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The Conscious Traveller: Dine on a heritage feast in a Sumatran bamboo forest
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Homecoming fish and pineapple sambal in a feast served by the women of Muaro Jambi.
PHOTOS: JAVARA, CLAIRE TURRELL
Claire Turrell
Follow topic:
- The Paduka Community in Sumatra hosts cultural feasts near the Muaro Jambi temple, showcasing local cuisine and traditions to boost incomes.
- Javara's anthropologists helped the community revive forgotten recipes, using Borobudur carvings to ensure ingredient authenticity.
- The initiative promotes regenerative tourism, with community involvement, environmental mindfulness and significant income gains for locals.
AI generated
SUMATRA, Indonesia – Smoke rises from the terracotta stove as another plump pink fish caught fresh from the nearby river is stuffed with wild turmeric and placed onto the wood fire. A sambal is being deftly ground into a paste with a stone, while green berries that taste like sugar snap peas, foraged minutes ago, are placed in a bowl.
This is not your average menu or restaurant. It is a feast of traditional dishes, held within a bamboo forest in Sumatra. The hosts are women who are part of the Paduka Community, a group of home cooks who lives within a seventh-century Buddhist temple complex called Muaro Jambi.
