Story of food

Asia has become a safe haven for tourists due to its diversity of people and culture. Due to this uniqueness, many believe that Asia is now becoming the new destination for leisure, and even for business.

The ‘gate’ to Asia has opened wider than ever. Stimulated by this condition, many Asian nations are competing against each other by promoting themselves in order to gain more funding from investors.

They are also competing to gain more tourists and acknowledgement from the world.

The most popular way to promote a country is by establishing a Nation Branding while the most popular and common way to start branding a nation is through promoting it as a tourist destination.

However, is this enough? Is tourism indeed the only effective way to brand a nation?

There are many ways to put a nation on the map, the most notable nowadays is through culinary campaigns or the culinary diplomacy.

By promoting its traditional food, each nation tries to introduce its unique delicacies to potential tourists. Indonesia is one of those nations that is currently conducting this campaign.

With the help from culinary experts such as William Wongso, traditional dishes such as rendang are now able to put Indonesia on the map for being a nation with tasty and unique food. Rendang is sitting in first position on CNN’s World 50 Best Foods.

This review will help establishing Indonesia as a culinary destination, thus increasing the brand awareness about Indonesia in the global arena. Travelers or businessmen alike will come to Indonesia to sample and even invest in the Indonesian gastronomy business.

After seeing this achievement, we go back to the first question, is it enough? Is a culinary campaign alone enough to brand a nation?

If we see the main objective in conducting a culinary campaign is still the same, which is to achieve its branding as a tourist destination.

Gastronomic attractions will only give additional excitement and experience for a tourist when visiting the nation, but it will not deliver the identity and experience of the nation as a whole. How are we going to achieve that then? How will gastronomic attractions help boost the nation’s tourism and identity?

The answer is quite simple enrich the food. Not by seasonings, but by a story and concept behind it. Indonesia has a wide range of traditional foods within its many regions, from Sabang to Merauke.

It will be seen simply as food if there are no stories behind them. ’How’, ’What’, and ‘Why’ the food was made in the first place. Let’s take rendang as an example; Rendang is made from beef slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices.

It takes hours to cook this aromatic and extraordinarily scrumptious beef rendang. With the sophisticated taste and method, rendang has become famous delicacy throughout Asia. in Malaysia, Thailand, and many other countries. Other nations have tried to make similar food, inspired by rendang. But does anybody know that rendang already existed in Indonesia since the 8th century?

Many people do not know this. Actually this is proof that rendang is indeed an Indonesian heritage, taught from generation to generation. But is it only rendang that has a unique concept and story behind it? Let us take another example of an Indonesian dish. Pisang Gethuk is one traditional snack made from banana that originated from the city Kediri in Java, it is very simple food yet sophisticated.

It has plenty of stories to tell. This dish existed since the Kediri Kingdom in Indonesia, and has become a local favorite.

Other unique story about pisang gethuk is according to an old legend, that due to its sweetness and delicious taste even the gods came down from heaven to taste it.

Maybe it sounds absurd, yet bedtime stories or legends alike can establish a unique identity for food. For example, people may call pisang gethuk a food of the gods, as even they crave it. From those examples, good food and interesting stories behind it will give a new experience to consumers, transplanting a new brand experience.

Local delicacies like rendang and pisang gethuk that represent Indonesia’s culinary brand with their unique stories will surely leave a mark when done correctly. Not only that, a successful story can affect the mindset of consumers about the food.

Even if they taste these foods in other nations or places, they do it because they want to remember and cherish the moments when they visited Indonesia.

In view of the above, we ask the same question. What is the relationship between culinary arts and nation branding? The answer is simple, the story. Stories will help people to understand the essence behind the food itself. How the food is made and why the food was made in the first place.

The essence will also help many of us to establish an emotional attachment with the food, as our ancestors made it. Even stories that may not make any sense, if heard in this era, can stimulate the curiosity of many to experience it.

Stories will influence how people perceive and feel about the culinary arts, it can strengthen the positioning of a specific type of food compared to others. To achieve this brand attachment, it is up to the government and
its people. The government will be able to help by providing the network and resources, while the people can deliver the essence of the culinary art from each region of Indonesia.

Galih Rangha Putra is Consultant at DM IDHOLLAND & Daniel Surya is Chairman for Southeast Asia.