"Unlike the Arabs who eat all the food being served, Indonesian people tend to leave some 30 percent of the food offered to them," Kalla stated during a public lecture to mark the anniversary of Bulog here on Tuesday.
The vice president noted that healthy eating habits should not be campaigned as they have been inculcated in children by their parents from an early age.
However, the practice of healthy eating is not being followed due to modern lifestyles even though Indonesians have been taught to eat right.
Kalla explained that the nations annual rice requirement reached 110 kilograms per person. The Indonesian communitys yearly rice consumption is higher than that in Japan and Malaysia where the demand is respectively 60 kilograms and 47 kilograms per person.
The government had also campaigned for food diversification to increase wheat imports, whereas switching from rice to wheat was disadvantageous for Indonesia as it can produce rice but not wheat.
On the occasion, the vice president also highlighted the importance of Bulogs main task to maintain balance and stability in the nations food supply.
Therefore, he encouraged Bulog to bring about modernization, especially in order to realize the nations food security program.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
