Food

From Desmond and Triston
1. What is in the main dishes in Jakarta?

From LaDorria and Jacky
1. How do people get their groceries?

ANSWER: Jakarta is the one of the spice capitols of the world, and many nations have had control over Indonesia because of their spices which the rest of world had never tasted before. So if you eat Indonesian food it's going to have a lot of flavor, mostly spicy dishes since they use a lot of chilis. The staple with every meal seems to be either rice or noodles, both are reasonably cheap and can be dressed with a variety of things to make each meal different. And believe me, rice can be made into many different ways! The Indonesian word for rice is "Nasi" which is cooked rice. Cook it incorrectly and you have Nasi Ketan, cook it perfectly and you have Nasi Pulan, fry it and it's Nasi Goreng, cook it with coconut and you have Nasi Uduk, sticks of rice wrapped in banana leaves is called Lontong (see photo), and rice porridge is called Bubur. Also since Indonesia has very fertile soil thanks to the volcanoes present, just about anything can grow here. So a lot of people eat their rice or noodles with lots of vegetables. Meat can be different, Muslims don't eat pork, Hindus don't eat beef but everyone enjoys chicken and fish and both are relatively inexpensive compared to pork or beef, this may be that pork and beef are mostly imported in from Australia or the U.S. and this of course increases the price.

Grocery shopping can be an extensive subject. Since the average household salary per month is around $200 U.S. a lot of locals can't shop at the supermarkets like we do at home or me as an expat simply because they can not afford it. Trust me, I've felt guilty about buying groceries at the supermarket for one week that cost me $70 and that's only for 2 people, can you imagine having to support and feed a family on $200 p/month? Because of this reason, many people shop for their groceries in a wet market (see photo). It's called this because some may have live animals that you can choose and they will slaughter them there, therefore having to hose down the ground and making it wet. The wet markets that I've seen have mostly dead animals and they will cut the piece that you want directly, they usually have live chickens though and will pluck them for you. The wet markets also sells fruits and vegetables, this is the main reason why I would visit one, the produce was usually cheaper and fresher. I would never buy meat from one since I have issues with hygiene and sanitation or maybe the lack of. Some people like to choose their meat alive that way they can check the health and quality, some people take their animals home and slaughter it themselves and in the Wal-mart stores in Far East Asia they will slaughter them for you.

In addition to cooking their own meals, many people buy food from street peddlars (see photo) and there's plenty to choose from! I can't go 10 feet without seeing one, they sell mostly the same thing and they are very cheap, a meal might cost you 10,000 ruphiah or $1 and that's for a good one. They usually sell local dishes like satay (skewers of beef or chicken), nasi goreng (fried rice) or soto ayam (chicken soup with noodles). I believe or at least I hope there are few hungry people in Indonesia.