seen on the scene
Indonesian Culinary Festival 2016
The Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with the Indonesian community in Houston hosted
the culinary promotion of the Indonesia’s archipelago named
“Indonesian Culinary Festival 2016”. It was held on November 5, 2016 at the Indonesian Consulate General and was attended by over 2,500 visitors. The festival was also attended
by some Consuls General in Houston.
The objective of the “Indonesian Culinary Festival 2016” is
to promote the Indonesia’s culinary delicacies to be better
known and loved by the people of Houston and its surrounding areas. In addition to the culinary promotion, the festival
also aims to introduce the diversity and the richness of Indonesian cultures from all regions in Indonesia as well as to
promote tourism destinations in Indonesia.
Consul General Henk Edward Saroinsong’s opening remarks
mentioned that this is the third annual culinary festival since
it was first held in 2014 and will continuously carry on every
year as part of Indonesia promotional event.
There were approximately more than 100 Indonesian food
menus served in 32 booths, which consists of four zones
islands, namely Java Zone, Sumatra Zone, Kalimantan and
Sulawesi zone, and Sunda Kecil, Bali and Papua Zone. Many
visitors were queuing to buy food especially the most popular one from Sumatra province such as rendang, nasi kapau,
fried noodles, satay Padang and Martabak. Other food such
as tempeh (soy bean cake) and also the rare one from Sulawesi and Bali Provinces which can be found only at this
festival were sold out such as ice palu butung, chicken taliwang complete with the famous plecing kangkung. Besides
16 iF Magazine | DECEMBER 2016
the culinary promotion, there were also 8 booths which promote and sell products of batik clothing and handicrafts.
The festival was enlivened by a number of musical performances and dances from all over the archipelago by the Indonesian communities in Houston, including the rhythm of
dangdut music and two of the popular line dance of “Gemufamire” (NTT) and “Poco-Poco” (North Sulawesi) which
invites attendees dancing together. The festival also has its
own charm with a display of Fashion Show of Indonesian
traditional clothes presented by Indonesian-American children and Indonesian Food Photo Contest that was conducted
during the event. For Indonesian food photo contest, we encouraged the visitors to upload photos into their Facebook
timeline with the hashtag #indonesiaculinaryfesthouston.
The winners were awarded by numerous gift cards. One of
the MCs is Gabe Bierwirth, a quite popular YouTuber from
Dallas, Texas.
Executive Committee Houston Citizenship of the Month, Sam
Merchant, in his remarks expressed his appreciation to the
Consulate General for organizing the “Indonesian Culinary
Festival 2016”. Furthermore, November has been designated as “Citizenship of the Month” and this festival has beco me one of the major events that celebrate the diversity of
Houston society that upholds multiculturalism. Aside from
promoting the culinary and culture of Indonesia, this annual
festival is also a charity fundraiser. The food vendor proceeds
partly of their profit to be donated to the Indonesian children
with disabilities, homeless children, and children who require
aid for education in East Nusa Tenggara.