Lampung's snacks: Cultural interchange

Lampung's snacks: Cultural interchange

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post/Bandarlampung

Forty-year-old Tuminah served her customers, who were buying
snacks to break the fast, as quickly as she was able.

From dusk until late evening the food stall on Jl. Sriwijaya
near Saburai Square in Enggal, here was busy.

The holy month of Ramadhan is indeed a blessing for this
resident of Sawah Brebes village, Tanjungkarang Pusat, here
who has run an afternoon snack stall during Ramadhan for the past
five years. Her two high-school age children help in the
business.

"Income was fairly high in previous years. I could recover my
Rp 200,000 capital daily, with a net profit of Rp 100,000 to Rp
150,000 on average. Now, with capital of Rp 400,000,
it took three afternoons to break even. The increased cost of
basic goods has reduced my profit, though business is brisk,"
said Tuminah.

This year, Tuminah's net profit is about Rp 50,000 daily after
various deductions, including paying her children Rp 7,000 to Rp
10,000 a day.

"What I earn is enough for Idul Fitri, I'm not thinking beyond
that, while the prices of basic goods are soaring," she added.

She rents her roofed stall for Rp 18,000 a day. A partially
roofed stall is Rp 9,000 but that means getting soaked if it
rains. Besides which, vendors pay Rp 2,000 to Rp 2,500 each for
cleaning services and security.

Elderly people in the area say centuries ago people had
congregated in the area to buy snacks for breaking the fast.

"My parents say it was already a place where Javanese,
Sumatran and Malay cultures merged, long before the birth of
Indonesia," said Isbedy Stiawan ZS, a Lampung cultural observer.

According to Isbedy, the cultural interchange through the
traditional market has enabled ethnic groups in Lampung to learn
from each other and tolerate differences. That is why Lampung,
known as a mini-Indonesia for its multi-ethnic population, has
never seen any significant conflict.

"In the past, Sumatra was indeed under the power of Java's
Majapahit kingdom. But after the Nusantara archipelago became
Indonesia, the people of Sumatra remained open to the Javanese
and settlers from other regions. So it has been up to the
present," noted Isbedy.

When the fasting month arrives, Saburai changes into a
people's food center. On the sidewalks of Jl. Sriwijaya and Jl.
Hayamwuruk -- the two roads on both sides of Saburai and Merah
Enggal squares, Bandarlampung -- tarpaulin roofs span a distance
of about 500 meters, under which some 200 food sellers offer
snacks and dishes.

As the names of the roads suggest -- Sriwijaya (Sumatra) and
Hayamwuruk (Java) -- the food available there in fact represents
the cultures of Sumatra and Java. Traditional cakes of both
islands -- usually hard to find -- will be easily obtained in
Saburai during Ramadhan.

Some of those typical of Lampung in the Saburai market are
seruit (chili relish with durian), lapis legit (multi-layered
spice cake), lapis ketan (glutinous rice cake), sekubal
(glutinous rice cooked in bamboo stems) and srikaya (glutinous
rice served with durian relish).

Palembang also offers its specialties and snacks in the
seasonal food center such as pempek (cake made of sago flour and
minced fish), otak-otak (smaller fish snack steamed in banana
leaves), tekwan (soup with sago-flour fish balls) and dodol (soft
fudge).

Java boasts its nagasari (cake made of rice flour, coconut
milk and bananas steamed in banana leaves), wajik (square dessert
of glutinous rice and palm sugar), onde-onde (fried glutinous
rice-flour balls filled with sweet bean paste and coated with
sesame seeds), klepon (small glutinous rice-flour balls filled
with thick palm sugar syrup and rolled in grated coconut), kolak
pisang (compote with bananas stewed in coconut milk and palm
sugar), jenang cadil (taffy made of glutinous rice, coconut milk
and palm sugar) and kolang-kaling (sugar-palm fruits in sugar
syrup).

Padang's main snack at Saburai is kue talam (rice-flour and
coconut milk cake filled with palm sugar) whereas Banten has
bubur lemu (rice flour porridge with palm sugar syrup), jorong,
jongkong, serabi, pasung and apem putih (all being rice flour
cakes).

The drinks offered are mostly from Central Java's Banyumas and
Slawi regencies, including dawet (rice-flour dough blobs in
coconut milk and palm sugar), various cocktails, iced fruits and
young coconut, iced melon-like timun suri and Banten's kolak
radio (compote with different fruits combined).

Some buyers said nearly all prices of snacks had gone up this
year. An iced cocktail in a plastic bag of a quarter of a kilo,
for instance, is sold at Rp 2,500, while it was only Rp 1,500
last year. Kolak pisang and pudding with selasih (a basil
variety), which last year cost Rp 1,000 to Rp 1,500, are now Rp
2,000 to Rp 2,500.

"Everything has become more expensive with the fuel price
increases. We would not make any money without raising the prices
of our snacks," said Sulastri, a vendor of selasih pudding,
kolak, nagasari and various other traditional Javanese cakes and
drinks.

Sulastri acknowledged the higher food prices in the Saburai
market during this Ramadhan but all sellers had priced their
snacks pretty much the same, with customers still crowding the
snack market as in previous years.

"If the price is high and other vendors
offer the same thing for less, our customers will abandon us.
There are hundreds of sellers here so customers have a lot of
food and price alternatives to choose from," added Sulastri.