The idea is this: each exchange student in Jogja (seven total) along with a German Rotex (previous exchange student who is still active in the program, he now attends university in Jogja) would prepare three dishes that are authentic cuisine from their country of origin. All of this food would then be sold at an event open to the public at R&B Grill, a delicious restaurant and shop owned by a Rotarian and current host-family of Hideto from Japan. Each student was given 500,000 Rp, about $46USD, to do all the necessary shopping, but everything else was left up to the students along with the guidance of an Indonesian Rotex or two. I was working with Relly, the son of my club counselor and Rotex who exchanged to Michigan, USA several years ago.
Now most people may think making hearty, American shouldn't be too difficult. What with the obesity rate in the States, food obviously isn't in short supply. But, if you think about things a bit more, you realize that very little of thee food we eat was thought up by Americans in America. That brat you eat before every baseball game: German, mom's homemade lasagna: Italian, the fondu you had at the fancy restaurant last week: come on the name is in French! Most of the food we eat in the States is originally from European nations, just like our ethnic identities. I had to ask Indonesians what food they thought of when they thought of America in order to actually get ideas.
The first, and best, was apple pie. I didn't realize how many people outside of the US really want to try apple pie, but apparently its right around everybody. Pie crust is kind of a pain to make though, so my mom (American mom that is, I asked her for recipes and advice and such) suggested I make apple crisp; all the flavor with half the calories! Just kidding, it probably has double the calories, but it's a lot easier to make. Another truly American invention is Chili. A stew inspired by various European cuisines, it was a common dish of frontiersmen in early American history as it requires few ingredients to be delicious and the only cooking is letting it sit in a pot on medium heat for an hour. Last item, suggested by the wise mas Gabe, a senior Rotex now Rotarian who does much of the event organization alongside various Rotarians, New York bagels. Now technically bagels aren't American, they first appeared in the Middle East amongst Jewish populations, but the recipe was more akin to a flatbread than the modern bagel and as such I will claim it as an American invention. But a bagel alone isn't much of a food item, so why not top it with egg, cheese, and some type of meat to form a breakfast bagel? And to do it all one better, I would make the bagels from scratch, because, I don't know why I thought that was a good idea actually, but homemade is always better right?
With that all figured out, it was time to get ready a few days before the event. shopping ensued along with my shock at the price of goods common in the US such as beef, kidney beans, apples (which are imported from the US), and cheese. We ended up using a couple bucks of our own money to cover all of the foodstuffs, but we managed to acquire everything needed. The chili was the only food item we cooked that day as the apple crisp would be save for the day before and the bagels would be prepared on site as a "Live Cooking" event.
Then it came. The ash from the skies. That's right, we had prepared everything including the purchase of fresh produce on 11 February. That means the apples, the chili, everything would have to sit for a month. Obviously that is an issue, and as such I sold off some of my produce to my host mom to cook with in the house and I would buy it all again at a later point, but there was still the chili. After a talk with mas Gabe, I would be given an additional 200,000 Rp to buy what I needed to prepare the chili once more.
A month passes and it's time to get cooking once more. With one round under our belt, the cooking goes well, including the peeling and coring of two dozen apples by hand (made me really miss that thing-a-majig we have at home that can accomplish all this just with a few cranks). The morning of I woke up at 5am to prepare the bagel dough which needed time to rise.
At R&B I was greeted by brightly colored food stalls, a huge banner, and people already working hard to prepare food:
Entrance to the festival which was actually held in the parking lot of R&B.
Actual front of the building but the backside of a handful of food stalls. From left to right they belong to Samantha, Brazil; Angelica, Colombia; and Max, Germany (Rotex).
Both Relly and I were running a bit behind so we were the last to arrive and the last to choose a booth. Of course this meant getting the one that would be in the sun all day and as such absolutely boiling when the three portable stoves were added to the mix. But we would deal with what we had and began to set everything up. I went inside with the two trays of apple crisp to have it baked in R&B's ovens so it was as fresh as possible despite its preparation the day before.
Our booth in all its glory. On the far left was the bagel rolling station, the pot just the the right of the excessively pinned jacket was the bagel boiling pot, just beneath Relly's head are the two pans of apple crisp.
Dishing up some apple crisp. On the red cutting board to the left are already baked bagels while the three white rings just in front of me are uncooked and soon to enter the portable, stove-top oven seen on the right, which was interesting to work with as temperature control was near impossible.
With the chili and apple crisp ready and the bagels being produced slowly but surely, sales began. We started selling around 9am and didn't stop until noon, at which time everything was sold out except a half dozen portions of our chili which was given to whoever wanted it at the point
Excess chili distribution and general post-event relaxation.
After all was said and done, we sold 1,070,00 Rp worth of food; the highest total out of all of the day's vendors. It wasn't a competition though as this money will actually be pooled together and used to help fund a short excursion of the exchange students in Jogja sometime in the near future, perhaps to the beautiful mountain region of Bromo (wink wink, nudge nudge if you're reading this mas Gabe). It was a successful event and everyone was able to introduce a bit of our original countries to the place we now call our second country.
All of the exchange students, some Rotex, Rotarians, and an outbound (student to exchange next academic year) who all helped at the festival.
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