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Tanasurga: An all-organic restaurant in Salatiga promotes the healing merits of food
Tanasurga Organic swears by the power of quality ingredients to better one's health and attempts to extend this belief in their garden-to-table menu.
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Food for health: The idea of Tanasurga started when Setyo Budi (left) was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, which required him to eat more healthily. He then established Tanasurga in 2020 with his wife Arina (center), with Ari Yudha Cahyanto as head chef.
(Tanasurga Organic/Courtesy of Tanasurga Organic)
H
ealth, wellness and sustainability have taken center stage and seeped into our daily lives, playing a major part in our purchasing decisions. In the food industry, the pursuit of those three factors has resulted in the birth of the garden-to-table movement. An all-organic restaurant and less-waste store, Tanasurga, in Salatiga, Central Java, is embracing and pioneering this approach in the area, taking pride in the traceability of the food they serve.
What good does the concept do? Garden-to-table advocates for locally sourced food and emphasizes a relatively direct transfer and minimum intervention from the food source until it reaches one's plate. This concept has been floating around in the modern food landscape for quite some time, yet Tanasurga was not intentionally established to catch up with the trend or fulfill growing demand. Instead, it was inspired by one of the owners' first-hand experience.
Lifestyle change
Cofounder Setyo Budi, 50, was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. It was, he said, a wake-up call to change his lifestyle, particularly in consuming preservative-free, fresh food as much as possible. He started to grow his own food to take full control of what is placed on his plate, a core value that laid the foundations of Tanasurga.
Along with his wife Arina, 54, Setyo opened the door of Tanasurga in 2020, offering healthy-made-tasty dishes and the experience of connecting with food by allowing customers to handpick their vegetables straight on the premises — a timely move when people are starting to be more health-conscious due to the pandemic sweeping the globe.
"Through this garden-to-table experience, we enable customers to encounter food at its truest form in the source so that they can be aware of the look of their ingredients. On top of that, customers can enjoy their food while they are at its peak of freshness without losing the nutrients inside, skipping the refrigerating part that will alter the taste of the food," Setyo and Arina told The Jakarta Post.
The broad diversity of crops planted in Tanasurga's 1000-square-meter property ranges from vegetables like kale, beetroot and watercress, as well as herbs like turmeric, galangal and ginger, to name a few. On their menu are multicourse meals comprising Indonesian, Western, and Middle Eastern cuisine derived from healthier alternatives of ingredients.
Try Tanasurga's take on traditional desserts from the Palace of Yogyakarta like manuk nom (sticky rice steamed pudding) and perawan kenes (roasted bananas served with coconut cream).
Read also: Days of health: Indonesia enters vegetarian food era
For a more failproof taste of the archipelago, revel in ayam betutu (Balinese spiced chicken) and the crowd-favorite ayam goreng kalasan (Javanese fried chicken).
Tanasurga puts health concerns at the heart of its practices, so its signature wedang rempah (herbal drinks) has always been highly recommended. According to Setyo and Arina, this line was concocted based on healing merits on top of taste.
Feeling under the weather? Anti Flu (ginger, lemongrass, clove, cinnamon, lime, honey) and Anti Batuk (lemongrass, lime, honey) will serve as an effortless aid to alleviate flu and coughing. In need of destressing? Give a few sips of Anti Stress (ginger, turmeric, tamarind, palm sugar). Or turn to Anti Maag (for ulcers, using ginger, lemongrass, pandan, honey) to tackle indigestion, all a reminder that nature always has ample benefits in store for us beyond a flavor boost.
With such a diverse menu, Tanasurga sources other ingredients unavailable at its garden from local farmers nearby, especially those who uphold the same value of going pesticide-free in treating their crops.
Organic farms
This well-cultivated relationship with the community of farmers is also reflected in Tanasurga’s store, where it highlights stories of the people behind the harvest they sell; organic rice and palm sugar, for instance. In doing so, Tanasurga is encouraging organic farming practices while at the same time forging a stronger bond with the local community.
Tanasurga strives to steer clear of highly processed ingredients, including condiments and dressings, which they make from scratch. Ari Yudha Cahyanto, the chef who helms Tanasurga, conceded that there comes a set of challenges with this commitment to preserving the food's freshness.
Read also: Indonesian professor discovers new, healthy breed of rice
As Ari said, "Our mayonnaise needs a whole day to prepare from soaking, boiling and straining the soya beans. Then, we let it rest overnight. It's such a long process, and we can't make it in bulk because we are free from preservatives."
It is also a challenge on its own, added Ari, to create healthy meals sounds that felt less intimidating for Indonesians, who have a tendency to put intense flavor enhancers in their food.
For all the challenges that follow in bringing consumers closer to their food, including coping with seasonal food, higher costs and longer processing time, the garden-to-table movement shows no signs of slowing down, not all around the globe and not in Indonesia — and the same goes for Tanasurga. Its full-blast effort in serving garden-fresh food while also repurposing waste is an open invitation to be more mindful of the food we eat so that the food can take care of our health.
"We would like to extend this movement of eating healthy food on a daily basis. After all, healthy food should be accessible to people not only as a last resort when they are facing health problems, but all the time," Arina said.
