Indonesian cuisine

Indonesian cuisine is diverse, in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 populated islands of the total 18,000 in the world's largest archipelago. Many regional cuisines exist, often based upon cultural and foreign influences.Indonesian cuisine varies greatly by region and has many different influences.

Some popular Indonesian dishes such as nasi goreng, gado-gado, sate and soto are ubiquitous in the country and considered as Indonesian national dishes.

Sumatran cuisine, for example, often has Middle Eastern and Indian influences, featuring curried meat and vegetables such as gulai and kari, the cuisines of Eastern Indonesia are similar to Polynesian and Melanesian cuisine. Elements of Chinese cuisine can be seen in Indonesian cuisine: foods such as bakmi (noodles), bakso(meat or fish balls), and lumpia(spring rolls) have been completely assimilated. Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java. Some Indonesians perceive Javanese cuisine as rather sweet compared to other Indonesian dishess, because generous amount of gula jawa (palm sugar) or kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) are ingredients favored by the Javanese. Javanese food is categorized into Central and East Javanese food; both serve simple and non-spicy food, though Central Javanese food is tends to be sweeter.

Regional dishes : West Java (Sundanese cuisine), Central Java (Javanese cuisine), East Java, Madura, Bali (Balinese cuisine), Aceh, North Sumatra (Batak cuisine), West Sumatra (Minangkabau cuisine), South Sumatra, North Sulawesi (Manado cuisine), South Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and papua.

sumber: wikipedia