A combination of the most delicious select dishes from tropical Indonesia,

traditional dances, a fashion show of traditional attire and soothing music

tunes — it was cultural diplomacy at its very best, writes Umer Nangiana

The guests were welcomed by Cokek dance. Women wearing colourful traditional East Asian-style costumes, whirling to the rhythm of the kromong xylophone, opened the door for the audience to see the greater cultural riches of Indonesia, the country of islands.

Caught and captured by the aroma of freshly-prepared food all around them, the men and women in the audience comprising members of the diplomatic corps and community at large, witnessed Indonesia cultural and traditional diversity unfolding right before their eyes.

A combination of the most delicious select dishes from tropical Indonesia, traditional dances, a fashion show of traditional attire and soothing music tunes — it was cultural diplomacy at its very best. It was the opening of the “Adventures of Indonesian Cuisine Week” at the Grill Restaurant in Grand Hyatt hotel, attended by ambassadors of different countries, government officials, members of private companies and other Indonesian friends. The event is organised by the Indonesian embassy in collaboration with Djarum Foundation.

“I think it came out as a perfect combination, the food and traditional performance, to promote Indonesia as a whole, which is our main motive,” Ambassador of Indonesia to Qatar Deddy Saiful Hadi told Community. The actual event, he added, is an effort by the embassy to promote Indonesia and its cuisine and to help create awareness among people about Indonesia and its people.

“On the culinary side, in collaboration with Djarum Foundation, we have brought here the Indonesian master chef with his team to present the 30 most recognised food items from Indonesia to the Qatari society,” said the ambassador.

Before they moved on to the dinner tables, the guests were treated to traditional performances known as Manortor and Angin Mamiri Dances. Once again the beautifully dressed Indonesian women floated on to the stage to grab the audience’s attention. This time, however, the attire was of a different style and hues.

The style of dance and the rhythm of music also changed.

“I have tried to combine it all with traditional performances by these groups. Interestingly, all performers are from Qatar, the Indonesian diaspora living in Qatar,” said Ambassador Hadi. These are the groups comprising the housewives of the Indonesian expatriates working in the oil and gas sector in Qatar, he said.

They regularly practice such cultural performances at the Indonesian embassy.

“They are very talented. Some of them are from studio of arts in Indonesia. They have created these performances by themselves, choreographed them and prepared them at the Indonesian embassy. I admire their work because they are very active and this was obviously a beautiful performance,” said the Indonesian envoy.

Talking about the diversity in the performances, the ambassador said they did not represent all of Indonesia which is very large and has so many provinces. However, the most common performances were from the East, North Sumatra, from Jakarta and then a combination of different dances from different areas of the country.

After the Djarum Foundation gave a video presentation, taking the guests on a short tour of popular destinations in Indonesia, the guests moved on to taste Indonesian food. There are more than 30 dishes, selected from different regions of Indonesia and served in the same traditional style and flavour.

The ambassador recommended Randang, a popular beef dish from Indonesia, which was popular across the world and was recognised by the American TV network CNN as “the most delicious food”, recalled Ambassador Hadi.

However, his personal favourite is Nasi Gore. “As any other common Indonesian, it is Nasi Gore. It is very well known and very simple food. It is basically fried rice that can be served with a combination of anything, fish, meat, seafood etc.,” said the ambassador.

The ambassador introduced to the guests the culinary expert and master chef from Indonesia, William Wongso, who along with his team, has come all the way from Indonesia to prepare the special selected food dishes for the festival.

Speaking to Community about Indonesian cuisine, Wongso said it was very broad and diverse. “I would say no Indonesian in his lifetime can taste all the dishes in Indonesia. Just imagine 17,000 islands, 8,000 of them populated, 34 provinces with sub villages. There are too many,” said the master chef.

However, he added two years ago, the ministry of tourism thought of creating a singular platform for Indonesian food because there was no Indonesian food as such and it was all regional cooking.

“So we are compiling 30 iconic dishes which are well known all over the country, easy-to-cook and things like that. This is what we are doing and this programme is in line with our food diplomacy,” said the Indonesian culinary expert.

Delving into what would be the best sea food, he said it depends on the areas; however, some Eastern islands produce the best sea food. “Luckily, we have a new fisheries minister now and hopefully he can sort out all these problems of shipping and harvesting best sea food for the local markets,” said Wongso.

“Our flavour is our tradition. Principally, the traditional food is what we don’t modify. To my understanding, the best cooked food is the one prepared in the way of home cooking. And then what we are doing now is to promote, introduce and upgrade the quality — giving what we call culinary clinic for others to understand more about what is unique about these dishes from Indonesia,” said the master chef.

For the 3-day festival, he has put on the menu more 40 items. He also recommends the iconic dish called Randang. It is caramelised beef curry. Here, it was prepared in lamb in the form of a light lamb stew. It is more soupy, then saucy. Also on the menu are varieties of lamb chops prepared in Indonesian spices, satay chicken and fish dishes besides grilled prawn.

The Indonesian ambassador said this was the perfect way of promoting Indonesia and tourism to the country boasting some of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

He said the embassy is taking a lot of measures to promote Indonesian tourism through such cultural activities. “We are the largest Muslim country, population-wise, in the world and the 16^th most powerful economy. We have become the member of G-20. We are also the member of 1 trillion dollar club,” said the Indonesian ambassador, hoping there would be more business cooperation between Indonesia and Qatar.

He thanked the government of Qatar for its support in making the event possible. At the opening gala dinner, a lucky draw was conducted through which two people won tickets of Qatar Airways to the Bali resort besides winning Indonesian handicrafts and Batik collections as compliments from the wife of ambassador, Mrs. Endang Hadi.

The adventure of Indonesian Cuisine Week was also held in Al-Khor area where Indonesian community under the aegis of PERMIQA organised similar cultural activities and presented the Indonesian culinary delights to their local guests. The festival ends on 22 November.