BALI CONTINUES TO PROMOTE ITS CULINARY DELICACIES TO TOURISTS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 15 (Antara) - The Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali, the country's biggest contributor to attracting foreign tourists, continues to promote its tourism potentials to draw more foreign visitors.          As a province that is popular among tourists and has several historic temples, scenic beaches, and panoramic views, such as rice fields and mountains, Bali had last year attracted 4.92 million foreign tourists, or about 41 percent of the country's total foreign visitors recorded at more than 12 million.          Bali also has different culinary delicacies to offer to visitors. Balinese dishes, include lawar, made from chopped coconut, garlic, chilli, pork, or chicken meat, and blood; and Bebek betutu, duck stuffed with spices and wrapped in banana leaves and coconut husks and cooked in a pit of embers.          Balinese sate, known as sate lilit, is made from spiced mince pressed onto skewers, which are often lemongrass sticks. Babi guling is a spit-roasted pig stuffed with chili, turmeric, garlic, and ginger.          To further promote its different cuisines, Bali will organize a three-day "Bali Interfood 2017" culinary exhibition from Thursday to Saturday on March 16-18, 2017.          The "Bali Interfood 2017" culinary exhibition is expected to boost the development of tourism in Bali, given that the food and beverage industry is one of the main tourism attractions.

INDONESIA POPULARIZES ITS CUISINE ON WORLD STAGE

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, May 31 (Antara) - Indonesia, with its at least 300 ethnic groups and over 1,300 tribes, is surely rich in local delicacies and special dishes that could make the country popular in the world when it comes to culinary products.          Some popular Indonesian dishes such as nasi goreng (fried rice), gado-gado (vegetable salad), sate (small pieces of meat roasted on skewer/satay), and soto (soup) are ubiquitous in the country and considered Indonesia's national dishes.          Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said various Indonesian special culinary products had gone international and some were liked by world leaders such as United States President Barack Obama who liked 'bakso' (meat ball soup).          "The presence of many Indonesian restaurants in various countries is a testament to the fact that Indonesian delicacies are popular at the global level," the minister remarked in Jakarta on Monday.          Yahya noted that Indonesian culinary products were not inferior to those of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia as the country has a varied range of cuisine. Indonesia needs to now package these dishes, so that these can have huge commercial and cultural value.