Ancient and traditional food recipes were not recorded in the Indonesian language but were instead written in SanskritJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian celebrity chef Ragil Imam Wibowo pointed to the language barrier being a factor that hindered his efforts to translate and preserve ancient and traditional food recipes.
"Ancient and traditional food recipes were not recorded in the Indonesian language but were instead written in Sanskrit," Wibowo stated at a webinar on preservation of traditional recipes observed from Jakarta on Monday.
The recipes, often written as a poem or prose, made it more challenging to decode the ingredients and cooking instructions, the chef noted.
"Scripts of ancient times often record the recipe in stories that could be sung or in prose or poem forms," the chef remarked.
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Wibowo said that his research on ancient recipes revealed that food recipe records had been kept for centuries in the Indonesian archipelago, with the record of the oldest food ingredients being discovered in the Talang Tuo Inscription that could be traced back to the year 684.
The chef has encouraged the preservation of ancient and traditional recipes, as food recipes reflected the diverse Indonesian gastronomic culture.
"Those recipes must be preserved to ensure our future generations could enjoy the distinct Indonesian flavors of the past and prevent the precious recipes from being lost forever," Wibowo affirmed.
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The chef recounted his efforts to extract the recipes by meticulously converting traditional measurements penned in the recipe and using a digital scale to obtain the exact quantity of ingredients required for the recipe.
"After I measure the ingredients needed for the recipe and obtain the exact measurement in grams, I continue the process to follow the cooking instructions and cook the dish in line with my mother's cooking style," Wibowo recalled.
By utilizing the method, the chef successfully retrieved ingredients and cooking methods of ancient and traditional recipes, including family recipes from earlier generations.
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Translator: Anita Permata D, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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