Food shortages mean new diet

Food shortages mean new diet

GUNUNGKIDUL, Yogyakarta: Failed harvests and the high price of
of food has forced people in the Gunungkidul regency to consume
tiwul and aking with greater frequency to supplement the scarcity
of rice, Antara reported yesterday.

Gunungkidul, which is traditionally known to be a dry area,
has been one of the hardest hit this year. The situation has been
compounded by a long dry season and the severe economic crisis.

Tiwul is a foodstuff made of cassava while aking is dried rice
leftovers.

"In the village where I live many families have been forced to
eat aking because they can no longer afford to buy rice, said
Martini, a resident of Semanu district.

The head of the Gunungkidul regency social affairs office,
Suhardono, said his office had not received any reports of famine
in the area.

"What's happening is possibly that such calamities are
befalling only a few individual families," he said.

Last year, then president Soeharto initially brushed aside
reports of famine in Java saying that many people on the island
liked to consume tiwul, or mix it with their rice, because they
believed it would give additional nourishment.