Traditional markets bloom during Ramadhan

Traditional markets bloom during Ramadhan

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

If you get tired with breaking of the menus at hotels, try some
of the fare from seasonal markets in Kauman, Yogyakarta.

About 70 vendors line up along the small road, which is three
meters wide and 750 meters long, located at the west of the North
Square of the Yogyakarta Palace.

They sell various kinds of traditional snacks and dishes to
break the fast for as low as Rp 500 (about 6 U.S. cents) to Rp
5,000.

Among them are kolak (fruits stewed with brown palm sugar),
fruit cocktails and fried tofu and tempeh, which are widely
available in many other parts of the country.

But there are also certain kinds of snacks that are not easily
found outside Yogyakarta, such as kicak (sticky rice with sugar
and wrapped in banana leaves) and rondo royal (fried fermented
cassavas served with milk). Food from many nearby villages are
also on offer.

This market, however, only appear during Ramadhan.

"In short, any kind of food is available here," said Wono, a
73-year-old grandmother who has run the business in the alley for
40 years.

The vendors are mostly the residents of Kauman. Before the
beginning of the holy month, they usually met to discuss how they
should run the seasonal market.

"We only sell the food during the fasting month. At other
times, the alley is deserted. Only pedestrians who want to go to
work pass this alley," she said, adding that cars were not
allowed to use the small road.

The old lady looks fragile, with her curved backbone and her
swaying arms and feet, but she serves many buyers who crowd
around her table, where she put her food, with high spirit.

She had prepared the food from 7 a.m. and finished at about
noon. She started to sell the snacks from 2 p.m. until around 7
p.m., when people get ready for the tarawih (Ramadhan's evening
prayer).

Another vendor, Endang, 32, said that she runs the business at
Kauman to preserve the family tradition.

"Ever since I was born, the seasonal market has been there,"
said Endang, who sells various kinds of dishes as well as
vegetables and fruits.

For her menu, she usually buys five kilograms of lele
(catfish), 2.5 kilograms of chicken legs, 2.5 kilogram of chicken
breasts and 3 kilograms of shrimps for the food every day.

"The daily turnover is between Rp 300,000 and Rp 500,000. The
profit is about Rp 150,000 or Rp 200,000 (if all of the food is
sold). But it is not certain, if it rains, I can only sell half
of the food or a little bit more than that," she said.

She said that in the beginning, Rp 1 million was prepared as
the capital. But later on, more money was injected as there was a
need to sell more kinds of food.

"We usually collected the money among our family and
relatives," she said.

The traditional food at Kauman, which is prepared using
original recipes, always lures many visitors. The vendors set
their tables to occupy half of the road and hundreds of visitors
from various parts of the town crowd the area every afternoon.

"I don't know why, but the kicak sold on Jl. Solo or in other
places doesn't taste as good as the one sold here," said Frida,
27, a regular customer who lives on Jl. Tamansiswa.

According to Hadiwinoto, the half-brother of Yogyakarta's
Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the seasonal market in Kauman relates to
the history of the Great Mosque (Masjid Gedhe), built in 1773.

The 2,578 square meter mosque that was designed by
Wirjakusuma, is a historical building in Yogyakarta. At the
southern end of the mosque, there is a door that connects the
mosque compound and the road heading to Kauman and the alley
where the seasonal market is held.

Besides Kauman, there are also other places where people open
seasonal markets during Ramadhan. Among the popular spots are
along Jl. Kaliurang, near the campus of the University of Gadjah
Mada, and along Jl. Kusumanegara.

Unlike the one in Kauman, the seasonal markets along Jl.
Kaliurang and Jl. Kusumanegara are not set up by tradition. Many
of the vendors are students, who sell the food just for fun.

"For me, making a profit is number two. The most important
thing is that we have fun here. We can sell the food and hang
around," said Novi, a student of a private academy.

Novi and her five friends chipped in Rp 40,000 each as capital
to sell kolak and banana ice cream on Jl. Kaliurang. They do not
need a table to run the business as they sell them from a blue
Toyota Twin Cam Corolla sedan belonging to one of Novi's business
partners.

"We do it just to kill time. If we make money, that's good.
Otherwise, it's just fine. What's important is the fun," said
Yongki, the car owner.

The five of them take turns buying the material at the market.
They usually buy a stock that can last three days so that they do
not have to go shopping every day.

"We don't sell many. Only between 25 and 40 portions. Before
we bring them here, we put them in the refrigerator so that they
taste better," said Novi, who was born in Pontianak, West
Kalimantan, 20 years ago.

"Do you want to buy it? It's cheap. Only Rp 2,000 each," she
said.