when they imitated Rio doing Bee dancing. Bees use dancing-type movements to let other bees know the locations of flowers. Moving in a circle means they are nearby, while a wagging movement with the abdomen means flowers is far away. To direct other bees to flowers, a bee will move in a straight line, to the left or to the right while wagging its abdomen.

Slow Food Education Handbook outlines the objectives of Honey Taste Test Game:

• Train the senses through the practical experience of tasting and through the game of comparing three types of the same product

• Through the pleasure of tasting, learn how honey is made, the differences between certain types, their sensory characteristics, and their uses in the kitchen

• Inspire curiosity and the free expression of personal opinions

• Encourage discussion and participation

Rio showed some honey combs and explained what we can do with the bees’ nest such as making soaps and candles. Emban then displayed three types of honey collected from forests on the islands of Sumatera, Java and Sumbawa.

Using ice cream stick, some children tasted the three honey and expressed their amazement that although sweet different honey have slightly different tastes.

The Java honey was extracted from the forests in Ujung Kulon. There was a slight bitter taste due to the plants in the area.  The Sumatran honey was collected from Riau Province. It has a slight sour taste because it was from a swampy area full of acacia plants. The honey from Sumbawa has a fruity taste, as there are many fruit plants there. Sumbawa honey is a favorite among women and children.

Forest honey has a different taste and color compared to farm honey. Its flavor and color are not consistent, because the bees and wild weather conditions greatly affect the honey. Meanwhile, farm honey has a consistent flavor because breeders assist the production.

Forest honey is produced by a bee species called Apis dorsata, while a smaller species Apis cerana or Apis melifera make farm honey. The different bees create different type of nests and nectars that will ultimately affect the taste and color of honey.

 We are fortunate in Indonesia to be able to educate children about the different types of honey produced in the tropical forests. The children’s expressions on tasting different kinds of honey and the aha !  moments when comprehending how bees make honey are concrete reward of running Slow Food education. It is about pleasure, a light and convivial occasion to feel good and enjoy ourselves. It is learning by doing, because hands-on experience increases and strengthens educational outcomes. It is nourished by its own context, giving value to memory, knowledge and local cultures.

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 Images: JMHI, Valentyn Volkov/Shutterstock www.shutterstock.com, Omar Niode Foundation