|
Indonesian cuisine has been influenced
by the history of incursions, invasions, colonization and conversions
by foreigners from as early as the first century A.D. The first
foreign visitor presumably came from China and India for trade and
commerce. Both the Chinese and the Hindus came and settled on the main
Indonesia islands, bringing with them their traditions, cultures and
cuisines. In the area of cuisines, the Indonesians adopted the
practice of cooking their dishes in coconut milk from the Hindu
cuisine and from the Chinese they learnt the technique of stir-frying
and the eating of noodles. But they stuck to their own tradition of
flavoring and spicing their food. These three traditional ways of
cooking co-existed peacefully, learning from one another until the
arrival of The Arabs in the 13th century. They came to trade and
convert the Indonesians to Islam. This has resulted in much of
Indonesians culinary history being bound by Islamic dietary law.
The followers of Hinduism who resisted
Islamic conversions established themselves in Bali and maintained
their rich culinary practice of Indian cooking which encouraged the
use of spices and the making of relishes and pickles. The famous Java
curry is distinguished from all other curry mixture by it mildness.
|