Sundanese have a fondness for raw vegetables

By HU Suriawiria

BANDUNG (JP): The Sundanese are known for their fondness for lalab (raw vegetables) with lunch or dinner. Raw vegetables are consumed not only by local villagers, but also by those who have migrated to other places.

Cep Didi, a senior officer at a foreign bank in Jakarta, often has lunch at exclusive restaurants. But once a week he eats at a Sundanese restaurant, either in Jakarta or outside the city like in Bogor, Cianjur or Bandung.

The lalab served in Sundanese restaurants usually consists of 10 to 12 vegetables, such as mentimun (cucumber), terung (egg plant), selada air (watercress), kemangi (a type of basil) and kacang panjang (string beans). Other vegetables consumed in Sundanese households apart from the above mentioned are eceng (water hyacinth), pohpohan, putat, lampeni, the leaf of jambu mede (cashew nut) tree, genjer, jengkol and petai (large broad bean).

Lalab is an inseparable part of Sundanese tradition, life and culture. In the past, lalab was only consumed by Sundanese in the village, but now it is available in any Sundanese restaurant as well as in other restaurants serving traditional food, such as Padang restaurants.

Lalab, comprising leaves, shoots, young fruit or plant seeds, is rich in fiber, minerals and vitamins. Consuming lalab is in accordance with WHO's program of back to nature.

For Indonesians, particularly the Sundanese, lalab is just like salad is to Westerners.

Lalab can be obtained from generally cultivated plants and wild plants. Ingredients grow not only on the farm, in paddy fields, forests or mountains, but also in family yards or even a city garden.

Ingredients can be obtained from a tree like jengkol and petai, a shrub like ketepeng, hiris, terong and herbs like antanan, gewor, jotang. Their roots, stem, leaves, flower and fruits, can be consumed as lalab.

Therefore lalab may be in the form of shoots, young leaves, stem and leaf, fluorescence young fruit, seeds as well as adventitous shoots. Even some rhizome shoots and tubers can be consumed as lalab.

In some cases whole plants, such as antanan, from the root, shoot and leaves to flower and fruit can be eaten as lalab.

Shoot, young leaves

Shoots and young leaves are the most common part of the plant eaten as lalab. These parts are probably the most easiest eaten and digested compared to other parts.

It is believed that shoots and young leaves contain nutritious elements required for health and fitness. Therefore, many of them are used in cosmetics to promote smooth skin and a youthful look.

It has been suggested that shoots and young leaves in lalab are not cooked because they contain no toxic substances. If they are cooked, either steamed or boiled, they would likely lose some or all of their nutritious elements.

There are about 50 species of shoots and young leaves which can be eaten as lalab, such as selada air, tespong, kangkung (water spinach), singkong (cassava), kedondong-cina (Spanish plum), jotang, jonge, putat and pohpohan.

Flower, inflorescences

The flower is an important part of the plant and comes in many scents and colors like white, yellow, purple, red and blue

Flowers have pollen for pollination to produce fruit. Pollen is also important for bees to produce honey. Honey is used as a medicine, as a nutritious drink or as a component for cosmetics.

There are some 15 plants whose flower and inflorescences can be eaten as lalab. Among them are kecombrang, papaya, leunca, surawung, roay, singkong, labu-air, and labu-besar, to sintrong, senggang and takokak.

Young fruit

Young fruit may be less nutritious than ripened fruit, but many people like to eat young fruit as lalab.

Young fruit has interesting colors and different tastes, it is easier to digest and softer than ripened fruit.

There are about 17 species of plants of which young fruit can be consumed as lalab, such as ketimun, mengkudu, hiris, papaya, jaat (kecipir) and roay. Even jengkol, either young or mature, is the favorite of many people. The seed of the jengkol fruit is usually eaten with chili sauce. Some people, however, might have difficulty in urinating if they are not in good health when eating jengkol.

Ripe fruits and seeds

Ripe fruits and seeds are more nutritious, especially in the content of vitamins and minerals, than young fruit.

Cooked or uncooked ripe fruits can be consumed as lalab, such as the seed of hiris, petai, petai-cina, roay, kecipir and jengkol.

There are about seven species of plants of which the ripe fruits and seeds can be consumed as lalab.

Shoot or tuber

Shoots, such as the bamboo shoot, is consumed as lalab or cooked in a soup. There are about five species of shoots that can be eaten as lalab, like rebung bambu (bamboo shoots).

Tubers like kencur and kunci can also be eaten as lalab.

Skin of fruit and tuber

Usually the skin of fruit, stem or tuber are discarded or processed into animal feed. However, the skin of some fruits or tubers can also be consumed as lalab, such as the skin of certain bananas, like pisang nangka or pisang tanduk. It is usually steamed or fried with the fruit before being consumed. The banana skins can be consumed as lalab, like the skin of singkong tuber.

The writer is a senior lecturer of biotechnology at Bandung Institute of Technology.