Traditional Village Food: Cooking in the Compound. Part
II
True, rustic, Balinese peasant fare is born out of equatorial
volcanic abundance—as well as out of economic struggle
and an agricultural existence often bordering on bare subsistence
or real hunger level. In times of mass want or hardship (the
communist political upheavals of the 1960s or natural disasters),
the Balinese give up their beloved, steamed white rice for
cheaper rice studded with tough yellow corn (nasi jagung)
or rice diluted with sweet potato (nasi sela) to make it last
longer. (As a poignant legacy of the “Great Depression,”
nasi sela still appears in the Ubud market.) Traditional,
failsafe Balinese rice field foods continue to be sourced,
cooked, and eaten in the compounds, but they are not as popular
(or as crucial) today because so much more (often modern)
food is available in the villages. As recently as the 1980s,
there would only be one warung in each village with a very
limited range of goods, and now there are many warungs and
food is everywhere. This is a very recent miracle for the
Balinese people. There is (comparatively) so much food now
in Bali that there is no need to cook at home: if the Balinese
have money, they can just go to a warung and buy whatever
they want. Tourism-related income has enhanced, changed, and
expanded Bali’s food supply, dietary expectations, and
cooking possibilities. With fewer Balinese solely reliant
on hardscrabble family rice farming, the young generation
can aspire to grilled chicken with rice rather than tree larvae
and dragonfly soup.
Meat (and chicken), however, are still very expensive food
commodities on Bali, and are mainly reserved for special ritual
occasions. High-caste Brahman priests cannot eat cow, bulls,
or pork; they also cannot consume food in the streets or in
the market, drink alcohol, or taste consecrated food offerings
destined for the gods. Secular Brahman and Satria caste Balinese
are also forbidden to eat beef. Wesias (warrior-merchant class
aristocrats) and (majority) Sudra caste commoners are allowed
to, but also traditionally choose not to eat beef (or buffalo).
Numerous animals rummage around the family compound, but they
are not ordinarily eaten: cows are more valuable kept alive
to plough the rice fields, while pigs are allowed to appreciate
in worth, size, and girth as future mercantile investments
and ritual food offerings. (The Bringkit market in Mengwi
district—operating every Wednesday and Sunday—is
Bali’s large, central livestock market. Farmers from
all over the island travel here to sell their live cattle,
pigs, ducks, and chickens.) Goats are rarely raised domestically
because they destroy and over-graze plants and flowers growing
around the house. Goat saté is in high demand, however,
and the Balinese like to frequent traditional village warungs
and kaki lima for a coveted, steaming plate of kambing (goat)
soup.
Other ambitious, opportunistic native protein sources include
scaled anteater (klesih), flying fox (fruit bat), large lizards
(alu), wild boar, rice paddy birds (from the glatek to the
tiny petingan), and porcupines (landak), disguised as a gamey-flavored,
dark meat curry cooked with tamarind. Dog meat is eaten in
numerous villages throughout Bali—privately killed,
cooked, and consumed at home. Village, or “peanut”
dogs (anjing kecang) also occasionally wind up on skewers
in small, hidden “RW” food stalls in the illicit
back lanes of dark satay Denpasar. Here the flesh is discreetly
served to homesick ethnic migrants from North Sumatra (Batak),
North Sulawesi (Manado), and Timor where black dogs, in particular,
are deemed a regional delicacy. In traditional Chinese food
and medicine cosmology, dog meat is considered a “hot”
element—therefore, Chinese martial arts practitioners
in Bali will seek out and eat dog. Dog meat is not offered
or displayed in the traditional markets; it is only sold (as
soup or as saté with rice) at specialized, local RW
(“airway”) stalls. These vendors cannot always
obtain the canines: if dog is available, they hang out a buka
(open) store sign—if not, a tutup sign signals customers
that the stall is out of supplies and will remain closed for
the day. Dog meat procurers dare not openly steal stray dogs
or loose house pets because the owners love them and will
punish them if they are caught. More sinister methods have
evolved in the form of large-scale, persistent rashes of anonymous,
night time street dog poisonings. The meat of the sad, sorry,
snatched victims is soon sold in Denpasar as hot smoking satay.
More usually, the Balinese sustain themselves with rice, stir-fried
leaves and greens (kangkung, or long green beans known as
kacang panjang), fish (teri or pindang), chicken simmered
with relaxing to scorching spices, tofu (tahu), tempe, edible
tubers like ubi (sweet potato) and keladi (taro), deep-fried,
sweet corn or potato croquettes (a Dutch colonial recipe containing
egg, corn or potatoes, shallots, chicken, flour, and mild
spices), krupuk (crackers), and sticky rice cakes. Nourishment
habits follow each generation of Balinese into the afterlife:
many individuals are temporarily buried in the cemetery shortly
after death to await an auspicious day (and sufficient family
funds) for a mass cremation ceremony. Relatives visit the
deceased loved one’s body and bring offerings for the
grave of all his favorite foods, as well as mandatory rice,
coffee, tea, and fruit—enabling his spirit to enjoy
a personally tailored, butler-service feast. The living, however,
eat all of their meals quickly, privately, alone, and undisturbed
at a quiet spot near the kitchen or on an open-air compound
pavilion—either standing, balanced on a plastic stool,
sitting on the floor, or squatting over the ground. Household
members do not sit down to dine, talk, or socialize together
over food: meals are only shared during cooperative, ritual
food preparation activities, or on special festive occasions.
(The Balinese also prefer to eat in complete--and satisfied--silence
because it is believed that talking will kill the spirit of
the food.) Meals that are prepared by hand are eaten by hand:
the children of the gods eat with their right hand, as the
left (used for ablutions) is considered impure. A food-laden,
banana leaf square (or an increasingly popular plastic or
ceramic bowl) is held in the left hand, while (characteristically)
small, cut-up pieces of food are scooped up with all five
fingers together of the right hand. (Spoons only service messy
dishes). Large banana leaves are Bali’s natural chinaware—sourced
from a backyard tree or bought at the village market, they
are used once and donated to the pigs for food.
