'Ketupat' business booming ahead of Idul Fitri in Bandung

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Celebrating Idul Fitri (Lebaran) without ketupat (rice cake) is like eating vegetables without salt, according to Nina, 32, a housewife in the northern part of Bandung. The steamed rice cake has indeed been part of the Idul Fitri tradition for years.

Knowing that the rice cake is an integral part of Idul Fitri, Nina voluntarily jostled with other housewives to obtain the rice cake in a market a few days before Idul Fitri. She has been serving keputat at Lebaran for the last 10 years, or since she first married.

This time, she bought recently two bundles of ketupat, each consisting of five ketupat.

"If there is no ketupat, my children will demand it. We have served it for years during Idul Fitri and they won't go without," said Nina.

The tradition is certainly followed by millions of households in West Java.

The mounting demand for ketupat ahead of Idul Fitri has been a blessing for hundreds of ketupat makers living in Kupat Block, Babakan Ciparray area in North Bandung.

Most of family in the block have been working as ketupat makers for years, one of whom is Muchtar, 54.

Muchtar and his wife Rochayati, 50, produce ketupat every day and sell it to satay or tofu ketupat vendors in the city.

But, four days before Idul Fitri, the demand for ketupat jumped almost 10 fold so he had to hire three other people to make it. On normal days, he can sell 2,000 ketupat in a week, but ahead of Idul Fitri he can sell some 7,000 ketupat every two days.

The price is also different. On normal days, he sells ketupat for Rp 40 each, but during Idul Fitri he sells it for Rp 200 each, or five times the normal price.

Muchtar said that ketupat making has been carried out from one generation to another.

"When I was born 54 years ago, my block was already known as the Ketupat Block. My father, mother and grandfather used to be ketupat makers too," said Muchtar.

The revenue is not bad. Muchtar can make decent living. He owns a motorcycle and a modest house.

All members of Muchtar's family are involved in the ketupat business. His wife Rochayati and children produce the rice cake, while he distributes and sells the products to various places in Bandung.

All people in the block are apparently involved in the business. Even Amin, 37, a public transportation driver, who is from Purwokerto in Central Java but is married to a woman in Ketupat Block pitches in to help sell ketupat.

He said that he had to abandon his job ahead of Idul Fitri and help his father-in-law sell ketupat.

Eep Saepuddin, the chief of Ketupat Block neighborhood, said that there were some 100 houses in the block, and most of them were involved in the ketupat business.

Half of them produce it on a daily basis.

However, the business is currently facing a threat from producers from Tasikmalaya and Cianjur. Aware that the ketupat business is promising, many ketupat makers from those places have flocked to Bandung to try their luck.

"We are not afraid of tight competition. We have been in this business for years and we have survived many challenges.

We are optimistic that the business will still be promising in the years ahead, moreover there are more and more satay and tofu ketupat vendors coming to the city to earn a living," said Eep.