Rijstafel: finding enough room for all those dishes

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The use of exotic ingredients or the adoption of certain cooking techniques are just a few of the many foreign influences that have enriched Indonesian cuisine.

Another such influence is seen in rijstafel where common one- meal dishes have been transformed, with ceremony and formality, into a pompous, colonial-style feast.

The word rijstafel is the Dutch term for rice table, but the hours-long feast is not as straightforward or uncomplicated as the word might imply. It was created to demonstrate the affluence of the Dutch and the luxurious lifestyle that they led during the colonial era.

"It (the feast) was not at all about flavors since the ambience, the ceremony and the service was more important," noted historian Ong Hok Ham explained.

The classic style rijstafel ceremony involved the serving of up to 40 different, almost exclusively Javanese dishes, by 40 jongos (male waiters), bare-footed but dressed in formal white uniforms with blangkon (traditional Javanese caps) on their heads and batik cloth around their waists.

There are few records of these lavish feasts but it is believed that the ceremony was created sometime between the late 1800s and early 1900s and may have been inspired by Javanese court practices, where servants were trained to loyally serve the royal family and citizens were obliged to pay upeti (tax in the form of goods, edibles or harvest, among others). Thus, food was often plentiful and served in a meticulous manner.

"Perhaps inspired by this practice, the Dutch landlords of plantations in Central and East Java adopted it in their dining rooms and this colonial-style feast was created," Ong said.

"Besides, where else but in Javanese plantations could Dutch landlords hire cheap coolies (unskilled laborers) to be trained as waiters to serve rijstafel. This is also the reason why rijstafel dishes were almost exclusively Javanese."

For the ceremony, all of the dishes were freshly prepared, the dining table was dressed with a clean, crisp cloth and each diner sat in front of a large plate with a few smaller dishes to its side.

Each dish was elegantly presented on a silver tray and served to the landlords by jongos who would scoop rice onto the main plate and other hot dishes onto the smaller plates.

The first item to be served was steaming hot plain rice, followed by soup and then came the rest of the dishes, including sambal goreng (originally a hot spicy dish but the spiciness was toned down for the Dutch palate) and Dutch/Portuguese influenced semur (mildly sweet chicken/beef dish).

Also on the menu were chicken, beef and vegetable dishes, prepared using various spices and traditional cooking techniques. The feast ended with several Dutch desserts and assorted fruit.

The extensive feast dwarfed the one-dish Javanese meals which were usually eaten by hand. The Dutch ate with a spoon and fork and washed down the food with ice-cold beer.

The way in which the feast was conducted was an attempt to satisfy the occasional cravings of Dutch landlords or officials for local dishes. "And when they had this craving for local food, they wanted to try everything at once," explained the senior historian.

Even though the meals were extensive there were three must- have items, namely pisang goreng (fried banana), serundeng (crisp, shredded coconut dish seasoned with various spices and cooked with either chicken, beef, fish or shrimp) and telor ceplok (fried egg). These were never absent from an authentic rijstafel menu.

"Fried banana and serundeng were considered to be authentic Javanese delicacies, so they represented local flavors, while the fried egg was well liked by the Dutch and part of their popular diet."

According to Ong, the inclusion of fried banana in the menu was said to have created local uneasiness. The prince of Surakarta once complained about the Dutch's fondness for the fruit, which because of its abundant supply throughout the year, was considered inferior to seasonal mango, rambutan, or salak (snake fruit).

"Besides Indonesians are not used to eating fruit with rice, for them, it's weird," said Ong. Incidentally, Ong's personal belief is that at the end of such an extensive meal the diner ought to feel confused, rather than culinary delight.

During the colonial era, rijstafel was served for one or two diners or a small group of people for lunch or dinner. Sometimes, biefstuk (filet mignon) was served after rijstafel and for the Dutch, the steak was the real main dish, while the rijstafel was considered a mere appetizer.

From Central Java, the popularity of this lavish feast soon spread to Jakarta and the feast was also adopted by rich locals and immigrants for special occasions with the numbers of dishes cut down to around six or nine courses and largely foreign- influenced.

At that time, rijstafel was also served in hotels and on passenger ships linking the Netherlands with Indonesia, before it started to disappear from the country's culinary scene around the mid 1940s when the Japanese came to Indonesia.

"During its glory days, Hotel des Indes (which used to stand on what is currently the Duta Merlin complex in Central Jakarta) served a formal colonial style rijstafel for its Sunday brunch," he recalled.

The old hotel also served to popularize rijstafel in other countries.

Now, there is probably only one place left in the capital, the Oasis restaurant, on Jl. Raden Saleh Raya, Central Jakarta, where the formal rijstafel ceremony is still performed. Rows of waitresses greet diners amid an old-fashioned, stylish interior.

The restaurant, within a building which was once the residence of the last Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, serves a 12-dish-rijstafel -- no longer exclusively Javanese but still including serundeng and deep fried bananas.

All dishes, according to general manager Oom Mucharam Endi, are prepared based on old recipes and with the use of old cooking utensils and traditional cooking methods.

The dishes are presented using old porcelain and tableware. However, each dish is served by a female waitresses wearing the elegant combination of kebaya (traditional Javanese blouse) with batik skirt and not by male jongos in white uniforms.

Since rijstafel is all about opulence and ceremony, serving rice with several traditional dishes without the appropriate ambience, formal service and scores of serving-staff simply does not make the grade.

"Now a few hotels, restaurants and passenger ships claim to serve rijstafel but theirs are not authentic, just a fake version of the ceremony," the historian said.