HIGHLAND TROPICAL DELIGHTS
T. Johnston-O'Neill
Additional Photos by Eddy Ruble
First (and exceedingly rough!) Draft
Posted to give potential writers a model to work from
© 2003
The Minangkabau are the world's largest matrilineal culture. About half of the 6 million people who call themselves Minangkabau live in West Sumatra, Indonesia which sits just below the equator. Nearly all Minangkabau are Muslims. Minangkabau are known for their mercantile prowess and they are a very literate and well educated society. Although most Minangkabau are farmers or merchants (wholesale and retail), the Minangkabau are also known for their expertise in many crafts such as woodworking and wood carving, metal working, weaving, jewelry making (silver and gold) and a wide range of other manufacturing and crafts. Quite a number of Minangkabau enter into professional fields such as medicine, engineering, finance and academics.
The Minangkabau are also famous throughout Indonesia (and beyond!) for their exquisite cuisine. Minangkabau cooking can be divided into three different styles and venues: 1. everyday cooking, 2. ritual celebration cooking and 3. "eating out". Like elsewhere in Indonesia, restaurants and foodstalls are plentiful both in the cities and the smaller towns. Even small villages often have small eateries and food stalls. The options for eating out range from large restaurants that seat more than fifty patrons to small pushcarts that serve noodle dishes or skewered grilled meats (satay) and everything in between. On market days in every city and regional market town, temporary food stalls sprout up in and around the marketplace.
Roadside Eating - - Photo: E. Ruble
By far the most important food item in the Minangkabau pantry is rice or "nasi". Rice is considered the very foundation for a Minangkabau meal and it is typically eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While high-protein foods define a "meal" in America or Europe, rice defines a meal in West Sumatra. The most common way of asking someone if they have already eaten is to ask "have you already eaten rice". The distinction between a "meal" and a "snack" is often the difference between having eaten something with rice or something without rice. A bowl of noddle soup no matter how hearty (which is quite common in West Sumatra) is not a meal. In the village where I lived, middle-aged people claim that when they were young their grandparents and their parents encouraged them to eat lots of rice and discouraged them from eating anything but a very small portion of meat or fish. Some say that their parents would slap their hand if they reached for more meat admonishing them to eat more rice instead. Although meat has always been very expensive in West Sumatra (today a chicken there costs about the same as a chicken in the United States although the per capita income in West Sumatra is only a tiny fraction of what it is in the United States, Japan or Europe), discouraging children away from eating meat was not purely economic as the same stories are told by members of aristocratic families as are told by poorer commoner families.
Photo: T. Johnston-O'Neill
Today fish is a very important part of everyday Minangkabau meals. Both fresh fish farmed in local ponds or caught in local waters and fresh and dried fish from the ocean are undoubtedly the most important protein source for most Minangkabau. Chicken and occasionally duck eggs are also regularly eaten. For many Minangkabau, beef, buffalo, and goat are often only eaten at important rituals (like weddings). Fortunately, rituals are not uncommon. One of the most popular sources of protein are small dried fish known as "maco" (pronounced "macho") which are cooked with chilles, garlic, and other seasoning and served with rice (peanuts are also often included). The dish is called "maco balado" which simply means "maco with chillies". Although maco is sold in even the smallest of village shops, the diminutive and salty (an wonderfully tasty!) fish is from the ocean and can also be purchased in any of the rotating weekly markets. The fish maco has made it into the normal patter of village life. Minangkabau are fond of asking people where they are going (mau kemana?) or where they are coming back from (dari mana?) depending if the party queried is coming or going. If someone is returning from the market (dari pasar) it is not uncommon for people they meet along the road about what the shopper bought at the market. The questioner is just making polite conversation and a common answer is to say that you bought "maco" and there is no need to provide a full accounting of your purchases. Recently, foods made from soybeans such as tofu and tempe (fermented tofu cakes) have been making inroads into local eating, but as yet tofu products are not overwhelmingly popular. Vegetables are, however, quite popular and tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, eggplants, carrots, cabbage, ferns, green jackfruit, bamboo shoots, sprouts and a very wide variety of leafy greens are parts of everyday diets. Root crops such as potatoes, onions, garlic, peanuts, yams, tapioca are also enjoyed. Fruit is important to daily diets and there many varieties of fruits including, numerous kinds of bananas, pineapple, guava, "hairy fruit" (rambutan), rose-apple (jambu), mangosteen, passion fruit (markisa), durian (a very strong tasting fruit), papaya, mango, ripe jackfruit (nangka) and many more. Minangkabau are also very fond of snacks including a huge variety flavored tapioca chips and various kinds of cakes. The most common drinks are coffee, hot tea and hot water but young men often drink "stamina potions" and children drink flavored sugary drinks when they visit the weekly market. Fresh coconut juice, right out of the coconut is also one of the best thirst quenchers to be found anywhere. Carbonated soft drinks are not yet popular, even among young people.
Most West Sumatran cuisine is very spicy and makes considerable use of hot chillies. The English language makes no distinction between "spicy hot" and "hot in temperature" but two different Indonesian words (and the same is true in Minangkabau) are used for these concepts. "Penas" (Minangkabau "paneh") means "hot in temperature" and "pedas" (Minangkabau "padeh") means "spicy hot". Minangkabau food is, hands down, the most "pedas" (spicy-hot) food in all of Indonesia.
At Minangkabau ritual celebrations food is extremely important. Minangkabau wedding rituals typically involve a series of feasts that can take up to a month to complete. At each feast the guests must bring a specific kind of raw or prepared food and the feasts themselves require a great deal of preparation and organization that pulls together many elements of the community. At the village level the Minangkabau social world is comprised of several different groups. At a wedding each group is represented and each has a specific role to perform and a specific place to sit in the front room of the house where the feast is consumed. These groups represented are: 1. the bride's matrilineage, 2. the groom's matrilineage, 3. the bride's father's matrilineage, 4. The groom's father's matrilineage, 5. local government officials (such as the village head), 6. village religious leaders (usually the local Imam), 7. influential or important dignitaries and 8. neighbors of the house where the feast is occurring. As more and more young people develop strong relationships in the city due to work or school a new form of ritual has developed called the "Invitational" (undangan) so that friends, schoolmates and co-workers of the bride or groom can help the new couple celebrate. Unlike the older village rituals, guests to the "Invitational" bring wedding gifts instead of food.
The "Invitational" fare - - Photo: T. Johnston-O'Neill
At most Minangkabau rituals for eating guests are divided into groups of six (bajambak) that eat out of a common large serving dish of rice. Not infrequently today people sit in chairs at tables to eat their daily meals but at rituals everyone sits on mats on the floor. Eating properly at rituals requires a specific protocol and a certain degree of skill. During the main part of the meal large communal platters of rice are served with a variety of smaller dishes that variously contain, vegetables, goat curry, fish curry, small potato pancakes, dried beef curry and one or more kinds of vegetables. Each group of six guests is served exactly the same portions of food as all of the other guests. One required dish is a dish of buffalo or beef dried curry which is served in small cubes. Each group receives exactly one piece for each member of the commensal group. Being served either less or more than the exact amount is considered an insult so, for instance, at the bride's house the bride's maternal uncle (who is of the greatest ritual importance in the matrilineage) must closely supervise the preparation and serving of dishes to guests. It is not unheard of for hosts to express their displeasure with the guests or the marriage by "shorting" their servings and even sometimes this is done (as I witnessed) in a somewhat playful but mischievous way by one or more women who are preparing the meal. However, from the standpoint of the ritual leaders and guests such transgressions are not taken lightly and such transgression require seemingly endless apologies (and acceptances) in a highly artistic style of speech which is filled with metaphor allusion. In the case that I witnessed, a woman told me that sometimes guests are "shorted" just so the culprit and their conspirators could witness the linguistically beautiful apologies that would be required. Sometimes, however, an offense is intended as some individual uses the opportunity to symbolically express their reservations about the wedding.
Women and their children eating at a wedding feast - - Photo: T. Johnston-O'Neill
Wedding feasts are served in several courses. Each course separates ritual speech-making by representatives of the various groups present. While many groups have members who are expert in the complicated, esoteric and artistic ritual speech (using language few participants fully understand) nowadays it is not uncommon for groups to hire professionals for this complicated and skilled job. Often there is an underlying competition between speakers (and the sides they represent) and the goal is to present a speech that is so sublime, artistic and clever that the "other side" is stunned into utter silence (diam saja). While the sides are brought together in alliance, matrilineage pride is never far from the surface as each side tries to subtly prove that they are worthy of respect and honor. This, of course, varies in degree depending on the history of relations between groups and the underlying competition might be greater between groups that don't have a long history of intermarriage. Not infrequently Minangkabau say they like to marry into martrilineages where they already have matrimonial connections because the path is well worn and easier, however, because the number of martrilineages to found in any particular village tends to be small, intermarriage is bound to be common even if people didn't have such sentiments.
Not surprisingly the main course in a wedding feast revolves around rice. Sitting cross-legged facing the large round rice platter guests "top" the rice nearest to them with one or more of the items from the small dishes and then proceed to knead the rice and the meat or vegetables into a small ball with their right hand. Often this kneading process is rather casual and relaxed and people carry on conversations while they are so occupied. When the ball of rice and meat is of the proper consistency the eater brings it toward their mouth and gracefully pops the mixture into their mouth. It is considered proper ettiquite to avoid touching one's mouth with one's fingers. The author will attest that this motion requires a fair amount of skill and if one is not particularly skillful one is likely to shower themselves with rice much to the amusement of those present. Opinions vary as to what the proper eating attitude should be when eating at a feast, some say that it honors the hosts to eat healthy servings while others claim that it is more important to show one's self-control and reserve by only eating a small amount. Exhibiting self-control and not falling victim to one's passions, desires or appetites is a socially preferred value throughout much of Indonesia.
After the series of major rituals and feasts that comprise the Minangkabau wedding proper, for the bride and her (entourage(better word?)) the eating is not over. It is considered proper and respectful for the bride to visit as many as possible of the households of her new husband's matrilineage in the month after the wedding. Typically these visits take place in the late afternoon and early evening. It is incumbent on each house to feed the new bride an ample meal. The bride shows her appreciation (and perhaps her stamina) by eating generously and the her husband's matrilineage members show their generosity by insisting that the new bride eats more. Sometimes a new bride must visit two or more houses on the same day and it is simply not good to say "that's ok, I've already eaten!" or to show anything less than full enthusiasm for the food being offered. During this short phase of their life, women consume a great deal of food which is quite sensible considering the extremely strong connection between marriage and
biological reproduction for the Minangkabau. (somewhat inelegant phrasing!).
[Section on Ramadan fasting (and break-fasting!), Idul Adha, Hari Raya/Idul Fitri goes here]
Although a certain proportion of Minangkabau villagers rarely travel outside of their home village, many Minangkabau have a great deal of experience with either living in or visiting cities. While the Minangkabau are considered to be a rural people, perhaps nearly half of all Minangkabau live in cities like Padang, Bukittingi, Payakumbuh, Paken Baru, Medan, Jakarta and elsewhere. Minangkabau are famous for their pattern of migration (merantau) mostly to urban centers (although other Indonesian groups do a lot of this too!). Many individuals, couples and families move to cities permanently and many do so only to eventually return to their original home village after they have either made their fortune or discovered that life in the city was not as successful as they had hoped. As mentioned previously, many Minangkabau are extremely motivated to do well in school and they often learned occupations that have little relevance to village life. So too many Minangkabau are attracted to either wholesale or retail marketing and this is more profitable in urban settings. Along with these migrations to the city came Minangkabau cuisine and Minangkabau owned and operated restaurants can be found throughout Indonesia and even in Malaysia, Singapore and beyond. A common Minangkabau joke is that when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon the first thing he encountered was a Minangkabau restaurant.
There are two main styles (and a host of minor styles) of Minangkabau restaurants and they are called, Nasi Padang and Nasi Kapau. "Nasi" means "cooked rice" or "meal" and Padang and Kapau are places in West Sumatra. Padang is the capital of the province of West Sumatra and it is a bustling port town on the west coast. Although Padang is not considered to be the cultural center of Minangkabau culture (and indeed there are considerable cultural differences between people who live in Padang and people who live in the "heartland") many Indonesians call Minangkabau people "people of Padang" (orang Padang). Nasi Padang is, by far, the more well known form of Minangkabau restaurant. The other cuisine, Nasi Kapau, originates from a rather small village some 10 kilometers from the beautiful and generally tranquil highland city of Bukittinggi (High Hill). In passing it should be noted that West Sumatra is quite large and many areas are well know for their culinary specialties. For example, many tourist who visit the beautiful town of Bukittinggi walk through the canyon to the silver-working and lace-making village/town of Koto Gedang. The walk is full of delights and chances are you will be a young man along the path who will show you natural wonders that you might otherwise miss (like the flying foxes, the ferns that curl when you touch them and the flowers that "pop"). They probably won't ask for money (even though that's how they make there spending cash) but it is really a decent idea to give them a few dollars for their troubles. When you get to Koto Gedang, ask around to find some place that serves duck in green chilies sauce, which is extremely hot and incredibly delicious.
Nasi Padang is universally known throughout Indonesia and it is mentioned and discussed in all the tourist guides written about Indonesia and West Sumatra.(1) It is not uncommon to find many international and Indonesian tourists in the better-know Nasi Padang restaurants in Bukittinggi such as "Simpang Raya" or "Roda Group". Although Nasi Kapau restaurants can be found in many Indonesian cities, it is a much better kept secret. In my three years of living in West Sumatra, only once did a see a Western tourist in a Nasi Kapau restaurant and no mention is made of them in the major tourist guides for the region.
Nasi Padang Restaurant - - Photo: E. Ruble
In a Nasi Padang restaurant each diner is presented with a bowl of rice (which costs a very nominal amount) and each table is supplied with a variety of small dishes that have various meats, eggs curries and vegetables in them. Like a Chinese Dim Sum, patrons pay only for the dishes or items that they consume. Sometimes a dish with have two portions such as two chicken legs or two eggs in curry sauce, in such cases the charge is for the piece not the plateful. Young unmarried men not infrequently order a bowl of rice and then flavor it with the curry sauces of one or more of the dishes, forgoing the meat, fish or egg - there is no extra charge for this, they simply pay for the rice. In addition to this style of eating, most Nasi Padang restaurants also have menus where other items (such as fruit salads) can be ordered. Indonesian patrons are usually served hot water to drink but tourists are often served hot tea which is usually delicious. Normally, Nasi Padang food is eaten with the right hand, just like at home, and after the meal the hot water that is served for drinking can be used to rinse your hand (yes, you can always ask for more water.).
Most Nasi Padang restaurants offer a wide variety of dishes that may include: fried fish (ikan goreng), fried (unbattered) chicken (ayam goreng), chicken curry (kari ayam) curried dried beef (rendang), goat curry (kari kambing), spicy (and often crispy) beef (or buffalo) jerky (dendeng), fish curry (panggerek), fried eels, dried beef lungs (?), tripe in curry sauce, and eggs in curry sauce. Vegetables might include green beans in coconut sauce, spicy (and flavored with coconut milk) cabbage, but generally high protein foods (fish, eels, meat and eggs) are more evident. In some respects the food in a Nasi Padang restaurant resembles the food served at weddings. In stark contrast to everyday foods, vegetables and fruit are not a particularly important part of Nasi Padang menus. Some restaurants do, however, sell delicious fruit salads topped with oat-like pounded grains (emping) and a sweet molasses like sauce (Yum!).
Although Nasi Kapau restaurants and stands also serve curried beef (rendang) and spicy hot to the point of drawing tears jerky (dendeng), Nasi Kapau eateries have more vegetable-centered dishes than their Nasi Padang counterparts. A popular and tasty Nasi Kapau dish is a form of savory egg and coconut sausage. Overall Nasi Kapau food is more pedas than Nasi Padang, but the difference is not great. Nasi Kapau also tends to make use of some stronger tasting ingredients such as the petai bean which has an overpowering smell with a taste that has been likened to garlic, but that is a poor approximation.
One the most interesting differences that separate Nasi Padang restaurants from Nasi Kapau restaurants has to do with gender. Compared to Nasi Kapau restaurants, Nasi Padang restaurants are more likely to be permanent establishments. In West Sumatra Nasi Padang restaurants are predominantly male domain. Overwhelmingly Nasi Padang restaurants are owned, operated and staffed by men. The clientele for Nasi Padang restaurants is also predominantly male although women, couples and entire families not uncommonly dine in these restaurants. Nasi Padang restaurants are often run on a profit-sharing basis. The owner, the cashier, the cooks, the servers and the dishwashers all receive shares of the preceding month's profits. Shares are called "mata" and the number of mata is determined by the number of participants and their "rank" within the system. For instance, the owner and the cashier might be entitled to seven shares each, the cook five shares, the servers two and the dishwashers one share apiece. Every month the net profits are divided by the total number of shares and then distributed to each participant. In this system of profit sharing workers tend to work hard and police each other as it is in everyone's interest to increase overall profits. Service is friendly but fast to the point of sometimes being frantic. In Nasi Padang restaurants tables tend to be large and it is not uncommon for complete strangers to share a table. Plates are totaled for each individual in each party, there is no tax and tipping is unusual so everything tends to proceed smoothly and efficiently at bill paying time.
Nasi Kapau eatery - - Photo: E. Ruble
Nasi Kapau is far less famous but hugely enjoyed by those "in the know" which means anyone who is Minangkabau or knows more than a little bit about Minangkabau culture. When I attended a concert by a well-known Javanese pop diva she made mention in her remarks that she had eaten at one of the Nasi Kapau restaurants and this brought the house down. (Awkward!!!!). Although there are several permanent Nasi Kapau restaurants in Bukittinggi, Nasi Kapau dining tends to be more of a market day phenomena. The Bukittinggi market is broken up into three levels, the top level consists of hundreds of permanent shops (and many restaurants). The bottom level (pasar dibawah) consists of a huge expanse of territory which fills up with sellers of vegetables, meats, fish, fruit, household goods, clothing and hardware twice every week. On market days the lower market is absolutely packed with buyers and sellers. The middle market which perches on a kind of landing situated between the steps to the upper market and the steps to the lower market is where many of the people who attend the twice weekly market come eat their lunch. Typically these eateries are comprised of a square covered kiosk style structures that is surrounded by benches and long tables where the patrons sit. The servers (who are also do the preparation of the food) operate from inside the kiosk where the food is kept in large metal serving bowls. Patrons tell the servers what they want on their plates and after receiving their plates they take their place on one of the benches. In some Nasi Kapau stands the operators have very long handled spoons which they can use to give patrons second helpings if so requested.
Photo: E. Ruble
In contrast to Nasi Padang restaurants, Nasi Kapau stands and restaurants are a predominantly female environment. Owners, operators are almost always women (often women from a single family) and typically the patrons are also women. This does not mean, however, that this is an exclusively female domain, men do eat in and are certainly welcome in Nasi Kapau establishments, just as women are welcomed in Nasi Padang restaurants. Actually there is a more practical reason why the clientele are more often women. Most of the people who participate in the weekly markets are women. While it is true that men do shop in the weekly market and it is also true that men tend to sell certain goods in the market (like meat, ocean seafood and hardware) overwhelming the merchants and patrons of the weekly markets are women. Although many women do visit the upper market area and eat in Nasi Padang restaurants on market days, many more eat in the more convenient Nasi Kapau stands found in the "middle market". Nasi Kapau food also tends to be a bit more complex in flavor than what is typical in Nasi Padang restaurants, so many people (including me) may also simply prefer this fare. Hopefully some of my readers will be able to visit the exquisitely interesting and beautiful homeland of the Minangkabau in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Now being "in the know" you will be able to fuller enjoy the great variety of foods and cuisines that West Sumatra. Ignore what your guidebook has to say and venture forth to the middle market on a Wednesday or Saturday and treat your self to a meal at a Nasi Kapau stand. Again, if you visit Koto Gedang, don't forget the Duck in chilies! In the meantime, please try one of the following recipes which will give you a tasty introduction to Minangkabau cuisine.
RENDANG
DENDENG
PANGGEREK
PERKEDEL
KATUPEH
1 A special note about restaurants mentioned in guide books. In terms of good eating, mention in a guide book is more often than not a recipe for culinary perversion. There are many restaurants that cater to tourists in West Sumatra (and particularly Bukittinggi). The food in these restaurants tends to be extremely bland, heavy on sugar and have only the remotest connection to foods that Minangkabau people actually eat. Such restaurants are loaded with Australian, European and American backpacking tourists who have managed to travel around the world with out actually venturing very far from their own cultural sensibilities. These tourists tend to talk loud, drink a lot of beer and dress and comport themselves in a fashion that is offensive to many Minangabau (but is salaciously attractive to some young Minangkabau men!). However, some restaurants that tourists do visit have not been overly corrupted and these like Roda Group or Simpang Raya or the Chinese restaurant Mona Lisa (which has wonderful Kwe Tiow Goreng, Tomas' fruit salad is also a delight) despite their frequenting by tourists. The best plan on selecting a good and authentic eating place is to ask a local where they like to eat best. At first they will recommend places that they think you (as a tourist) would like to eat, but if you persist they might actually tell you where they themselves like to go to eat. Many Minangkabau people believe that tourists (even Indonesian tourists) cannot stand the amount of chillies that are often found in Minangkabau food and they are mostly right in this belief. If you can tolerate such incendiary cooking however, they will be surprised and delighted.
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