Sharing a Love of Street Foods 1.1

SHARING A LOVE FOR STREET FOODS

Blogger Sharing Session at Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2014,

by Bayu Amus/Epicurina

Ver. 1.1

CONTENTS

• What is street foods?

• Reasons to love street foods?

• Street food experience (good and bad)

• Assessing street foods

• Writing tips

• Sharing session

WHAT IS STREET FOODS?SHARING A LOVE FOR STREET FOODS

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THE TERM "STREET FOODS" DESCRIBES A WIDE RANGE OF READY-TO-EAT FOODS AND BEVERAGES SOLD AND SOMETIMES PREPARED IN PUBLIC PLACES, NOTABLY STREETS.

(FAO Regional Workshop on Street Foods in Asia, held in Jogjakarta, Indonesia in 1986)

STREET FOOD CHARACTERS

• Vendors' stalls are usually located outdoors or under a roof which is easily accessible from the street.

• They have low-cost seating facilities which are sometimes rudimentary.

• Their marketing success depends exclusively on location and word-of-mouth promotion.(Street foods in developing countries: lessons from Asia, F.G. Winarno and A. Allain)

REASONS TO LOVE STREET FOOD?

SHARING A LOVE FOR STREET FOODS

REASONS TO LOVE STREET FOODS

• Cheap and Yummy!

• A living history

• Inseparable travel experience

• The best example of local taste

• Helps the Earth!

SHARING A LOVE FOR STREET FOODS

CHEAP AND YUMMY

• Originally sold for poor people without kitchen in their home, Street foods today still attains the affordability

• Years of specialization combined with sheer passion = Yummy!

• Here’s some examples:

REASONS TO LOVE STREET FOODS

BUBUR AYAMLocation: All over Indonesia

Cost: IDR 7K – 15K

A very versatile breakfast, and available virtually all over Indonesia

Best eaten with chicken, liver, raw egg, cakwe, fried soybeans, celery, and sweet soy sauce.

porridge

cakwe

chicken

liver

fried soybean

Cheap and Yummy!

NASI GUDEGLocation: Java

Cost: IDR 15K – 25K

A form of mixed rice, with Gudeg as the main ingredient: sweet slow cooked young jackfruit.

Best eaten with opor ayam, liver, pindang egg, and kerecek.

Assorted snacks

Telur pindang

Opor Ayam

Jengkol

Gudeg

Opor Hati Ayam

Krecek

Cheap and Yummy!

NASI GORENG ACEHLocation: Aceh

Cost: IDR 15K – 25K

A curry tasting fried rice, with assorted fried meats and refreshing pickles.

pickles

omelet

curry fried rice deep fried stuffs

Cheap and Yummy!

LAKSA MEDANLocation: North Sumatera

Cost: IDR 17K – 25K

Thick rice noodle with fresh mint leaves, pickled shallots, mixed with thin fish curry.

Anchovies curry

pickles

Thick noodle

Fresh mint

Cheap and Yummy!

ANGEUN TUTUTLocation: Jawa Barat

Cost: IDR 5K – 10K

Tutut (fresh water snails) boiled in its shells, with savory light curry soup.

Originally a farmer’s meal during watering stage of their rice fields, now it’s a rare delicacy sold only in few traditional markets.

Best eaten in its own, on family gathering moments. Both the taste and the look might look intimidating for tutut-virgins.

Water snails

Cheap and Yummy!

ROASTED SKIPJACKLocation: Serangan Island, Bali

Cost: IDR 20K – 30K

A whole ikan tongkol (Skipjack Tuna) on a stick, slowly roasted over charcoal fire, to produce the firm textured meat with smoky aroma.

Best eaten with sambal matah Bali and warm pile of rice. Well paired with kerupuk klejat (sea snails) and jukut bulung (seaweed salad).

Roasted Skipjack

Sambal matah

Cheap and Yummy!

GRILLED SEAFOODLocation: Bali

Cost: Raw ingredients + IDR 20K-30K/Kg Cooking cost + rice + sambal matah

Go to Kedonganan fish market and order the fish, clams, lobsters, squids, even octopus there, then have it cooked at the stall outside.

Grilled crab

Sambal matah

Lobster

Mussels

Cheap and Yummy!

SATE LANGUANLocation: Bali

Cost: IDR 1K – 3K/piece

A minced fish with Balinese seasoning, wrapped around coconut tree/sugar cane/lemongrass stalk then roasted over coconut husk charcoal.

Best eaten with: Sambal terasi, sambal matah.

Cheap and Yummy!

A LIVING HISTORY

• Many Street foods has been around for more than 50 years

• Street food preserves the region’s best cuisines

• Street foods might sometimes trigger your memories of the past

REASONS TO LOVE STREET FOODS

Nasi Ayam Bali Made Weti

Sate Lilit Ayam

Batter fried eel

Pepes Ayam

Sambal matah

Fried shallotsChicken blood

Telur balado

Assorted Urab

White rice

Lawar Ayam

Nasi Ayam Bali Warung Satria

Ayam Betutu Warung Liku

Nasi Ayam Ibu Oki Uluwatu

INSEPARABLE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE

“You haven't been to” + [region name] + “if you haven't eat at” + [street food name]

REASONS TO LOVE STREET FOODS

Ayam Taliwang from Lombok

THE BEST EXAMPLE OF LOCAL TASTE

• Street foods more than often represents “local taste,” that reflects local cuisine culture -- impossible to duplicate elsewhere

REASONS TO LOVE STREET FOODS

A WHOLE DIFFERENT WORLD

“Beignets. You ever hear of that?

- We can get it here.

Not the same.

When you have it here, it's good

because it reminds you of,

like, a whole world of memories

that you have of being there.

'Cause it's like... I'm telling you,

it's like a whole different world.”

(Chef, 2014)

IT HELPS THE EARTH (AND THE LOCAL

FARMERS)• As most street foods are

using local produce, it greatly reduces the carbon footprint resulted from sourcing the ingredients.

• Productive street foods scene in a city means thriving local food producers, e.g.: local farmers.

REASONS TO LOVE STREET FOODS

ASSESSING STREET FOODSSHARING A LOVE FOR STREET FOODS

ASSESSING STREET FOODS

• Street foods safety level

• Telltale of a good street foods

• What’s the cure for Street food related illness?

• Retelling Street food experience

SHARING A LOVE FOR STREET FOODS

STREET FOOD SAFETY LEVEL

• Despite concerns about contamination at street food vendors, the incidence of such is low with multiple studies showing rates comparable to restaurants.

Nina L. Etkin (2009-09-15). Foods of Association: Biocultural Perspectives on Foods and Beverages that mediate sociability.

ASSESSING STREET FOODS

TELLTALE OF A GOOD STREET FOOD

• High turnover means ingredients are always fresh

• Visible cooking and preparation

• Social validation

ASSESSING STREET FOODS

HIGH TURNOVER CASE

• A very famous street food stall in Bandung, Jawa Barat spends about 20 million rupiah a month for sweet condensed milk.

• And 200 million rupiah a month for cheddar cheese.

• And that was back in 2007

WHAT’S THE CURE FOR STREET FOOD ILLNESS?

• Ginger to ease discomfort (Global)

• Po Chai pills to cure indigestion (Asia)

• Apple cider to kills bacteria (US)

• Activated carbon to absorbs bacteria (Global)

ASSESSING STREET FOODS

RETELLING STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

• Writing tips

• Editing tips

• Photo tips

ASSESSING STREET FOODS

WRITING TIPS

• Aim for storytelling instead of Wikipedia entry

• “Know what you write,” not “write what you know.”

• State facts but don’t forget to provide your perspective

• The Drama setup: Starts in the middle where it gets exciting, build backgrounds as you proceed

RETELLING STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

WRITING TIPS

• Don’t be your own critics, aim for bluntly retelling your story first, refining/editing later

• Do series of iteration instead of aiming to nail it right the first time

• Practice, practice, practice

RETELLING STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

EDITING TIPS

• KISS

• Enrich your food vocab

• Adhere to word counts if you’re writing for a magazine article

RETELLING STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

PHOTO TIPS

• Capture the light!• Daylight is the best • Low angled sun for

lively shots• Cloudy sky for vibrant

colors

RETELLING STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

PHOTO TIPS

• Not enough/ideal light?• Provide your own light

source• Provide steady

footing, or use “Anypod” + long exposure

• Shoot in RAW

RETELLING STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

PHOTO TIPS

• Narrow DOF and bokeh provides dramatic scenery

• Take more shots than you think you’ll need

• Explore angles, compositions

• Practice, practice, practice

RETELLING STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

SHARING SESSION: STREET FOOD EXPERIENCE

SHARING A LOVE FOR STREET FOODS

NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE

• Q: “What was your worst incident of food poisoning while traveling for No Reservations?”

• A: “Liberia. I was crawling around leaking in all directions for two days.”

(http://www.thebraiser.com/best-anthony-bourdain-answers-ama/)

SHARING SESSION

• Tell us your best street food experience

• Tell us your worst street food experience

• Share with us the unique street food of your country

• What are the issues that you see with street food

THANK YOU!

For more delicious food shots and stories about street foods in Bali and all over Indonesia, please visit:

• Instagram.com/epicurina

• Twitter.com/epicurina

• Blog.epicurina.com

For more information about Ubud Writers and Readers Festival please visit http://www.ubudwritersfestival.com.

The peddler cart image is based on paper-replica.com artwork. Visit http://www.paper-replika.com for amazing 3D DIY paper replicas.

For inquiries and correspondence please send your email to [email protected].