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Om Peuyeum Bendul Om: How Purwakarta is promoting its classic food
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urwakarta's regent, Dedi Mulyadi, is capitalizing on the ongoing viral popularity of the "Om Telolet Om" social media trend to promote one of his regency's most popular traditional foods, tape.
Tape, sometimes referred to as "peuyeum", is a fermented dish that originates from the Bendul area of Purwakarta, West Java. It is typically made from cassava and is often sweet or sour in taste.
On Dec. 26, Dedi worked together with local tape sellers to greet buses passing by along the Purwakarta-Padalarang stretch of road with banners that said "Om Peuyeum Om" and "Om Peuyeum Bendul Om", much like how the children in the famous social media video greeted bus and truck drivers with yells of "Om Telolet Om".
Traffic on this road has been on the rise as of late. A crack was discovered on the Cisomang Bridge. As a result, traffic had to be diverted away from that place, which meant that buses and vehicles going through that area had to take another route.
"Yes, we are helping to promote peuyeum. Traffic has become crowded here because road users have to use this old route," Dedi said.
One tape seller, 35-year-old Hadi, felt that this traffic diversion was a blessing. Normally he would typically only sell 70 to 80 kilograms of tape daily. But now, thanks to increased traffic, he can sell well over 100 kilograms per day.
"Ever since Cisomang Bridge was damaged, a lot of people from places as far and wide as Jambi and Lampung have stopped by to buy up my tape. Thank God, my revenue has increased. I can even sell 100 kilograms per day now," Hadi said.
Sukatani village chief Asep Sumarna was also there during this improvised Dec. 26 event. He said that there were 171 tape sellers in Sukatani that make a living selling tape along the Purwakarta-Padalarang road.
In order to further increase tape sales, the village is currently planning to improve local infrastructure to help its tape producers.
"Our way of growing tape is still traditional, but these changes will be good for increasing tourism and improving revenue. In the future, as per the instructions of the regent, we will change our tape production methods, including changing the store buildings of the tape sellers," Asep said.
