Indispensable rice

"I haven't eaten rice since morning!" said my auntie. It was 1 p.m. and she already felt the desire for rice. I was surprised, "But you have eaten ketupat sayur, haven't you?" "Oh, that's not really rice," she said.

Many Indonesians are like my auntie. For them, rice is rice and anything produced from rice: ketupat, lontong, lemper, bihun, you name it, they are not really rice. Rice is plain rice, to be eaten with various side dishes. Worse, rice three times a day! And in between, some other food produced from rice.

Imagine if 230 million people in Indonesia have this type of diet, how much stock of rice should Bulog (national rice distributor) hold to satisfy them? Fortunately and thank God, the diet of Indonesians in Eastern part is mainly non-rice and most commonly corn, cassava and sagu. They are much more filling and suit perfectly the type of work most people do in dry land areas.

Therefore, the imposition of rice as the staple food for all Indonesians during New Order government in 1980s has been pointed out as a blunder, ethically and politically. Ethically speaking, respect for local eating habits was violated since rice - the symbol of "development" - was considered superior against non-rice diet. Moreover, today's rice has lost most of its vitamin E due to the milling processing with machine. Only when it is produced manually by hand threshing could the rich nutrition in soft layer be maintained.

Moreover, from political economy point of view, the imposition has marked the beginning of total dependency on rice which turned out to be bad news for supply side. One government official in East Nusa Tenggara said that 'hunger' has been politicized as a means of rent seeking activities. He believed that in reality, it is more likely "hunger for rice". In practice, people in rural areas always have other staple foods in their fields. Another key person said dependency on raskin (subsidized rice) has obstructed the local culture of lumbung desa (village food store).

One effective action against the food insecurity problem is food diversification where one has to think globally while act locally. In fact, there is much other staple food to enjoy: cassava, yam, sweet potato, talas, banana, and many others. They are certainly richer with vitamin and mineral. Yam and sweet potato are good for those with the desire of looking younger than aged. Dare to give it try?