Jakarta Fair offers 'kerak telor'

By Christiani Tumelap

JAKARTA (JP): The annual Jakarta Fair has been a long awaited opportunity for vendors of a traditional Betawi snack called kerak telor. It is made from eggs and beras ketan (glutinous rice) and shaped like an omelette.

The word kerak refers to the surface and bottom of the rice -- burned while being cooked in a small, closed wok over a charcoal- fueled burner. Prospective customers are among the organizer's claimed 30,000 daily visitors. The fair will end July 13.

When a customer places an order, the wet beras ketan is fried without oil on a pan for about two minutes. It is then blended with eggs and pre-fried shredded coconut. The mixture is fried again for a few more minutes until the surface becomes a little burned.

Mashed dried shrimp and fried red onions are poured onto the snack, and then it is ready to be served.

During the month-long event, vendors earn a modest fortune from the snacks sold for around Rp 2,000 each, because the almost extinct snacks are associated with the 30-year-old fair.

Partly because of this association with the event, and also because income from the snack has become increasingly less, selling kerak telor has become seasonal.

According to a longtime vendor, 48-year-old Raup Sayuti, the snack has been known since the days of Dutch colonial rule, when it could be found all over the city.

But former vendors have found more stable jobs and only sell the snack at the Jakarta Fair or other events.

In time, the Betawi native said, "Income from sales of the snack isn't worth the energy spent walking around."

He was not sure whether the snack lost out to competition of many other snacks which Jakartans love, whether hot dogs or noodles.

"Even Betawi people themselves might not want to buy the snack," the father of seven children said.

In the daytime Raup cuts patterns at a small garment factory in Mampang, South Jakarta, which brings in up to Rp 5,000 (US$2) a day.

In the afternoon he leaves for the fair with ingredients which his oldest son and brother have helped prepare -- beras ketan, which has to be soaked for at least seven hours, eggs, fried shredded coconut, and spices.

Raup said at least 100 vendors at the fair were many of his neighbors along Jl. Warung Buncit 8, 9, 10 and 11 in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta.

Their main earnings were from working as ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers and shop attendants, or from renting out their homes, other vendors said.

"Even though selling kerak telor is seasonal, it's good because we earn more money," Raup said.

For Raup, being a kerak telor vendor is also a legacy inherited from his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who all made and sold the snack.

He said his predecessors would walk around all day selling the snack to people from all walks of life.

Like Raup, his father also took the opportunity of night events such as Pasar Malam, in Gambir, near the former site of the Jakarta Fair, and in downtown Kota.

Raup recalls his father selling the snack at Pasar Malam as a "luxurious" experience.

"I loved it, although I could only look at the attractions and displays of things sold there...I didn't have the heart to ask bab (father) to buy me even a small lollipop," Raup said.

Raup started selling the snack himself in the early 1970's. "I remembered earning a great deal of money from selling the snack at the Asian Games in Jakarta," he said -- when the snack was only Rp 125 each.

This year, he said, "We are earning even more money. We earn up to Rp 50,000 a day during weekends."

Raup's little daughter Ida comes along with her mother every day. She also enjoys the fair, like Raup used to as a boy, and loves to look at the attractions and many dolls which she cannot ask her parents to buy. (cst)