The Ubud Food Festival offers a rich culinary experience in its third year.

Being praised as a national treasure surely pulled on the heartstrings of FG Winarno, the country’s preeminent food technology scientist and passionate campaigner for the popularization of tempe, a traditional fermented soybean product originating from Indonesia.

“It is a great honor for me and my family. It is a very prestigious award, at least for me,” he said in his acceptance speech during the opening of Ubud Food Festival (UFF) 2017 in Gianyar on Thursday evening.

Just a few minutes earlier, UFF founder Janet DeNeefe bestowed Winarno with the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award, noting that he is “the man who knows his tempe.”

“He is a gem, a national treasure and we want to acknowledge his decades of hard work and dedication to the advancement of our gastronomy heritage, especially on playing a critical role in making tempe an international sensation,” DeNeefe said.

Fondly called Professor Winarno by both his contemporaries and juniors, he graduated from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and received his PhD in the United States. He was the first Asian scientist to lead the Codex Alimentarius Commission, a joint FAO and WHO initiative to establish global food standards in order to protect consumer health. In 2011, the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) named him the Father of Indonesia’s Food Technology.

His daughter, Wida Winarno, founded the Tempe Movement to help popularize tempe and raise awareness of its health benefits.

The award underlines UFF’s effort to present food through a cultural lens.

“Indonesia is a rich and culturally diverse country and nothing reflects that diversity more than its traditional foods and culinary traditions. In this country, each flavor is a story and each food narrates a distinctive history,” DeNeefe added.

That effort is clearly being manifested in the UFF’s programs. The festival, which runs until Sunday at the spacious Taman Kuliner in Sanggingan, Ubud, showcases the culinary creations of more than 100 international and Indonesian chefs, including popular names such as the recipient of UFF 2016’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Sisca Soewitomo, celebrity chef Farah Quinn, Mandif Warokka, “jungle chef” Charles Toto, Eike Plasmeijer, Petty Elliott and Will Meyrick.

The chefs will share their skills and inventions at the Kitchen Stage and Teater Kuliner while Think, Talk, Taste sessions at the Joglo will hold discussions on important issues, ranging from sustainable farming and the recycling of plastic garbage to the use of ceremonial foods.

The festival also boasts as many as 70 food stalls and food trucks offering the best of Indonesia’s traditional foods, including srombotan (spicy Balinese salad) and suckling pig, as well as Western foods, pastries and the latest in raw-food sensations.

The festival also offers a number of free night events such as film screenings and live music with some of Bali’s most promising talents, including Awayu, Orkes Analog, and Lily of the Valley. On Friday, visitors can watch Swadaya, a new TV series by photographer Rio Helmi and director Joe Yaggi on grassroots initiatives that are improving the livelihoods of Indonesians across the archipelago, while on Saturday, Ernest Prakasa’s heartwarming comedy film Cek Toko Sebelah (Check the Store Next Door) will be screened.

“When you drink the water please remember the man who dug the well,” Winarno said, quoting a Chinese proverb as he praised the UFF for its effort to promote the foods and culinary traditions of Indonesia.

“Janet and her husband are the men who dug the well.”

— Photos by JP/Anngara Mahendra

________________________

The full program is available at www.ubudfoodfestival.com.

Popular

On World Environment Day, you can help end plastic pollution

Bali to clamp down on illegal foreign-owned businesses

Pressure mounts on Gibran as impeachment process continues