Tumpeng, pronounced ‘toom-puhng’, is a conventional Javanese dish comprised of cone-shaped rice, both made from turmeric, coconut milk, or plain white rice, with quite a lot of aspect dishes surrounding it. The selection of aspect dishes are non-obligatory, however essentially the most commonly-served ones embody a shredded omelet or a boiled egg sambal, turmeric-spiced rooster, fried anchovies, and stir-fry or blanched veggies.
Rising up in each Indonesia and Oklahoma, my mom would all the time ensure that via no matter celebration we had been going to have, Indonesian meals can be current. This was much more true after we determined to maneuver to Oklahoma indefinitely. My mom would all the time say, “a meal isn’t a meal with out rice or sambal,” and most instances I’d assume it was as a result of her palate was merely extra used to what she had again in Indonesia. However as I grew older, I noticed that her dedication to serving Indonesian meals at household gatherings far transcended what she had rising up. It was, in essence, a approach for all of us to attach with and honor our tradition and its wealthy historical past.
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You see, nourishing oneself is a righteous act of self love—and never simply within the dietary sense. I’ve all the time thought that meals in wellness was about consuming the healthiest dishes and selecting what we might label as “good for you,” however because it seems, it is really about recognizing its value to ourselves and to our communities. At this time, once I take into consideration the phrase “nourishing,” I’ve come to contemplate the complicated and deeply vital ways in which meals is usually a supply of connection to my id and to my tradition.
And that’s the place tumpeng is available in. It’s not nearly cooking a particular meal for a big celebration: Serving tumpeng, for me, is a chance to introduce new palates to the prized Indonesian flavors, delicacies, and tradition I’ve beloved for my complete life. However extra importantly, it is a reminder of life in my nation—it is about coming dwelling.
Serving tumpeng as a celebratory meal
For a lot of Indonesians comparable to myself, no celebration goes by with out serving the oldest and most conventional Javanese dish: tumpeng. The gorgeous unfold of boiled egg sambal, stir-fry bean sprouts and tempeh, spiced grilled rooster, and extra all surrounding a cone-shaped rice is, in my thoughts, pure pleasure.
Very similar to how birthdays aren’t simply birthdays till we blow the candles and reduce the cake, the identical goes with any occasion that serves tumpeng: Everybody gathers across the eating desk, admiring the colourful array of meals unfold throughout, with the conical turmeric rice centered within the center. The host or principal particular person of the occasion stands subsequent to the meal, able to serve the dish by reducing the rice historically from the underside (or extra generally these days, from the highest).
Serving tumpeng throughout the largest milestones in life was an enormous blessing for me and my group, particularly in Oklahoma. Many Indonesians there immigrated throughout the late ’90s, with practically three many years handed since they left Indonesia.
The philosophical which means behind tumpeng
Meals serves as extra than simply gas for our our bodies, it turns into a reminiscence, a retelling of a narrative, connecting us to historical past, and bringing folks collectively in monumental methods. And once I requested myself why can we serve tumpeng precisely, I discovered that that meal had its personal story to inform.
When all of the aspect substances come collectively, they characterize greater than only a stunning show of meals. Tales and cultures have come and gone and altered all through generations, however traditionally from what we all know, every a part of the tumpeng represents a part of our self-growth:
- Cone-shaped rice as Mount Mahameru. The bottom of this conventional Javanese dish, rice, is taken into account each a staple to an on a regular basis Indonesian meal and a sacred ingredient in Hindu perception. Whether or not it is plain white, turmeric yellow, or coconut milk rice, the best way the rice is molded is believed to characterize the legendary Mount Mahameru, a golden mountain that when served as a sanctuary for gods. In Indonesian tradition, this symbolizes the notion that the tip of the rice is of upper being, and that as people all of us begin from the underside, navigating via life as we aspire to be enlightened and higher than the place we at the moment are—or to easily be nearer to our increased religious beliefs.
- Rooster and eggs characterize land animals. Turmeric-spiced rooster and boiled eggs with sambal are the 2 commonest aspect dishes in Indonesian delicacies. Rooster is, funnily sufficient, stated to characterize the ‘bad qualities’ of humans. By serving rooster, we take the time to acknowledge our errors and be higher from it.
- Anchovies characterize sea/water animals. Deliciously stir-fried with peanuts, spices, and chili, anchovies are identified to swim in teams within the ocean. They characterize togetherness in society, very like how tumpeng encourages us to come back collectively and have fun.
- Tempeh, tofu, bean sprouts and extra characterize the ‘plant kingdom.’ Virtually each Indonesian meal has some type of vegetable in it, cooked in quite a lot of methods. In tumpeng, greens comparable to tempeh and bean sprouts provide the concept of self-growth; a chance to mirror and be at peace with ourselves.
Thus, when all these dishes come collectively, they don’t simply create a vibrant show of a meal, they characterize our tradition. All these aspect dishes characterize a unique sort of being in our ecosystem, the identical will be stated about society—all of us come from totally different backgrounds, however we coexist all collectively. And that’s really what our national motto in Indonesia is: Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (“unity in range”). The identical will be stated of any society.
How tumpeng helped me join with my tradition
As an Indonesian-American who spent most of her childhood in Jakarta after which moved on to stay within the States, there are occasions the place I really feel like I’m dropping my Indonesian id. My mother would tease me and my sister usually, saying that we’re “too American,” that we’re dropping our fluency in Bahasa Indonesia, that we would favor to drink espresso as an alternative of jamu, and that we’ve grown from consuming meals with rice to meals with bread.
I could have adjusted to life within the U.S., and I do at instances really feel as if I don’t relate to the particular person I used to be once I lived in Indonesia. However I’ve grown. And very like how tumpeng represents a type of self-growth, I perceive that as I get older, I could not really feel like I relate to the typical Indonesian—however that doesn’t imply my love for my tradition and heritage stopped. Serving Indonesian meals, tumpeng most particularly, is all the time the spotlight of particular events and milestones.
It didn’t matter if it was a birthday, commencement, Indonesia’s independence day, or only a festive night when my household was internet hosting company for dinner: Having that golden cone-shaped rice sit neatly on our eating desk as we gathered round with family members from quite a lot of backgrounds and cultures made us understand that that is what we take pleasure in most in life. We have fun who we had been then and who we at the moment are with the folks we love, as a result of very like the anchovies which are all the time served shut collectively and very like the bean sprouts that by no means stop to develop, we too be taught to like our tradition irrespective of the place we’re. And that’s how the symbolic which means behind this conventional Javanese dish helped me be in tune with the Indonesian aspect of myself.
