Ours is the most delicious, isn’t it?

Just a few days ago, I stood in one of the booths of an international education fair in my city, Malang. Some of the favorite graduate school programs that people always asked for were fashion and cooking. Just in recent months, I realized that cuisine shows on TV were peaking in popularity. The culinary frenzy might be part of the euphoria of the TV shows.

Let’s say I consider this good news for our life style; the people, at least, have an alternative entertainment other than the political turmoil in Indonesia. Yet, I also consider this as a big question: Then, why do people prefer to study overseas just to learn culinary?

I am not saying that studying overseas is not good, but I am so surprised that almost all aspects of our life are always referred to those abroad, including the culinary and chef profession.

Take a look at the recent news that CNN released the readers’ choice that rendang, one of Indonesia’s traditional foods from Padang, was dubbed the most delicious food on Earth, while nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) was ranked second.

When the world has acknowledged that Indonesian food is the best on Earth, why do people continue to be proud of seeking education overseas just to learn cuisine?

The food business and chef professions in Indonesia are still dominated by foreigners, who do not know the real Indonesian traditional food ingredients. Let’s say they have competence in cooking, but they do not know the taste of local recipes. Let’s say they have assets and investments, but the fact is that the “pirating” of some traditional recipes is imminent and inevitable.

As a result, it is not surprising if the taste of Indonesian traditional food in “high class” or modern restaurants is not better than those at the traditional vendors or food stalls. That might be the reason why our notable culinary expert Bondan Winarno prefers to visit traditional vendors to taste the “original” recipes of our best culinary.

I do not want to blame the expats; but they should bring their Italian, American, Oriental and other recipes to Indonesia instead — and develop them here to make the culinary a lucrative business in this world’s fourth-biggest country by population.

But in this case, I just want to question why we don’t establish our own culinary schools to preserve our cultural heritage? Due to the high demand and the culinary show frenzy, this is the opportunity for the government and also local investors to build our own local culinary schools or invest in such schools. It is true that we have a limited number of culinary schools. In Indonesia, based on SWA magazine research, there are only 17 culinary schools and 12 universities that provide culinary majors.

Worse, those culinary schools do not focus on Indonesian traditional food recipes. The number of culinary schools in Indonesia is far lower than the number of Indonesian traditional recipes from Aceh to Papua.

Vocational schools, as a government program, should be prioritized to produce more chefs with local tastes. There should be a pride of learning cooking, especially Indonesian traditional food, in our own country.

Let’s become the barometer of international culinary while at the same time acknowledges the quality of international education in other fields like economics, science and also engineering. If only in food, we can be leaders. After all, ours is the most delicious, isn’t it?

*Published on The Jakarta Post