Before starting this article which might satisfy your curiosity about our Presidents, I want to say Happy Indonesia Independence Day fellas! Have you joined Independence day competition such as eating crackers, sarung soccer, pinang climbing and many others?! Well, our country now is 68 years old, quite an old man, huh? But the culinary history of Indonesia might have begun thousands years ago, so aside from preserving the spirit of independence, why not we also start to preserve the culinary wealth of our country by loving Indonesia cuisine? 🙂
So let’s begin our topic about favorite foods of Indonesian presidents. Until now, there are 6 Indonesian presidents who have govern our country. But aren’t you intrigued to know what’s their favorite foods? Opposite to what people believe that a President with all the facilities and rights he could live with, such man with very important task would have preferred fine and exquisite cuisine, for example Kim Jong Il, North Korea dictator was said to enjoy fresh sashimi that he would be delighted if the mouth of the fish was still moving he was eating!! The gluttony did not stop just in sashimi, since he requested the finest ingredients from each respective countries to be served in his dining table. Well, unfortunately our presidents are not like that, even they love to eat simple and traditional street foods that you once might ate! Not forgetting in addition of 6 Indonesian presidents, there is one bonus leader character which will be included in last number! So what are they?
1. Ir. Soekarno
The first Indonesian president who until now known by his brave, charismatic and visionary leadership was a founding father of Indonesia proclaimed the Independence of this country. Called also Sang Putra Fajar (Sang Putra Fajar), he’s not only famous by his influential speech and character that moved Indonesian to struggle for their own independence, Soekarno was also renowned to have 9 wives! During his struggle to fight Dutch colonist, Soekarno was imprisoned and exiled so many times since he was regarded as the most dangerous man from his speech and writing in mass media. One of the places where he was ever exiled was Bengkulu, a province located on Southwest coast of Sumatra. During his 4 years exile in Bengkulu, he met his then-to-be third wife and Indonesian first First Lady, Fatmawati.
During his exile, I think he did not feel really sad not only because he met a woman who would be his wife, but also he found his favorite food which uncannily using shark meat, called Bagar Hiu and Pais Ikan. These two foods are Bengkulu traditional foods, yet not many restaurants served this food. Bagar Hiu itself is similar with Beef Rendang, but instead of using beef, they use shark meat which was roasted with coconut milk, garlic, onion, turmeric, lime leaf, Indonesian bay leaf, galangal, and many other spices. That’s quite lot of spices used, isn’t it? Aside from Bagar Hiu, he also loved to eat Pais Ikan, which is similar with West Javanese Pepes Ikan (steamed/boiled/grilled spiced fish wrapped in banana leaf) and, but instead of using Ikan Mas (Goldfish), they use ikan gebu and ikan buli.
Shark meat itself is known to be fish meat which is lower in fat, but be careful fellas, not to eat a lot, especially if you are pregnant, since shark meat also contained a lot of mercury that can damage your body or your fetus. In addition, shark also faced the threat of extinction since a lot of people utilized shark fin as medicinal soup. Since these foods also difficult to find because it’s Bengkulu-origin, Soekarno also doesn’t mind to love eating sayur lodeh (stewed vegetable in coconut milk soup), tempeh and tahu
2. Soeharto
The Smiling General was known as most controversial, hated yet missed leader by a lot of Indonesian people. Born in a small village, Jogjakarta and continued to serve in military, he seemed not to forget his humble upbringing which can be shown by his love to eat simple Javanese food which is consisted of vegetable, fried sambal (grounded chili sauce), tempeh and cabuk (Solo-origin cuisine consisted of sliced rice ketupat dipped in sesame sauce roasted with candlenut and grated coconut, eated with dried rice crackers, served on banana leaf). Even cabuk is considered to be snack, but the cook have to buy the ingredients in Wonogiri. I think it’s quite a simple meal and balanced diet since it contains vegetable which can provide vitamin and minerals, tempeh as protein source and cabuk as carbohydrate source. When visiting Solo, he went to warung Bu Wongso Lemu to eat Nasi Liwet (rice cooked in coconut milk and chicken broth). He loved to eat Mbok Galak’s Lamb Satay (quite a funny name though :P) and in Jakarta he also loved to eat Javanese Noodle Haji Minto.
3. B. J. Habibie
The president with shortest presidency time is also regarded as one of the most genius Indonesian people, some sources said that his IQ reached 200! The favorite food of the airplane engineer who was also known to his endless devotion to his belated wife is quite simple to be reached from his office, Padang fried chicken located in Padang restaurant not far from National Secretary office and tamarillo soursop juice. Well, for me that’s a smart combination since fried chicken not only containing protein, but also lot of trans fat from frying oil and cholesterol from the chicken. Tamarillo and soursop itself contain vitamin A and vitamin C that can act as antioxidant which can help in counterattack the damage caused by trans fat and cholesterol to the body. In addition, they can provide fiber, which can prevent constipation and lowering cholesterol absorption to your body. Maybe we can follow his diet plan to make ourselves healthier? 😛 As a Manadonese, he also loves to eat Tinotuan (Manado vegetable porridge)
4. Abdurrahman Wahid
The first elected president since the fall of Soeharto who was known to have sight difficulty since his left eye was blind was a religious-tolerant man, humble yet outspoken man. During his career as journalist, he sold Es Lilin (popsicle) and peanuts with his wife to earn extra income. Regarded as funny president because of his jokes, he and his staffs loved to eat Padang restaurant near his political party office, even in one week he could eat three times there! According to the waiter, he usually ate dendeng batoko (beef jerky), gulai otak sapi (brain cooked in rich, spicy curry-like sauce) and gulai limpa (cattle spleen cooked in rich, spicy curry-like sauce) with his favorite drinks such as avocado juice and ice tea. Wow, seems he was an extreme organ lover! Although organ tastes good for some people (but not me :P), be careful guys, since organs are also rich in cholesterol and saturated fat, especially gulai because it’s cooked with coconut milk. Cholesterol, espesially the bad one (LDL) if accumulated too much on the blood vessel that eventually can cause heart disease and stroke. So if you are organ lovers, make sure you also eat food rich in soluble fiber, such as vegetable, fruits and oats to reduce blood cholesterol. Aside from Padang foods, he also loved to eat ikan baronang (Rabbitfish) and telur dadar (omelette). Not forgetting the meal, he also loved to eat snack such as sawut singkong (traditional Javanese cassava cake served with grated coconut), enting-enting (sweet peanut bar), Sumedang tofu and sugarless kue pancong (Javanese traditional coconut milk and rice flour cake).
5. Megawati Soekarno Putri
The first woman president who is Soekarno’s daughter from his wife, Fatmawati is now a political party leader who will compete in next year’s presidential election. She loved Balinese foods such as udang bakar sambal terasi (grilled prawn with shrimp paste chili sauce) everytime she went there at warung Pak Made that she is known to be loyal customer there. She is known to be sambal lover, especially sambal terasi, sambal mentah (raw chili sauce) and sambal bawang putih (garlic chili sauce). If she could not visit the restaurant, she would ask the food to be delivered to his villa in Cucukan Beach, Gianyar or Tampaksiring Palace during her presidency time. Similar with Soeharto, she also loved to eat Haji Minto’s Javanese noodle. Chili contains a component cause capsaicin which can induced heat or pain sensation when eaten. Capsaicin can also cause addiction, so no wonder Megawati could love sambal so much!
6. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
The current president of Indonesia is similar to Soeharto in terms of starting his career as military soldier. Previously a Minister of Politic, Law and Security Coordinator, Mr. SBY loved to eat East Javanese foods (since he was born in Pacitan, East Java) such as pecel lele (fried catfish in peanut, chili, tamarind and coconut sugar sauce), pecel madiun (vegetable in peanut, chili, tamarind and coconut sugar sauce), chicken soto, gado-gado (Betawi salad consisted of vegetables with peanut sauce), sayur asem (vegetable soup cooked with tamarind), salted fish and scallion omelette. All of these were served as Istana Negara, the national palace. Aside from these main courses, he also ate them with shrimp crackers and Rengginang (rice crackers) and of course as Indonesian, a meal is not complete without rice and chili. He also loved to eat fried tofu with raw chili that he can eat 10 fried tofu at a time! Instead of hotel food, he preferred to eat warm homemade foods.
So, have you read all of their favorite foods? It turns that they loved traditional foods instead of fine and exquisite foods. Maybe one of their foods is also your favorite dish! Fulfilling my promise to provide one extra character, so welcome here, Sultan Hamengkubuwono!
7. Sultan Hamengkubuwono
A Jogjakarta monarchy leader, the photo above is Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the current Jogjakarta Sultan. His father, Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX was once an Indonesian vice president serving in Soeharto era. Like father like son, their favorite foods was somehow similar, such as bebek suwir (crispy duck with pineapple and kedondong sauce), Javanese beef steak, gudeg (young jackfruit boiled several hours with palm sugar, coconut milk and spices), huzarensla (Javanese-Dutch Salad) and many others. Jogjakarta are renowned for their sweet tooth, so Sultan also loves to eat desserts such as Manuk Enom (sweet tapai pudding with green glutinous rice served with full cream milk) and beverage such as Javanese beer. If you want to eat like Jogjakarta Sultan and Ratu, just come to the restaurant called Bale Raos in Jogjakarta that provides Sultan favorite foods! I am a sweet tooth, but I advice you to eat sweet dishes in moderation, since excessive sugar can cause diabetes if eaten too much and also obesity. Excessive calories from sugar consumption can be converted into fat in the body! But the good thing is that because some of sweet Javanese foods used a lot of palm sugar which have lower glycemic index compared to cane sugar, so no need to worry so much about it as long as you eat sweet foods in moderation 😛
After you read much about Indonesian Presidents (and Sultan) Favorite Foods, don’t you linger more to taste all of them? So if our presidents love Indonesian traditional foods so much, why don’t we start to appreciate them as part of our nationalism? Once again, Happy Independence Day fellow Indonesians!
Source:
detikfood
inilah.com
Photos are taken from various sources
Foodiepelago 