Today is Nyepi, the Balinese New Year, a day of celebration and of silence - a day to remember not only oneself but also the state of the universe before creation.

This blog post honors Janet DeNeefe who with her persistence and art of words has practically put Bali and Indonesia on the global literature map.

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Janet DeNeefe was 30 minutes late for our lunchtime appointment at the Pacific Place Mall in Jakarta. Smiling she apologized and recounted her elaborate breakfast at Garuda, a Padang Food Restaurant.

“I love the spices she said,” again expressing her love of such food when we asked about her adventures with Suzanty Sitorus, a mutual friend, into traditional markets in Sumatera.

Janet, whose passion for cooking dates back to her preschool days in Melbourne, first set foot in Bali almost 40 years ago for a family holiday. She went back ten years later, and met Ketut Suardana, her future husband.

Janet and Ketut now have four children and are proud owners of successful businesses in Ubud, Bali.  The couple manages two well-known restaurants, a pleasant literary café, a cooking school, a bakery, a guesthouse and an emporium that supports local crafters. With her connoisseurship Janet has become a world renowned culinary impresario

The Casa Luna Cooking School is popular among tourists who toured Ubud market and learned the secrets of Balinese cooking. Janet softly said that we have to let the world know about the Indonesian food diversity. She just could not believe it when some of her visitors thought that tempeh, an Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans, is originally from California.

Janet’s first book, Fragrant Rice, published in 2003 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia is an autobiography with food and culture nuances. It is an account of her family life in Bali, combined with recipes and cultural ceremonies. The secrets of Balinese food, according to Janet, are embedded in ancient myths and magic. 

There are 115 recipes in the book ranging from appetizers, main courses to drinks and desserts and how to make seasonings. Most of the recipes published in Fragrant Rice have sentimental stories as background. A recipe of Pisang Goreng (banana fritters), for example, has a prolog of how her mother in law used to sell banana fritters when Ketut was a little boy. Whenever Janet eats pisang goreng she thinks of her mother in law.

In between her business ventures, Janet DeNeefe is a prolific culinary writer. Over the course of several years she wrote many articles for The Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s English newspaper and Garuda In-Flight magazine.

Janet delighted readers with her stories beyond tourism in Bali, genuinely titled: Walking in Ubud’s Magical Rice Fields, Cooking Up a Feast in Bali, The Power of Rice, Love and Coffee: Two Things I could not Live Without, Ubud’s Culinary Queen and many more.

She eventually self-published selected stories into her third book: To Stir With Love. Musings on Living, Loving and Cooking in Bali.

Her second book, Bali. The Food of My Island Home, published in 2011 by Pan Macmillan Australia is a masterwork. The large 272-page book sized 23.5 cm by 32.5 cm is a cookbook decorated with a combination of journalistic, travel, and food photography.

Through her writings and the works of photographer Mark Roper and food stylist Deborah Caloper, Janet DeNeefe elegantly articulated her culinary knowledge and experience. 

The book’s striking contents are categorized into The Spice Market, Fragrant Sambals, Cocunut & Curries, The Sacred Grain, Street Food & Snacks, Ceremonies & Celebrations, Modern Offerings and finally Palm Sugar & Puddings.

Bali. The Food of My Island Home was the finalist for category C08-Best Asian Cuisine Book of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for “Best in the World” 2012.

When we congratulated her that it was like being nominated for an Oscar in the culinary world, Janet again just smiled and was more interested in our story about the Gourmand Cookbook Corner that we visited during the London Book Fair. She told us how she has been meaning to visit the Paris Cookbooks Fair organized by Gourmand International.

Writing about Janet DeNeefe's art of words is incomplete without reference to the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF). Janet initiated UWRF in 2004 with hope to attract more tourists after the 2002 Bali bombing.

Interviewed by Travelfish, Janet reminisced about the first festival: “I thought I have to create an event that brings in international stars, then everyone else will follow… I started to think: writers festival — because writers are fearless… They knew we were a festival with a cause, and that it was the first one ever of its nature to be held in Bali, in Ubud.”

The UK ArtsHub noted:  “originally a humble program delivered to 100 people in one room, the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival has since grown into an internationally acclaimed literary event with an audience of over 23,000 people.”

Over the years, UWRF has been covered by more than 100 national and international media outlets.

Perhaps because of Janet’s culinary connoisseurship, every year UWRF immensely indulges the taste senses. Last year there was a selection of culinary-cultural workshops. In a cooking class guests helped prepare a lavish Balinese feast with a glass or two of local rice wine or chilled hibiscus tea. At the Art and Food Market writers and audience mingled with aromas, tastes, arts and cloths.

The 10th UWRF to be held on 2-6 October 2013 will focus on women and is themed Through Darkness to Light in honor of R.A. Kartini Indonesia’s pioneer for women’s equality.

Like the previous years, writers across all genres will be embraced, including travel writers, songwriters, playwrights, poets, comedians and graphic novelists.

Our lunchtime appointment with janet DeNeefe did not materialize into lunch because she had to return to Bali. Before heading to the airport, however, Janet rushed to buy fabrics for her daughter who is preparing for a ritual ceremony.

In seeing her dedication to her family we remember a piece in My Little Teachers, an article Janet wrote a few years back: “Life on the idyllic island of Bali has not been without its hard times. In fact, I learn many things about Balinese customs, prayings, and foods, from my children."

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Images: Bee, 1359702, Chen/Shutterstock, Janet DeNeefe, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Suzanty Sitorus.

Click here to support the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival as a private donor.