HOW INDONESIAN STREET FOOD CAME TO BE

Before we start on with the main course, let’s have an appetizer – which, in this case, it’s a little bit of introduction of our street food in Jakarta and how it came to be.

Now, Jakarta wasn’t always Jakarta – at least from its name that is. It was originally a small town next to the east Ciliwung River. Back then, people called Jakarta: “Batavia”, or as the European sailors and traders called it, “Oud Batavia”, which also meant as the “Old Batavia”. The small city also dubbed by English explorer James Cook as “The Pearl of the Orient” because of Batavia’s famed architectural buildings that can be compared to Amsterdam’s.

The map of old Batavia

In the old days and up until now, Batavia is the trading center of West Java, a capital city for all business, including food. Therefore, every immigrants from all across Indonesia came flocking in to the city while carrying their culture and food from each of their region. A lot of street foods where established and their local culinary business flourished in all across the city.

The scenery of old Batavia in Pasar Baroe

Most of the street food owners used traditional carts or small kiosks/stalls where their customers could have the option to watch them cook their meals. In addition to that, the small stalls provide a space among the bustling crowds on the streets and enables them to prepare the food faster. Because of these methods, the owners are able to connect with their customers – they often get along well to recount a lot of personal stories as they offered their warm hospitality towards the customers.

Carts and stalls in old Batavia

Among the street food that they’ve sold, some their famous ones were Soto, satay, fried tofu and other snack food such as peanuts. Soto, in particular, were the favorites among the locals because each Soto is different and unique according to their originated region.

Satay is too one of the local favorites. It was made with slices of meat, often from chicken, beef or lamb that were skewered with a wooden skewer and served with a peanut sauce and various other spices. It’s savory, it’s delicious and it’s widely popular inside and outside of Indonesia. Like Soto, satay can be distinctive according to their region. For example: a satay that originated from Padang used mostly beef, served with a special spicy “Padang sauce”.

Finally, there was one of the famous local favorites that proved to be popular until now. Martabak is made from a large dough that were stuffed with sweet or savory ingredients. Their favorite flowers were egg (savory) or chocolate (sweet). A lot of stalls nowadays carried on with different types of flavor such as green tea. The food is an ideal late-night snack because a lot of martabak stalls were open until late hours. 

The old Batavia building

Within time, these traditions continues to grow on the local food business. The carts, the food and the joy in their business were carried on up to this day where it become a novelty.

References:

Karishma Vaswani 2011, Savouring street food in Jakarta, BBC News UK, accessed 16 – 10 – 2015, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/direct/indonesia/9515508.stm>

Pesona Indonesia 2014, Kota Tua Batavia, Kementrian Pariwisata, Republik Indonesia, accessed 16 – 10 – 2015, <http://indonesia.travel/sites/site/228/kota-tua-batavia>

Pesona Indonesia 2014, Makanan Jalanan Jakarta, Kementrian Pariwisata, Republik Indonesia, accessed 16 – 10 – 2015, <http://indonesia.travel/sites/site/361/makanan-jalanan-jakarta>