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very Indonesian must have his or her own 30 favorite traditional dishes, but for the whole nation, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has set 30 iconic dishes that are considered to best represent Indonesia’s culinary assets.

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said on Friday that the dishes ranged from appetizers to beverages.

“We are going to promote the dishes, to Indonesians and foreigners, so that they are more well known among people and later they can compete with other dishes [from other countries] at an international level,” Mari said.

Besides the famous rendang (beef cooked in coconut milk) and nasi goreng (fried rice), the ministry has picked various kinds of entrees like nasi tumpeng (cone shaped rice served with condiments), selected through a long process that included debates in the ministry’s culinary working group. The group included distinguished culinary experts and academics such as William Wongso, Bondan Winarno and Azril Azhari, she said.

“Nasi tumpeng is the main icon because we can only find this cuisine in Indonesia. Moreover, it is a flexible dish as we can use nasi uduk [fragrant rice], brown rice or combination of white and brown rice as well as the variety of dishes served with it,” she continued.

She said the ministry would team up with relevant ministries: Foreign Ministry, Trade Ministry, Industry Ministry and Agriculture Ministry as well as other stakeholders such as hotels and restaurants to promote the country’s cuisine icons.

To promote the dishes abroad, what Mari called “Indonesian culinary diplomacy and nation branding”, she encouraged Indonesian Embassies worldwide to always feature the iconic dishes at every event that they hold, not only during culinary festivals.

In addition, she will invite ambassadors in Jakarta, as well as hoteliers and restaurateurs, to further expose the local cuisine.

She also expects other ministries to work toward making fresh and processed ingredients, needed to make Indonesian food, readily available abroad.

The ministry has included cuisine as the 15th sub-sector of the creative industry because of its strong connection to tourism — both domestic and foreign tourists spend their money on purchasing local cuisine when traveling in Indonesia.

She also said that culinary sector represented 32.2 percent of the total creative industry sector gross domestic product throughout 2011, the largest contributor in the sector, which is equal to Rp 169.62 trillion ($17.64 billion).

Azril said that the working group is currently preparing the nutritional facts, the story behind the cuisine and how it may be combined with tour packages.