Narrow outlook

Narrow outlook

Reading the letter entitled Back to traditional food (The
Jakarta Post, Nov. 16, 1995), I think that the writer (name
withheld) is narrow-minded. The "back to basics" program in terms
of food should be seen in a broader meaning, instead of only
literally interpreted.

I think the program is mainly directed toward the younger
generation, who live in larger cities. With various foreign food
outlets mushrooming (with their prestigious attributes) many
young people have little chance to know the rich variety of our
traditional food.

I also like eating foreign food, but as I eat new varieties of
food in Ujung Pandang (I moved to this town quite recently for my
new assignment) I increasingly realized how rich the traditional
food is. It is to be lamented if society does not realize this
reality.

Your suggestion that we should stop using such things as the
telephone, television, computer and so on, is the most nonsense I
have ever heard in my life. To use your logic, you should stop
reading newspapers, which were a foreign invention.

MUHAMMAD ARIEF

Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi