Rendang, Famous Food from Indonesia

Beef Rendang, famous dish from Indonesia once again captivated world on two recent International Culinary Festival, Jakarta Culinary Festival and World Spice Food Festival. Jakarta Culinary Festival (10/4-31) is an international event held in Jakarta, invites international’s chefs and also local culinary stars. World Spice Food Festival (10/4-15) is mega culinary event held in Sri Lanka to promote spicy food around the world, for that reason 15 signature chefs from different countries are invited to take part in this event. Between those two international culinary festival, they have one thing in common, that enchanted with one famous dish from Indonesia, called rendang.

Indonesia is very diverse country. They have about 300 ethnic groups. Because of that, there are many kinds of culture and local cuisine in Indonesia. But if we talk about Indonesian cuisine, there is always one dish that stands out, it is a spicy meat dish called rendang.

Rendang originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia, who come from West Sumatra Province. This dish is really closely related to Minangkabau culture. Minangkabau people have their own philosophy about this dish. They see rendang as a discussion symbol, and each ingredients represents important people in the community. In their culture, rendang is served at ceremonial occasion and also to honor their guests.

Rendang is often described by culinary experts as caramelized beef curry. Rendang is cooked 8 hours to make the spice and the coconut milk soak into the meat, because of that long process, the taste of rendang is different than any other beef-based dish. Besides its taste, rendang is also famous for preserving the meat itself. Before refrigeration was available, when Minangkabau people went on a Journey they always brought rendang as their stock of food because rendang can last for weeks even months! Rendang provided a way to make meats last for weeks.

Although rendang originated in West Sumatra, now rendang is commonly served across the country. Everywhere in Indonesia you’ll easily find rendang in local restaurants. Rendang is slowly become Indonesian culture generally. When we have special occasion like Islamic Festival Ied al-Fitr, you always can find rendang in every Indonesian table which celebrates the festival. Now Indonesian are more proud about this dish after this spicy meat dish was chosen as the number one dish in an online poll titled ‘World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods’ surveyed by CNN International.