I think it is okay to assign soto as our national food. Even though, I believe, Soto does not represent the whole Indonesia. The real problem is that our government always switches the regulation as its Minister changes once in five years. The preceded Minister decided 30 traditional dishes as national food, now they have it reduced to five.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism needs to learn from Thailand. Our neighbor country is really persistent when it comes to promoting culinary tourism. Tom Yum (Thai hot and sour soup) has been Thailand’s national dish for a long time: past, present, and I believe in the future as well. That’s why, people always associate Tom Yum with Thailand, and vice versa. That’s how big the impact of food to tourism.
(the interview was conducted when Arief Yahya was the tourism minister, present minister is Wisnuthama)
As the end of 2019 is near, could you tell us new programs of ICA for next year?
We will be holding annual chef expo with different theme every year. This year’s Chef Expo theme is Indonesian healthy food and sustainability. Perhaps what we aim for next year is bigger chef expo: more participants and more visitors.
Food sustainability is one of globe’s main concern. In your opinion, has Indonesian faced food insecurity and dangerous problems?
Food sustainability starts in the kitchen when a cook chooses vegetables and meats to serve on a plate. Indonesia will surely face food sustainability in the future, as we see many acres of rain forest, where many spices grow, are burnt. I also saw so many lands for crops and farms are transformed into real estates.
We might still be secure when it comes to food, but how about 20 years later? Population also grows bigger as this earth is getting old. That’s why ICA has a mision to educate young cooks that we need to prepare meals for health, environment, and this planet.
