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olorful, savory, tasty and cheap: That’s how kids usually describe their favorite snacks like gulali (caramel candy) and cireng (fried tapioca flour).

Due to these snacks’ popularity, vendors keep feeding them to the hungry stomachs of kids, who are ready to munch anything after a long day studying and running around, unaware that those snacks contribute to malnutrition and obesity among the youth of the city and its outskirts.

Health Ministry’s Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) in 2010 found that 12.8 percent of kids between the ages of 6 and 12 in the city were obese. This percentage is higher than the national rate of 9.2 percent.

Saptawati “Tati” Bardosono, nutritionist at University of Indonesia, said that in 2007, 50 percent of state elementary school students in Jatinegara, East Jakarta were underweight. “These problems are caused by poor nutrition among kids because their diet is not varied enough. Snacks sold in schools are not wholesome enough to provide the minimum nutritional intake,” she said.

Chairwoman of the community movement on nutrition awareness Tirta Prawita Sari said that it was important for kids to not only eat food high in carbohydrates such as rice but also eat nutritious foods like vegetables and fruits.

“While a kid may look healthy on the outside, he or she may still lack nutrition on the inside,” she said. “For example, a kid may eat only rice or other high-carb food and he or she will still look healthy. That kid, however, lacks nutrition from vegetables and fruits.”

According to her, kids growing up in urban areas tend to eat outside and not home-cooked meals because their parents usually don’t have time to cook for them. These kids typically shun vegetables and fruits for tastier snacks.

Muhammad Febri Ardiansyah, a second-grade student at SDN 07 state elementary school in Tangerang eats snacks every day, according to his mother, Sudarwati, a 39-year-old housewife.

“My son loves to eat snacks such as chiki so much that his daily allowance of Rp 10,000 isn’t enough for his snacks,” she said while her son gnawed on cireng next to her.

However, she did not stop him buying snacks because she believed they were safe to eat. “What’s important is that my son doesn’t eat snacks that are unsafe such as ones with coloring,” she said.

A cireng vendor at SDN 07, 48-year-old Munaryatun, said that she did not use ingredients like chicken, with much-needed protein, because it would push up costs.

“If I used chicken, I’d have to sell each cireng at Rp 5,000 each,” she said. She sells egg cireng at Rp 1,000 a piece.

To promote healthy eating at school and educate vendors like Munaryatun and parents like Sudarwati, PT Philips Indonesia held an event on Tuesday called “Chef Goes to School” in Tangerang.

TV chef Billy Kalangi showed vendors and parents that proper nutrition did not have to be so complicated or expensive with simple and cheap menus.

Maria Veronica Simanjuntak of Philips Indonesia said that the company hold another cooking demonstration on a larger scale on Sept. 22, at the same schools.

The company will conduct a survey to measure the success of the program. (han)