Running head: Street Food: Asia

Street Food: Asia

Camille Tilghman

University of New Haven

Street Food: Asia focuses on the street food culture within East Asia, South Asia,

and Southeast Asia. The documentary is divided into nine, 30minute episodes

showcasing Thailand, Japan, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam,

Singapore, and the Philippines. In each episode, you learn about the importance of

street food, the country’s culture and history, and staple foods. Each episode focuses

on at least 2 famous street vendors within that country. From there, you learn about the

street cook’s backstory, the history behind their dishes, and an inside look into the Asian

markets and culture. This paper will focus on the street culture in Southeast Asia, more

specifically, Indonesia.

Southeast Asia is a tropical region comprised of the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos,

Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand (Kittler et al., 2016, p. 370).

Indonesia is comprised of 17,000 islands, mostly uninhabited, and some of these

islands are known as the Spice Islands due to herb and spice cultivation. Some well-

known Indonesian islands are Bali, Java, New Guinea, Sumatra, and Kalimantan (Kittler

et al., 2016, p. 385). Indonesia, like other countries in Southeast Asia, share one

universal tradition: street food. Street food is the heart of Southeast Asia and represents

the people and culture. Many people in this region are struggling and can’t even afford a

stove, so they rely on street food for daily nourishment. In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the

heart and soul of Java, they are still ruled by a sultan. The people of Yogyakarta still

practice and take pride in their traditional ways. So, street foods like jajan pasar, gudeg,

and mie lethek are very local and traditional; the flavor principles identified within these

dishes are onion, garlic, palm sugar, coconut, bay leaf, spices, cassava flour, and

tapioca flour.
Running head: Street Food: Asia

Jajan pasar is the oldest street food in Indonesian history and dates back to the

eighth century. This dish means sweet market snacks and is a variety of street food

treats made from palm sugar, sticky rice, cassava, tapioca, and coconut. There are two

types of jajan pasar: the traditional and modern version. The traditional Javanese,

Yogyakarta-style jajan pasar resembles the colors of the Earth: brown, green, and pale

white. The brown comes from Javanese sugar, the green from the banana or pandan

leaves, and the pale white from the sticky rice and grated coconut. Whereas the modern

version, or jajan pasar modern, is influenced by other cuisines: Chinese, Portuguese,

and Dutch.

Jajan pasar modern has more varieties and is more vibrant and colorful

compared to the traditional way. Some of these snacks are onde-onde, lapis legit,

klepon, dadar gulung, and many more. Onde-onde is a fried pastry ball covered in

sesame seeds and filled with mung-bean paste; this dish is influenced by the Chinese.

Lapis legit is a layered spiced cake influenced by the Dutch East Indies. The cake has

eighteen to twenty thin layers and is commonly eaten for Chinese New Year, Christmas,

and Lebaran or Idul Fitri, an Islamic holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan (Anita,

2017). The cake is made with rice flour, sago, coconut milk, and lapis spice (cinnamon,

cardamom, and anise). Klepon is a boiled rice cake stuffed with palm sugar and rolled in

grated coconut. Dadar gulung is a rolled coconut pancake filled with sweet grated

coconut. It is flavored with pandan paste made from pandan leaves. There are different

market snacks created for special occasions. For birth celebrations, bright colors are

used and for marriage proposals, something sticky is used to represent bonding. Other

popular street foods in Yogyakarta are gudeg and mie lethek.

Gudeg is the symbol of Yogyakarta. In Yogyakarta, there are multiple vendors

selling gudeg with sticky rice, egg, chicken, or crispy ox. Gudeg is braised jackfruit

flavored with onion, coriander seeds, garlic, bay leaf, and lengkuas. Mie lethek are

noodles made from Java’s staple food, cassava. Javanese who couldn’t afford wheat

flour or white rice used cassava instead. They turned the cassava into flour and made

mie lethek, or “ugly noodles” due to its pasty, grayish color. This dish is an icon because

it isn’t produced elsewhere, and the manufacturing process is still made the traditional

way. This process uses an ox to push the stone cylinder attached to a six-foot wide

mortar. This machine grinds the cassava and sweet potato flour. The workers then mix

the flour into dough and manually press the dough into noodles. Finally, the noodles are

steamed and then dried out in the sun for a day (Gattuso, 2020). These noodles are

known for its distinct flavor and are typically boiled or fried; they are served with eggs,

chicken, vegetables, garlic and candlenuts.

This documentary showed me numerous interesting facts about Indonesian

culture. Indonesians still use mortar and pestles and clay pots or woks over firewood.

Indonesians have a longer life expectancy compared to America. The older men and

women don’t even know the year they were born, so they’ve never had birth certificates.

Most of these street vendors are in their seventies, eighties, or over a hundred.

Yogyakarta’s traditional practices remain alive through these street vendors whom

mothers taught them the traditional ways to prepare these meals. These recipes haven’t

changed because it would be a form of disrespect to their mothers, ancestors, and

culture. Unlike America, Indonesia’s family culture is very matriarchal; the women are

usually the ones who work to provide for their family. They support both of their children
Running head: Street Food: Asia

and grandchildren. So, these women wake up at 12 am to prepare their foods or

purchase their ingredients at the market before arriving to their designated street. At the

markets or shops, Javanese people call the older women “grandma” out of respect.

Also, the street vendors prepare their dishes without gloves but with their bare hands.

Indonesians tend to eat their meals with a spoon or their bare hands. From the episode,

one could infer that the Javanese use their right hand to feed themselves. Another

common practice are the street vendors using banana or pandan leaves as plates.

Learning about Indonesian culture was mind blowing. I was shocked to see

people over a hundred working as farmers, street vendors, or at the factory. I learned

about Mie Lethek Cap Guruda being the only factory in Java still making mie lethek the

traditional way; this factory has stayed in the family for three generations. Throughout

the episode, I fell in love with the food and wish to try gado gado, nasi goreng, gudeg,

and jajan pasar. Gado gado is a vegetarian dish made with vegetables and peanut

sauce under a bed of rice; and nasi gureng is Javanese fried rice. Everything I’ll eat

would be authentic instead of jajan pasar modern. I would love to visit Yogyakarta and

become fully immersed in the culture. Visiting this city would be like going back in time.

Yogyakarta hasn’t lost its traditional culture and I believe they never will. The older

generations will teach their daughters the way of their ancestors. This will continue

happening for generations to come and even when modern versions start appearing,

there will still be traditional street foods available and cooked to perfection.
Running head: Street Food: Asia

Works Cited

Anita. (2017, January 22). Lapis Legit - Thousand Layers Cake. Daily Cooking Quest.

https://dailycookingquest.com/lapis-legit-thousand-layers-cake.html

Gattuso, R. (2020, May 26). Mie Lethek Garuda. Retrieved from

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mie-lethek-garuda

Kittler, P. G., Sucher, K. P., & Nelms, M. (2016). Food and Culture (7th ed.). Cengage

Learning.