Studies indicate that there are more than 6000 ethnic foods in Indonesia. As Gorontalo a Province on the island of Sulawesi Indonesia is one of our focus areas at Omar Niode Foundation, we are interested in preserving its traditional food by being researching its diversity and organizing or participating in related meetings

Jalur Rempah, The Spice Trail, was a theme of the Museum Week, a national event held on 18-30 October at the National Museum in Jakarta. The event tried to answer some lingering questions behind the beauty and the sanctity of the myths around spices. It showcased the history and stories of Jalur Rempah through a series of seminars, dining experiences, botanical exhibitions, art installations and educational activities for kids. A multimedia timeline of the history of spices transported visitors to the past, bringing to life the glory of Indonesian spices over the centuries.

 Image: Jalur Rempah

Jalur Rempah Seminars had thought-provoking titles such as Spice Trail or Silk Trail ? Spices and Herbs in our Daily Lives, and Spices and Sex. We participated in a less provoking but challenging the: Spices in the Archipelago Culinary.

Since the 14th century (or perhaps even earlier), merchants from various countries came to Maluku to buy spices. Cultural exchanges occurred including influence to the archipelago foods. As a spice rich area almost every region has dishes that explore the wealth of spices. We were asked to discuss the use of spices in our food.

There was no perfect choice but to feature a talk on Tabu Moitomo Gorontalo along with food tasting It is a rich black beef, poultry or vegetarian soup with more than 30 ingredients, including herbs and spices. This cuisine is commonly served in weddings, family gatherings and special events.

Nobody knows why Gorontalo has this ultimate spiced dish, but according to literature among the reasons people use spices in their food are taste, aroma, texture, coloring, preservative, nutrition, immune booster, medicinal, slimming agent and aphrodisiac.

Bowls of appealing Tabu Moitomo Gorontalo prepared by Talaga Cookery for the audience strongly provided the ambience, the aroma and the wealth of a spice trail.

The annual Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is Southeast Asia’s largest and most renowned cultural and literary event. UWRF 2015 was an international venue for over 165 of the world’s leading writers, artists and thinkers taking part in 241 events across more than 50+ venues as a foundation for meaningful discussion and cross-cultural connection.

In this prestigious festival we launched our English Version of Omar Niode Foundation’s newest book: Trailing the Taste of Gorontalo. This book, now available on Amazon Kindle, is a collection of pleasure, satisfaction, zest, and curiosity about the City of Gorontalo written by our friends.

Initiated by a seasoned culinary travel guide who believes that Gorontalo has many hidden culinary treasures, 16 food travelers ventured into the area for three days. This enthusiastic group entered unknown culinary territory, penned down their experiences, and snapped some shots to record how Gorontalo pampered their five senses.

To enhance the audience experience on Gorontalo during the book launch, we showcased Kukisi Karawo, Gorontalo sugar cookies inspired by Kain Karawo, a traditional embroidery crafts of Gorontalo with colorful motifs.

Indonesia Bergizi is a collaboration of Japfa Foundation, Omar Niode Foundation and Faculty of Public Health of the University of Indonesia to gather and share data, information, scientific theories and best practices of Child and Youth Nutrition.

Started with a national conference themed Nutritious Indonesia: Improving Child and Adolescent Nutrition through Partnerships that stressed the importance of collaboration among stakeholders: governments, NGOs, private sector, and academics in a synergy to formulate and to implement a series of programs and policies in a comprehensive, sustainable and measurable way.

The conference opened with a plenary session on Child and Adolescent Nutrition, then divided into three Working Groups; Science / Academic, Economic and Social, and Creative Group. Each group aimed at triggering and facilitating the parties concerned to discuss the nutritional problems of children and adolescents according to the views, the expertise and perspectives of each participant.

The Omar Niode Foundation who believes that traditional food is fresh, healthy and nutritious food shared its potpourri of experiences and information on promoting traditional food for its preservation and nutritional benefits.

A food tasting of Binthe Biuhuta Gorontalo, a bowl of soup with fresh corn, grated coconut, basil, shallot and shrimp showed that traditional food can be healthy and tasty.

Introducing Indonesian cuisine to the world is a big challenge, in addition to preserving and developing the country’s food heritage. AGI, the Indonesian Academy of Gastronomy, believes that these challenges should be used as an opportunity to make Indonesia as the country with the richest gastronomy in the World. AGI understands that such goal needs to be reached through work programs and communications among various disciplines and interests.

Hence Dialog Gastronomi Nasional,  a National Gastronomy Dialogue, was held on 23-24 November as a first step, the first milestone, for all stakeholders to share, discuss and develop a formula about Indonesian Gastronomy.

The Dialogue created a frame of thoughts for stakeholders, including government, academia, industry and civil society to build synergies in preparing steps towards Indonesian gastronomy.

Gastronomy is defined by AGI as the art, the science and the appreciation of cross ethnicity, race, and religion to learn the details of food and beverages for use in a variety of conditions and situations.

One of the expected outputs of the National Gastronomy Dialogue is an understanding that preservation of traditional values in society can be maintained while accommodating present values underlying the globalization of Indonesian food.

Seen in the 2-day event were the who’s who of Indonesia’s culinary world, students and government officials. The Omar Niode Foundation happily presented its experience and information obtained in exploring unknown traditional Gorontalo food and promotes it in local, national and international arena.

Based on our experience there are several steps to be taken for sustaining local food. These are exploring traditional food varieties, increase government intervention, encourage the role of business communities, participate in global events, intensify the efforts of individuals and communities, enroll in membership of international organizations, and initiate or participate in a survey of local food perception.

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Images: Omar Niode Foundation, unless otherwise noted