Indonesia needs local, healthy fast food
Indonesia needs local, healthy fast food
By Yoko N. Sari
JAKARTA (JP): Just like any other country in the world which has enjoyed outstanding economic growth, Indonesia is facing various changes which have changed people's behavior, including eating habits.
This particular aspect has been influenced by the change in lifestyles, from one of tradition to one of modernity.
Chief editor of Femina, a weekly women's magazine, Widarti Gunawan says that these days a lot of women have joined the workforce and spend most of their time outside of the home.
"Women are looking for simple and quick ways to serve food because they don't have a lot of time to prepare traditional Indonesian food," Widarti said in an opening ceremony of a three- day food exhibition and seminar held by the magazine last week.
Indonesia has also been flooded by Western fast-food restaurants serving food high in fat which is categorized as unwholesome.
Assistant for the Ministry of Food and chairman of the Logistic Board Suroso Natakusuma said the trend to consume this type of fast food is not good because from a nutritional point of view it is not healthy food.
"Its nutritional value is not good, it contains too much fat and no fiber," he said.
Suroso said many people choose and eat certain foods because they are hungry and intend to enjoy the food not because of its nutritional value but because it is simple and quick.
"We have to promote healthy Indonesian food to the younger generation so they will appreciate and prefer it. It will make Indonesians healthier," he said.
Widarti said Indonesian cooking should be adapted to the change in women's roles and the magazine is promoting such a concept through the exhibition.
But still a question persists: What is healthy food?
Emma S. Wirakusumah, an expert on nutrition from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture said to create healthy food is to go back to the 'empat sehat lima sempurna' (four healthy, five perfect) principle.
"The principle is implemented by balancing the food intake which means reducing food that contains fat and sugar and increasing food which contains roughage, such as vegetables and fruit," Emma said.
She explained that the balanced intake principle is an appropriate diet for humans as it enables them to be healthy, fresh, beautiful and trim because it contains all the nutritional value needed.
She said food experts suggest that to keep healthy, people should eat in such a way that the carbohydrate intake equals 60- 65 percent of a person's total calorie intake, protein 15-20 percent, and fat no more than 20 percent of the total calorie intake.
"Vegetables and colored fruit are recommended because they can prevent cancer," she said, citing several examples of healthy food such as lean chicken breast, fish, vegetables, and fruit. She suggested people avoid cooking with oil, cream, milk and margarine. "Don't overcook vegetables."
Unfortunately, Emma said, people tend to misinterpret balanced diet and instead eat nutritionally unbalanced meals.
W. Wuryani, a researcher from the Indonesian Science Institution, said that there is always a risk in preparing and storing food.
"Food which is not handled properly can turn into poison," she said.
She explained that food should be prepared properly to prevent it from becoming contaminated by microbes. This can be done by storing food in the refrigerator before preparation, and by cleaning the food properly before cooking it.
"Microbe and fungi are very dangerous, therefore we should be careful in handling food before cooking or consuming it," Wuryani said.