The legend of Prince Bandung Bondowoso, famous on the island of Java Indonesia, is about a prince who, with his supernatural powers, created 1,000 temples overnight.

The creation of Food Revolution Day Java on May 19 was almost similar to the Bandung Bondowoso story when on short notice Omar Niode Foundation with Honocoro Community successfully arranged for celebrities and culinary connoisseurs to participate in the event.

As announced by the Jamie Oliver Foundation, Food Revolution Day is a chance for people who love food to come together to share information, talents and resources; to pass on their knowledge and highlight the world’s food issues. 

Food Revolution Ambassador

On April 23^rd an email communication started between Amanda Rose the Global Campaign Manager of Food Revolution Day at Jamie Oliver Foundation and Dian Anggraini the Program Manager of Omar Niode Foundation.

Prior to April 23^rd Dian, who eventually applied and was approved as a Food Revolution Ambassador, was in constant contact with Irma Haryadi at Honocoro Community exploring the possibility of collaborating for Food Revolution Day.

Honocoro Community, founded by Retno Widati is engaged in humanitarian, cultural and environmental causes, emphasizing education to change one's mindset to a more positive direction for a better life together.  Its mission fits with Omar Niode Foundation’s purpose as a nonprofit organization that aims at raising awareness about the quality of education and human resources in the field of agriculture, food, and culinary in Indonesia.

@FoodRevJava started tweeting on April 30^th with a message that Food Revolution Day Java will be joining the global celebration on May 19.

Java is one of Indonesia’s 13,000 islands and home to 136 million people. The event’s mission is to create Food Revolution Day Java as a local community campaign with global exposure, to preserve the traditional food of Indonesia in general and Java Island culinary in particular, with health and food safety in mind.

Innovative celebrities & companies

On May 1^st Indonesia’s power couple in the entertainment industry, award winning actor Surya Saputra and prize winning singer Cynthia Lamusu, graciously accepted the invitation to participate in FoodRevJava as they are both Indonesian culinary aficionados. Surya was once host to a famous culinary show and Cynthia, amidst her busy schedule, managed Dapur Mama Thia, an online food business.

Kem Chicks Pacific Place, a gourmet lifestyle supermarket, donated food for a cooking demo and suggested that FoodRevJava invite Vindex Tengker, Executive Chef at a five star hotel, The Dharmawangsa Jakarta. Chef Vindex, the jury of Master Chef Indonesia, specialized in Indonesian and Asian Cuisine as well as Fusion Cooking.

On May 2^nd The Dharmawangsa Jakarta Management decided to support the idea of  FoodRevJava, adding the importance of introducing Indonesian culinary to the world audience.  The certified ecological green hotel eventually pledged to provide its famous Nasi Liwet (Javanese rice dishes) for visitors to the event.

As time drew nearer, more volunteers were involved in FoodRevJava planning including Helianti Hilman, a lawyer with a graduate degree in intellectual property rights and technology transfer from Kings College London, and owner of Javara, artisanal, natural and organic products.

A week before the event, Alessandra Khadijah Usman, Miss Indonesia Tourism 2010 who represented Indonesia and won an award in Miss Asia Pacific World 2011, happily agreed to join FoodRevJava. Her presence is very important, as the Indonesian government has categorized tourist destination into historical, culinary, and beautiful scenery.

While busy in Korea for the Congress of World Association of Chef Societies, Chef Vindex emailed his recipes for FoodRevJava cooking demo. The recipes of Baked Snapper Fillet in Banana Leaf and Charred Beef Wrapped Potato Wedges with Cinnamon Soya Sauce are now available at www.foodrevolutionday.com/recipes.

Edutainment

Debra Yatim, Indonesia’s well-known activist and communications expert and Pangesti “Chichi” Bernardus, editor of FIT magazine guided the activities in FoodRevJava along with Surya Saputra, the actor.

The half day event was filled with edutainment, covering the topics of 1) Traditional greengrocer and natural ingredients, including market munchies, 2) Information on food safety at home; 3) Learning to make jamu herbal ice cream, 3) Introducing Dapur Mama Thia by Cynthia Lamusu; 4) Tumpeng Decoration Competition with Alessandra Khadijah Usman, and 5) Cooking Demo by Executive Chef Vindex.

The tumpeng decoration competition received a lot of cheers and appreciations from the crowd as culturally; tumpeng (cone shaped turmeric rice) is almost always available in any celebration in Java.

Unilever Indonesia which through its Bango soya sauce has a social mission to preserve traditional cuisine of Indonesia supported FoodRevJava with in-kind contributions, including lunch boxes for participants with semur (traditional beef stew with soya sauce) on the menu. 

Dedicated volunteers

Along with the innovative companies that contributed in-kind resources, many more individuals helped made Food Revolution Day Java a reality. Ivan Natadjaja recorded the event through photos and video clips. Dyah Dhyani prepared the tumpeng and market munchies. Sri Murwati was advisor to the tumpeng competition and Intan Nurmala Ningsih made beautiful aprons for FoodRevJava. Tita Larasati volunteered her time to make doodles as a graphic diary of the event, while Nana Soedarmadji and the Evolver Design team spent sleepless nights to interpret the Food Revolution Day Ambassador Kit into beautiful graphic designs for FoodRevJava.

Kayu Manis area in the eastern part of Jakarta on the island of Java, where FoodRevJava took place, is located in a densely populated residential area. A trivial pursuit reveals that the translation of Kayu Manis into English is Cinnamon, in line with the Food Revolution theme.

Food Revolution Day Java, arrange at the modest courtyard of Jamu Jago, a century old company that produces herbal products, was attended by more than 500 visitors representing students in Kayu Manis area, teachers and parents. Other guests were journalists from print and electronic media, food bloggers, photographers, culinary lovers, experts and observers of agriculture, food and culinary issues. On the occasion, along with free foods and drinks, professional singers and musicians entertained visitors. The highlight was when singer Cynthia Lamusu performed love songs with her husband, actor Surya Saputra.

Beyond the organizers’ imagination, the post-event media coverage is very encouraging with national print and electronic media outlets communicating about FoodRevJava, its mission, and activities on food education for healthier life.

In the end, the Food Revolution Day recorded an impressive 1000 food events and dinner parties, hosted in 664 cities across 62 countries.

The spirit of Prince Bandung Bondowoso, mentioned in the beginning of this story, may very well be with the organizers of Food Revolution Day Java, as they created enjoyable activities in less than a month when it usually takes more than a year to arrange such a powerful event.

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Photo: Turida Wijaya. More photos at http://on.fb.me/L23GtF. A teaser video clip of FoodRevJava is available at http://bit.ly/KOXzqf