Indonesia to open 4,000 restaurants around the world to promote culinary culture
Indonesia has plans to open no less than 4,000 restaurants abroad to promote its food heritage and culinary culture, the country’s minister of tourism and creative economy, Sandiaga Uno, said.
The statement was made at a recent event held as part of the “Indonesia Spice Up the World” campaign, a government promotion scheme involving cross-ministerial and institutional efforts to market Indonesian spice products and processed food and spices abroad.
In addition, the programme is focused at promoting Indonesia’s culinary heritage and culture and boosting the country’s food industry by developing Indonesian restaurants abroad in what the programme calls a “gastro-diplomacy” endeavour.
Boost for spice export and tourism
All restaurants would be fully operational in early 2024 at the latest, the minister said, adding that the government would provide guidance to restaurant operators and help domestic entrepreneurs expand their culinary businesses overseas, as well as manage cooperation with Indonesian representative agencies abroad to support and “quickly realise” the restaurant openings.
The scheme is expected to have a positive impact on Indonesia’s economy, mainly through the export of Indonesian seasonings and spices – whose value should reach $2 billion by 2024 – and through tourism by displaying Indonesia as “world culinary destination.”
Indonesia’s divergent culinary heritage
However, while many Indonesians applaud the efforts of a global promotion for Indonesian food, some observers say the success of the programme has yet to be seen.
Indonesia’s food includes some very popular national dishes such as nasi goreng (fried rice with meat and vegetables), gado-gado (vegetable salad with peanut sauce), nasi rendang (meat – mainly beef – braised in coconut milk with spices), soto (soup composed of broth, chicken or beef and vegetables that comes in many different local variations), nasi tumpeng (cone-shaped rice serving with vegetables, chicken, coconut, omelette and peanuts) and satay (grilled marinated chicken skewers served in peanut sauce).
However, the country’s overall culinary presence it not as recognisable and homogenous as, let’s say, Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese food and lacks international renowned classics such as Tom Yum (hot and sour Thai soup), Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup with herbs) or Peking duck.
Many different influences and local customs
The reason is that Indonesian food has had a number of diverging foreign influences, namely from India, China, the Netherlands and Portugal, as well as from the Middle East and from as far as from Polynesia and Melanesia, and has very diverse culinary traditions across the large archipelago with its more than 1,300 ethnic groups and about 6,000 inhabited islands.
That said, food in Sumatra, influenced largely by Arab and Indian cuisine, differs distinctively from Javanese food, which shares its meat- and rice-based indigenous heritage mainly with Sulawesi and Kalimantan, while food in Nusa Tenggara uses less rice and more cassava than in the rest of the country, and more seafood.
Balinese cuisine is nearer to classic Southeast Asian food with the use of banana leaves, coconut, lemongrass, chili, turmeric, garlic and ginger, while the Maluku Islands’ cuisine is also rich in seafood and the use of native spices.
Papuan food usually consists of roasted boar accompanied by sweet potatoes inland and roasted fish in coastal communities, along with soup and sago congee (“papeda,” porridge made from palm stem starch), a counterpart to central and western Indonesian cuisine which favours rice as a staple.
[caption id="attachment_38206" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nasi tumpeng, one of Indonesia's national dishes[/caption] Indonesia has plans to open no less than 4,000 restaurants abroad to promote its food heritage and culinary culture, the country’s minister of tourism and creative economy, Sandiaga Uno, said. The statement was made at a recent event held as part of the “Indonesia Spice Up the World” campaign, a government promotion scheme involving cross-ministerial and institutional efforts to market Indonesian spice products and processed food and spices abroad. In addition, the programme is focused at promoting Indonesia's culinary heritage and culture and boosting the country's food industry by...
Indonesia has plans to open no less than 4,000 restaurants abroad to promote its food heritage and culinary culture, the country’s minister of tourism and creative economy, Sandiaga Uno, said.
The statement was made at a recent event held as part of the “Indonesia Spice Up the World” campaign, a government promotion scheme involving cross-ministerial and institutional efforts to market Indonesian spice products and processed food and spices abroad.
In addition, the programme is focused at promoting Indonesia’s culinary heritage and culture and boosting the country’s food industry by developing Indonesian restaurants abroad in what the programme calls a “gastro-diplomacy” endeavour.
Boost for spice export and tourism
All restaurants would be fully operational in early 2024 at the latest, the minister said, adding that the government would provide guidance to restaurant operators and help domestic entrepreneurs expand their culinary businesses overseas, as well as manage cooperation with Indonesian representative agencies abroad to support and “quickly realise” the restaurant openings.
The scheme is expected to have a positive impact on Indonesia’s economy, mainly through the export of Indonesian seasonings and spices – whose value should reach $2 billion by 2024 – and through tourism by displaying Indonesia as “world culinary destination.”
Indonesia’s divergent culinary heritage
However, while many Indonesians applaud the efforts of a global promotion for Indonesian food, some observers say the success of the programme has yet to be seen.
Indonesia’s food includes some very popular national dishes such as nasi goreng (fried rice with meat and vegetables), gado-gado (vegetable salad with peanut sauce), nasi rendang (meat – mainly beef – braised in coconut milk with spices), soto (soup composed of broth, chicken or beef and vegetables that comes in many different local variations), nasi tumpeng (cone-shaped rice serving with vegetables, chicken, coconut, omelette and peanuts) and satay (grilled marinated chicken skewers served in peanut sauce).
However, the country’s overall culinary presence it not as recognisable and homogenous as, let’s say, Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese food and lacks international renowned classics such as Tom Yum (hot and sour Thai soup), Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup with herbs) or Peking duck.
Many different influences and local customs
The reason is that Indonesian food has had a number of diverging foreign influences, namely from India, China, the Netherlands and Portugal, as well as from the Middle East and from as far as from Polynesia and Melanesia, and has very diverse culinary traditions across the large archipelago with its more than 1,300 ethnic groups and about 6,000 inhabited islands.
That said, food in Sumatra, influenced largely by Arab and Indian cuisine, differs distinctively from Javanese food, which shares its meat- and rice-based indigenous heritage mainly with Sulawesi and Kalimantan, while food in Nusa Tenggara uses less rice and more cassava than in the rest of the country, and more seafood.
Balinese cuisine is nearer to classic Southeast Asian food with the use of banana leaves, coconut, lemongrass, chili, turmeric, garlic and ginger, while the Maluku Islands’ cuisine is also rich in seafood and the use of native spices.
Papuan food usually consists of roasted boar accompanied by sweet potatoes inland and roasted fish in coastal communities, along with soup and sago congee (“papeda,” porridge made from palm stem starch), a counterpart to central and western Indonesian cuisine which favours rice as a staple.
