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The natural, rich taste of Nias cuisine
Palatable: Among Nias traditional dishes (from left to right) are Ikan Laira, a bowl of aralia and turmeric leaves, Fakhe Hada rice with crust and Babi Asap for Babae
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span class="inline inline-none">Palatable: Among Nias traditional dishes (from left to right) are Ikan Laira, a bowl of aralia and turmeric leaves, Fakhe Hada rice with crust and Babi Asap for Babae.
Lightly seasoned Nias meals accentuate fresh, organic ingredients.
'Pork is the predominant part of any celebration and meal of the people of Nias in general, especially in South Nias,' Waspada Au told a culinary tour group organized by Azanaya, a foodie community exploring the diverse styles of Indonesian cuisine and introducing it to society without commercial ends.
For this reason, pork has quite high value among members of this ethnic group. At every festivity or party, the host has to make available at least a whole boiled pig to be distributed to guests according to their status. 'The most respected one at the party receives part of the head, the next receives the jaws,' added Waspada.
The Tano Niha-speaking community, the local language for Nias, is very strict in this respect. They know whether the portions of pork they receive are suited to their rank in the family or not, in terms of quantity as well as body part.
'The Nias community is well familiar with pig anatomy,' Waspada jokingly remarked.
The tour group got full exposure to the cuisine of South Nias. Apart from the boiled pig as the main specialty of Nias festivities, there was also Babae, soup prepared from nuts known in Nias as fakhe harita. 'The nuts are special because they only grow in the stony areas of Nias,' said Noniawati Telaumbanua. Noni, as she is known, is from Medan but married a man from Nias. She researched the community and culture of Nias for her thesis when studying in Vienna, Austria.
Noni indicated that many people got to know Nias after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit the island regency off the western coast of North Sumatra. Actually, Europeans had been familiar with Nias centuries earlier for its spices and other natural riches. Photographs of Nias locals in the 1800s are found at a museum in Vienna.
'The pictures show the houses and traditional dress of Nias at the time,' Noni said. Today Nias is best known as an international surf spot.
Communication with European culture seems to have influenced Nias culture, from its letters to typical cooking. Babae, for example, is cooked until the nuts and coconut milk thicken into a soft form resembling a creamy soup.
'Usually it's served with smoked pork, although smoked fish is frequently dished up also,' Noni said.
This soup is often served with dipping rice balls formed from palm. The rice, which is cooked in an earthen pot, is also of Nias origin.
'I've modified the traditional recipe by replacing plain water with coconut water so that the rice is tastier,' Noni said, revealing her secret.
The other dish to relish was pepes (meat wrapped in banana leaves and grilled), with smoked pork and fish as the main ingredients. To wind up the program, visitors were offered bananas known as kapok keprek, also originating in Nias.
According to Noni, all the food served to the group could only be enjoyed at Nias family parties. The dishes should be cooked with a feeling of pleasure rather than annoyance.
'Believe it or not, when I once cooked rice with irritation, I failed to finish it properly in the end,' she said. Nias cuisine also uses minimum seasonings so as to give prominence to the freshness and quality of its basic ingredients.
Noni, who has toured several villages in South Nias and admires their food preparation, has found that Nias farmers never produce food stuffs in excess.
'Every crop is produced in sufficient quantity to meet their needs, no more and no less,' she said.
Long before the organic movement took hold, Nias locals had grown their crops without applying chemicals, and they still do today. With crop maintenance also devoid of chemicals and crop production in limited amounts, the quality of the food they turn out is unquestionable.
Noni is trying to foster a number of farmers and cattle breeders so that the distinctive culinary favorites of Nias can be further popularized.
'I wish to see a lot more people outside Nias introduced to South Nias food specialties, without making the dishes something commercial,' she said. Noni doesn't want commercialization that changes the way farmers and breeders manage and produce food.
Lisa Virgiano, who initiated this culinary tour program, said that she and Noni would be collaborating to popularize Nias culinary delights. Also the founder of Azanaya, Lisa follows the philosophy that everything should be done within limits so as not to ruin anything, the body as well as the environment.
'Nature is now being exploited as men have never felt satisfied,' she said.
She hopes the mission to introduce the Indonesian archipelago's rich cuisine to the world will remind people of the culinary philosophy of getting closer to nature.
'All these dishes are prepared by combining natural ingredients without using artificial materials,' Lisa added. And such cooking is just more delicious.
' Photos courtesy of Lisa Virgiano
