WWF urges public to take pride in consuming local food

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The environmental organisation World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is inviting various stakeholders, including the public, private sector, and government, to collaborate in promoting local foods as a form of pride in Indonesia’s natural wealth. “We also see that strong collaboration is needed from the government, but also from the private sector, including business and industrial companies, on how to promote and foster the public’s love for consuming other local foods,” said WWF Business Engagement and Development Specialist Samuel Pablo Pareira during a discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday. Pablo emphasised that the issue of local foods, which are currently a secondary choice for the general public, is related to supply and demand as well as marketing. The perception of local foods as uncool or rustic requires promotion and campaigns to highlight the values of pride in the food wealth of each region in Indonesia. He identified two issues related to the utilisation of local foods: first, consumption patterns in rural areas and consumption patterns in urban areas. Rural communities are expected to take pride in and maintain existing consumption patterns, for example, people in the NTT region who consume sorghum as a carbohydrate source. Meanwhile, in urban areas, Pablo said, the introduction of local foods can be done by partnering with the retail industry to introduce local foods so that consumption is not solely of ultra-processed foods. On the same occasion, food and environment influencer Manik Nur Hidayati promoted various local Indonesian foods through educational content. According to her, this is an effort to foster pride in Indonesia’s native food wealth. In addition, she said, the nutrition of native Indonesian foods is diverse and can meet the balanced nutrition meal portion guidelines recommended by the Ministry of Health in “Isi Piringku”.