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.