Indonesia's culinary icons ~ Indo Culinary

One billion tourists have travelled the world in 2012, marking a new record for international tourism, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. Researchers estimates that over a third of global tourist spending is devoted to food

In its Global Report on Food Tourism, the World Tourism Organization describes gastronomic tourism as tourists and visitors who plan their trips partially or totally in order to taste the cuisine of the place or to carry out activities related to gastronomy.

The culinary sector contributes more than 30% of revenues in Indonesia’s creative industries. To tap and develop this emerging market, Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy launched 30 traditional Indonesian culinary icons. These icons represent Indonesian food and beverages ranging from appetizers, main menu, deserts to snack.

Determining the culinary icons was a long iterative process involving culinary connoisseurs, chefs, academicians and food entrepreneurs such as William Wongso, Bondan Winarno and Vindex Tengker. Gathered as a working team organized by the Ministry they began by registering the wealth of traditional culinary culture inherited and its existing situation. The team then went through several stages of selection criteria, including ingredients that are easy to obtain either at home and abroad, nationally recognized food and drink items and professionals known to preserve the items.

The culinary team is responsible to come up with culinary products, documentation, standard, and promotion.

By collaborating with other ministries and the hospitality industry, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative economy will provide more information such as recipes and videos of instructions.

This blog post combines information from several sources including an article at The Jakarta Post: Iconic dishes set the scene for RI culinary tourism.

In listing the culinary choices, Epicurina makes it easier for readers who are not familiar with Indonesian food and drink by identifying food and drink items with Appetizer (A), Main Course (M), Dessert & Drink (D)

The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy provided a press release and pictures of the following culinary icons in alphabetical order, from No. 1 to 15:

1. Asam padeh tongkol Padang

Tuna in hot and sour sauce - main course