Photo by JP/Deanna Ramsay
Amid the decline of local kecap manis producers throughout Indonesia, one is tempted to think the sauce’s Jakarta story has already been written.
The Soyinfo Center, a repository of information on soy foods and soybeans, says on its website, “In 1978 Indonesia’s first large, modern soy sauce plant was established in Jakarta.”
It goes on to say that the plant used “defatted soybean flakes and cracked wheat” instead of the usual whole soybeans sans wheat.
And, while a Probolinggo kecap manis claims to be the oldest of its kind in the country, established by Ong Tjien Boen in 1888, Jakarta, as home to kecap’s modernization — and what some argue its decline — has retained its own, homegrown varieties as well.
Andrew Mulianto, a food enthusiast and kecap manis collector, said Jl. Salemba in Central Jakarta has a kecap manis that cannot be found outside the area.
“It is only sold at the Salemba market,” he said.
In an article titled “Kecap Manis: The culinary heritage of the archipelago”, renowned Indonesian food aficionado Bondan Winarno wrote, “In the area around Jakarta’s Chinatown there is a favorite brand of kecap manis, Jembatan, that enthusiasts hunt down. The brand is still produced as a home industry, but there is no guarantee how much longer it will last.”
Andrew can also rally off a number of other stories of kecap manis in the city, from one of the best soto Betawi places that used to use a local kecap but switched to Bango and was never the same, to a stall in Tanah Tinggi that uses a kecap from the neighborhood to delicious ends.
The days may have passed when kecap manis Korma dominated the city’s sate ayam carts and kecap Gunung Cabe its wartegs. But, there is a ray of hope, as even on Jakarta’s cosmopolitan streets — which turned kecap manis into an industry — local kecap producers have managed to persevere.
— JP/Deanna Ramsay
