The humble ingredients from the forests of Papua were turned into a delicate four-course meal fit to be served in a fine-dining restaurant.

The soupy ikan kuah kuning (fish with turmeric-based soup) served in a pumpkin shell started the Papua Forest Feast at Javara Culture Café in Kemang, South Jakarta, on Aug. 30.

Instead of pairing the soup with papeda (sago congee), as commonly enjoyed by people in the eastern part of Indonesia, Papuan chef Charles Toto served cubed mashed keladi (yam) with grated pumpkin on top.

A small basket of chips made of sukun (breadfruit) and keladi was served together with its sambal dip made of cakalang asap (Papuan-style cured and smoked skipjack tuna) to complement the dish.

Next on the menu was a platter of three sautéed dishes to share that comprises udang selingkuh (cheating prawn), gelisah (nervous) and garnisun (garrison) with fried yam and pumpkins as garnish.

“The freshwater prawn is unique to Wamena [in Jayawijaya, Papua] and it has pincers like a crab, hence the name udang selingkuh,” said Toto during the narrated dinner.

The celebrated chef further explained that the names of the other two dishes were portmanteau words from their ingredients.

Gelisah, he said, comprised of genemon (melinjo), sayur lilin (sugarcane flower dish) and santan (coconut milk), while garnisun is a mix of papaya leaves, cassava leaves and fern.

“Original Papuan cooking doesn’t need seasonings but homemade salt, which has so many variations unique to each region. However, what we have tonight have influences from Maluku, Sulawesi and Chinese-Indonesian settlers,” said the Papua Jungle Chef Community founder, who could fix three meals a day for tourists, researchers or filmmaking crew with ingredients freshly picked from the forest.

Yum yam: Cubed mashed yams with grated pumpkin on top is the perfect accompaniment to ikan kuah kuning (yellow fish gravy).

The dinner’s main course was marinated beef steak prepared by collaborating chef Bisma Surya Thama of Sekolah Seniman Pangan (School of Food Artisans), an affiliate of Javara Indigenous Indonesia that integrates farming, food preparation, marketing and branding.

The dessert deserved applause — and another serving. It was a genial tweak from the sagu sep, specific to Papua and by tradition only served at a burial of a tribe chief, but its the mini, cold and sweet version.

It comprised biscuit made from sago and coconut, a scoop of jackfruit sorbet with small cuts of the fruit and matoa fruit on the side, garnished with a sauce made from the red fruit, or kuansu to Papuans.

“It’s ‘sagu sep’, not ‘papeda’, the original Papuan food,” said chef Toto, who has prepared a modern version of the savory dish filled with beef, sago worms or kangaroo meat, named it Papuan Pizza and has served it to Mick Jagger, Melinda Gates and French singer Zazie.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so the proverb says. Its meaning in Indonesian is the closest to tak kenal, tak sayang (one can’t feel affection toward something they do not know), which fittingly describes the effort to familiarize Papuan culture through gastro diplomacy.

Javara and Sekolah Seniman Pangan founder Helianti Hilman had this in mind when arranging the back-to-back Papuan Forest Feast on Aug. 30 – around a week after protests and riots broke out on the heels of a racist attack on Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java.

The day after the dinner, chef Toto demonstrated a traditional cooking method using hot stone at the Sekolah Seniman Pangan campus in Bumipala, Vida Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta.

“Our business goal is to revive the forgotten indigenous foods of Indonesia, but Papua is a special case. It is the home to forests rich with natural ingredients, unique cultures and food,” Helianti said.

Big family dinner: Papuan comedian Mumu entertains diners at the Papua Forest Feast event.

“But there’s a gap of understanding between cultures that resulted in the recent conflict. We hold this event and the following roadshow with Papua Jungle Chef to calm the situation by encouraging the people to get to know and respect each others’ cultures.”

The racial abuse in Surabaya has prompted hundreds of Papuan students to stage a protest in front of the State Palace in Jakarta, demanding a referendum for Papuan independence.

Chef Toto, who has been working with young people through his Jungle Chef Community, said Papuans have to first be free from the mindset of being second-class citizens.

“Free yourself to promote your culture, to innovate, rather than taking things to the street,” he said.

Helianti said the festival was also held to reveal plans of opening branches of the school in the eastern part of Indonesia, namely in Waimena and Sorong in, Jailolo in North Maluku and Flores in East Nusa Tenggara.

The dining room of Javara Culture Café was full of paying guests and invitees that came from varied institutions and with different interests. There were tables of government workers from the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry, as well as the Environment and Forestry Ministry.

Some of the diners were researchers working on sustainable food, agency workers who had been assigned to work Papua and missed the local food and those who came out of curiosity.

The night turned from entertaining, thanks to the emcee, Papuan comedian Mumu, to solemn when Papua-born Amelia shared her concerns about the safety of her mother back home as violence rocked Indonesia’s easternmost province.

The event closed with diners taking a moment of silence, praying for the people of Papua and singing the national song “Ibu Pertiwi” (Motherland).

Sharing recipes: Chef Charles Toto gives a demonstration on Papuan hot stone cooking at the Sekolah Seniman Pangan campus in Bekasi, West Java.(Courtesy of Sekolah Seniman Pangan)

— Photos by JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak