Indonesia needs to sow more wild oats

Minal aidzin wal faizin. Mohon maaf lahir dan batin!

This is what Indonesians say to each other on Idul Fitri, the day after Ramadhan ends. It is the biggest day of celebration for Muslims, as the month of fasting is over and it is the start of the new year on the Muslim calendar. All sins are forgiven and they get to start again, clean. Sins are forgiven in a variety of ways that I have yet to learn, but a main one is to go around to all of your family, friends and neighbors on Idul Fitri and say this phrase, “Minal aidzin wal faizin. Mohon maaf lahir dan batin!”  while shaking their hand. The first sentence is Arabic, the second Indonesian. It roughly translates to, “I ask for your forgiveness for all of my sins from the deepest parts of my heart.” My host sibilings and I went around to the neighbors and family together (in my village, the neighbors are the relatives!). We enter, say what we need to say, and then sit for a bit on a rug on the floor, are encouraged to eat homemade snacks, and then after about 5 minutes go on to the next house. Repeat approximately 20 times!

My host nephews and I on Idul Fitri. 

Knocking each other over!

Indonesia needs to sow more wild oats

Before coming to Indonesia, people commented, “I hope you like rice.”

Boy, I didn’t know what was in store for me.

Let me begin with the awesome book Golden Arches East, a book I read at Carleton College for Van’s “Anthropology and/of Globalization” class. Golden Arches East is an ethnological study of McDonald’s in various East Asian countries, Indonesia not included. This book’s findings were, first of all, really accessible, so I recommend you read the book! Secondly, the authors found that in many of the countries they studied, people loved to snack on food at McDonald’s. And by “snack,” they meant a hamburger, fries, and soda. A snack. Yes, that’s right, it doesn’t matter how much other food you eat, if you haven’t eaten copious amounts of rice, you haven’t eaten a meal yet.

Which brings me to my current dilemma. Indonesians are Asians. While not all Asians are rice-obsessed, Indonesians are.

As I prepared to come to Indonesia, when people asked me how I felt about rice, I answered, “I like rice, and I hear there is nasi goreng (fried rice), which is delicious, so I’m ready!”

Oh, the naïve answer of one who has not yet eaten rice every day. Oh wait, let me clarify, three times a day.

Plain white rice, too. Not often enough do I get the promised, slightly spicy, makes your nose run like a faucet nasi goreng.  Nope, the plain white rice, right off the field.

So you can imagine how that optimist girl from the Midwest is feeling about rice now.

She’s gone.

Replaced by the American-who-unceasingly-searches-for-grain-other-than-rice. I have successfully found oatmeal and eat it for breakfast every day now, though it is imported or something, because no one seems to know what oats are (hence my clever title, Indonesia, sow more oats!)!

Perhaps appropriately, the first question Indonesians tend to ask me is, “Bisa makan nasi?” (Can you eat rice?) As though Americans can’t digest it or something? I say, “Ya, bisa!” (Yes, I can!) Then half of the time this question is followed by, “But Americans usually eat bread every day, yes?” And then I have to explain that we don’t have anything that we eat every day, that at least in my life and circle of people I know, we eat different things every day. The other half of the time the “can you eat rice?” question is followed by, “But there isn’t any rice in America, right?” Oh dear, where did that rumor come from? Fortunately, I met the right Peace Corps volunteers who set me straight on rice consumption in the US. Had I not met Mike and Lea, I would have said that Americans only eat rice 2-3 times a week, max. But Mike’s Asian family and Lea’s Latin American family eat rice every day, so now I can more accurately explain to Indonesians the American diet. My answer? “It depends on the person’s culture…” Which may still be followed by, “Oh, but you still eat bread every day, right?” Well, at least people are proving consistent in their thoughts, if not correct…!

On of my other favorite questions to answer about food is, “Have you tried ____________ yet?” To which I get to laugh to myself and answer, “Most of the foods that I try I do not know the names of!” While I personally find this hilarious, that I have no idea what the name of the food I am eating is, I’m not sure that I’m conveying that clearly to Indonesians. No one seems to think it’s as funny as me that sometimes I have no idea what I am eating.

Fun with food:

For breaking fast with my school, I definitely took just the head of a fish, to which all the women laughed and discreetly took my plate back up and got the actual body of the fish with the meat for me. Good thing, cause I’m not about to eat a fish head, its practically just bone. Whoops.

I’ve been offered fried intestine crackers (no, thank you!), accidentally eaten chicken liver (which I promptly spit out), and have successfully avoided all talk of chicken feet thus far…chicken feet…there isn’t even any meat…what do you eat??! (Note: just consulted my host brother…you just suck on the foot and then spit it out. Okay, probably not gonna try that!)

A rundown on a typical meal in Indonesia:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal and juice, bought with my stipend…until I realized that buying juice once a week is expensive. But then someone pointed out even if after two years I save my PC stipend and have 3 million Rupiah, that’s only $300. I think I’ll keep buying juice.

Lunch:
RICE. Plus some of the following food, it varies:
- tempe goreng (from soybeans, but NOT tofu, gross!)

- ayam (chicken) goreng

- ikan (fish) goreng (sensing a trend here? goreng = fried)

- sayur (veggies), always cooked, not safe to eat raw. A mixture of potatoes, carrots, cabbage,  green beans, onions, garlic, and some other things that I don’t know and try to avoid cause let’s face it I’m still a selective eater!
- occasional fruit- honeydew, watermelon (To which people always ask, “Is there watermelon in the US? Honeydew?!”)

Dinner:

Repeat lunch options, sometimes the same food that has been sitting out all day. (Eggs aren’t really refrigerated here, either. But I’m still alive!)

In other food news…

So occasionally, the real good stuff happens. Nasi goreng (fried rice), nasi pecel (white rice with a spicy sauce, bean sprouts, green beans, and peyek, which is best described as a chip but really you’ll just have to try it in 2 years when I bring it home!), sate ayam (chicken sautee in a delicious peanut sauce), and then, the best of it all, es buah (fruit ice) or es oyen (something ice, not sure what oyen translates to!). This es is literally just water, sweet and condensed milk, and jello/tapioca/fruit chunks, but it could not be more delicious on a hot day here! I will def make it for you all when I come home!

 Peyek, like a chip.
Photo courtesy of Google

Bikang, like a spongier cupcake! Yum! 
Photo stolen from another volunteer, Katie.

Cuncum, a custard-filled pastry. 
Photo stolen from another volunteer, Katie.

Nasi pecel. 

Photo courtesy of Google.

Sate ayam, a new favorite!
Photo stolen from another volunteer Maurice.

Duku, my new favorite fruit. Unfortunately only in season for a few months in late spring, I think! Size reference: the size of one of those really big, almost black grapes with the annoying seeds in the middle.
Photo courtesy of Google

Anyways, a test of my cultural relativity came when I woke up with a very sore throat the other day. I still can’t swallow food or drink without severe pain, but don’t worry, I’m still eating thru the pain and taking meds! My ibu and bapak told me, “Oh, it’s because you drank too many cold drinks.” Now a) that is ridiculous, and b) I didn’t drink any more cold drinks than they did, and we only drank one es buah in a week. So I tried my best to bite my tongue and agree that yes, clearly I was at fault for drinking too many cold drinks, but sometimes you gotta stick up for yourself here or you’ll be laughed at for all sorts of dumb things. 

My favorite drink, es buah! The drink that allegedly made me sick because I drank too many cold drinks. Okay, Indonesia...
Photo courtesy of Google

Case in point. I took my medicine for this throat sickness with soda. My family all screamed with fear when I did it. Yes, I acknowledge that it is better to take meds with water, but I do not fear the results of soda and medicine mixed. After all, we always drink ginger ale or sprite right after taking medicine in the US. But Indonesians literally believe that you will die. Yes, DIE if you drink soda with medicine. My host sister frantically pounded on my door this morning, checking to see if I was still alive. I think they think I'm a superperson now, as I lived to tell the story of drinking soda and medicine.  

Just for good measure in this food post, an old picture from the pasar during training. Sam offering a great reaction to the raw chickens that will inevitably be fried later...

The following photos are all one day when my family cooked from 6 AM to about 3 PM. A common Ramadhan tradition in small communities is to prepare boxes of treats  to give to the neighbors.  The package full of sweet treats is called Songgongan, and if the box contains a meal and not sweet treats, it is called berkat. 

Lumpur, as close to a cupcake as you can get!

Songgongan boxes, with the sweet food.

Acar (cucumbers and carrots, also fried of course). 

Frying begedel, made from mashed potatoes then coated in egg and fried. 

The finished products!