You are What You Eat, No?

You know you brought the wrong person to a food bazaar/festival if she struggled to choose what she would ate there. The person barely ate what people told her delicious. Instead, she enjoyed taking pictures of the foods more. Even the surroundings allured her too that in the end, she prefered not buying any food at all and abandoned her own empty stomach.

I was grateful my friends didn't 'kill' me because I was such a nuisance. Those people knew they couldn't blame me for not getting interested in the foods or even in spending some of my money to feed myself. They knew I didn't come to Saparua Street, Bandung, on February 26th for delicacies Bandung citizens could offer during the second event of KEUKEN. It's all because they wanted to see the performance of Payung Teduh with its new songs that I knew it's a public event. Having a sense there'd be a lot of opportunities to capture human beings driven by their hunger, as a photography enthusiast I agreed to join them.

Basically, I'm not a fan of foods. I like eating, but I just don't really put my concern into what I eat. I seldom find foods meaningful as in historic, or even fashionable. To me, the adnouns for them are only 'delicious' and 'healthy'. Both words contribute the most for the development of my hippocampus, the part of brain which stores memory, that they make me the worst, uncreative food critic ever to this second.

I always love lanterns. Their appearances in events always give me some kind of peaceful feeling among the strong ambience...

... driven by loud music...

... dazzling, disturbing lights...

...and full-spirited people.

The latest KEUKEN Bandung was the first food festival I've ever went to. It was cool and crowded. People seemed to be well enough entertained by the works of the chefs there. As for myself, I took some great photos and had a great time with my friends there. If it's about me not spending money, honestly, it's mainly because of my own fault. I hadn't had a dinner before I went to the food festival that I ended up searching for foods that could make my stomach full. I looked around for tenants who served main courses, but I couldn't find any besides one who sold wagyu steak which I didn't find my apetite for.

There were tenants who sold macaroons, crepes, fried meatballs, salads, corndogs, and other light foods at KEUKEN. Despite the fact that they were very tempting and I could feel my saliva flew once I saw each of them served to the buyers which included my friends, their prices were quite unaffordable for common students. A main course, which from street vendors you could get just for around 5000-15000 rupiahs, couldn't be made equal with five piece of crepes, two plates of fried meatballs, or even two corndogs which could cost you about 30000 rupiahs each. Knowing that, I learned a lesson that going to a food festival with an appetite for main course wasn't a good idea at all, so you have to be well-prepared, meaning you've already eaten something heavy or quite less.

The girl on photo above, a female food seller, was talking to a customer when I took this picture. I uploaded this one to 500px with a title "Gotcha!" and fortunately, someone voted for this.

You can see that people look quite serious here. You have to wait for quite long time to have yourself served in the food festival, so it's quite clear why some people became moody. You don't like waiting too, do you?

Photo above shows one of many foods you can find in KEUKEN. It's a kind of satay with fancy-shaped chicken nuggets and some broccoli with mayonaise. A quite simple things you can see there, but a plate of it surprisingly costed you almost 20000 rupiahs.

Bandung at night wasn't as hot as Jakarta. It was very cold although I was surrounded by crowds of people rushing with starvation. Most people, of course, prefer hot foods in KEUKEN. This photo was uploaded to 500px too.

I thought I could only found teens and above there, considering the fact almost everything in this event was meant for people above 18 years old. You know what I mean. Fast foods, wagyu steak, crowded night scene, bright artificial lights, and atmosphere full of cigarette smokes are not for kids, right? Turned out kids I saw at KEUKEN were with their parents. At least  they're safe, 'controlled', and still look cute, yes.

Again, lanterns. You can see that there's a logo of one of KEUKEN's primary sponsors, Teh Kotak. It was an Indonesian brand for packed teas. Indonesians love that kind of product, I don't know why.

Living in Jakarta for almost 20 years of my life teaches me about things that beautifies each of its citizen's personalities, so they can be acknowledge by certain communities. One of them is food. Just like in China, according to LA Times, where organic foods are meant for the rich and political elite, in this capital of Indonesia, foods are also considered as them who define who you are. Besides the annual JFFF (Jakarta Fashion and Food Festival) held by Summarecon Agung Corporate, you can easily find malls dominated by restaurants, cafés, bars, and lounges almost everywhere. From Cilandak Town Square to Setiabudi One, what they mainly offer were delicacies as in foods for middle class and above. Most people don't go there for books or hardware needs, but for some things to be swallowed, to please themselves, either healthy or not. 

Bandung wasn't much different than Jakarta. It's just the way its people appreciate the art of gluttony that considered more special, unique, and rather experimental. The strong influence of Sundanese culture along with the cold and quite windy weather, makes people treat foods in a more relaxed, peaceful state. Let's just hope that Bandung will always be the same as in positive ways.

Anyway, here it is an official documentary of last KEUKEN, taglined "The Flavorsome Intimacy".

And oh, another lesson learned : It's much better to go to food bazaar/festival in the morning or afternoon, than at night. You still can clearly see what you are going to eat, at least.

Me and 'Street Photography' Part. 1

This friend of mine posts a lot of photos he took when he was on the streets, roads, or places where he could see people. People called what my friend did 'street photography' and to most people, especially them who didn't live with a camera, the name sounds cool. However, I bet the photographer himself don't see what he does as one cool thing, but a mere escapism from the reality. The photographer knows very well that almost everything in this world, even the most cruel story of life, will be looked, at least, intriguing to most people's eyes.

As for myself, I'm not really into what people called 'street photography', or to put it clearly, I don't really know whether I'm into 'street photography' or not. Definition's not a big deal for me. I just love taking pictures of human; my friend, a stranger, an elder, and a child (I put family members in exceptions because I rarely shoot people within the same blood line). Human is my favourite object because of the possibility of emotions drawn on the face along with gestures. Expressions to me are the simplest motions telling me the most complicated story ever.

About to Sleep

My family has a pet cat named Temi. His name is an anagram for 'item' which means 'black' in Bahasa Indonesia. Though he isn't all black (not like Sailor Moon's Luna), the name makes him easily distinguished once compared to the other pet cat of mine, Belek, whose fur is almost all-white.

Temi is not really a sleepyhead like common pet cats. He is more like one who often pull an all-nighter and one who loves to make moves, like jumping to the upmost part of a dresser, sniffing foods as if he really knows that they were freshly fried, following people (mostly my mother), approaching the family members when they were eating (though he's already eaten his foods), and doing other things which sometimes make you feel he's annoying, or simply cute and clueless. Everything Temi does makes me and my family realize that he behaves more like a stray cat than a pet one. This makes him totally different from his sibling, Belek, who's more shy, silent, and able to behave as a cat who is raised and kept well.

One night, Temi came to my room. I knew from the beginning that he wanted to sleep on the floor because he had been moving all around, as if he was searching something, then stopped in front of a framed painting that I haven't hunged on the wall. I learned from the past observations that it was my pet cats' usual behaviour when they were about to sleep. They tend to wander themselves around, then stopped at one place to rest. Somehow I was inspired to capture some pictures of him as memories.

These are some photos when he was still wide-awake, doe-eyed.

You can see that in some photos below, Temi's eyes was about to close. He was getting sleepy, I think.

Though both of his eyes were already closed, his head was still moving. 

A few minutes later, his feet began to draw closer to each other...

... and Temi positioned his head on his feet...

... as if he was telling me that he started sleeping.

To me, it is always somehow spiritually comforting to see a cat sleeping. It feels like I'm relaxed and all of bad things happened to me has gone by the time I saw the calm and shameless face of him. Keeping pets indeed makes you feel better and more optimist. I'm grateful of having both Belek and Temi in my life.

More Than Just An Animal Sacrifice

 

When Moslems are talking about Eid Al-Adha, they are not really talking about the special food such as opor ayam (chicken in coconut milk and spices) or sambal ati (fried chicken livers with potato, later mixed with some chilis). Instead, they are making the animal sacrifice (qurban) as the trending topic for about a week. They talk about the process of qurban, people (mostly the poor ones) who receive the meats of the sacrificed animal, and the place where the qurban occurs. It is a responsibility for Moslems who are materially, physically, and spiritually capable (in this case, we're talking about the money to buy animals to be sacrificed later) to attend and to observe the qurban vent, then to do a follow-up to make sure that the meats distributed fairy and properly to poor people. The meat of each sacrificed animal is shared in seven ways. From your 1/7 part, 2/3 is given to the mosque for distribution to the poor, while you can take home 1/3 of the meat. With your 1/3 you can consume all of it or you can share with your relatives and neighbors.

The qurban event occurs after the Eid Al-Adha prayer (shalat) which Moslems do about 6 AM in the morning. As for the date, the qurban event can be lasted for three days, on the tenth, eleventh and twelfth days of Dhu al-Hijjah month of the Islamic calendar. The Moslem families usually send some members to observe the process of qurban, which mostly are men. Some men are sent to help the process of qurban (packaging, meat cutting, and distribution), while some others bring children to the place where qurban occurs. As you can see in some photos above, children are among people who are excited to see the qurban event. Children usually stand near animals who are going to be sacrificed and play with them. The animals themselves, which in Indonesia mostly are cows and goats, remain very calm that they don't scare the children at all.

The essence of qurban ritual is material sacrifice that brings us closer to Allah SWT and obedience to Allah SWT’s order. Qurban also teaches us to share the goodness with the poor people around us.

*Photos above were taken during qurban event in the Eid Al-Adha day (November 6th, 2011), 1432 Hijriah (Islamic year).

To Cirebon

It is always Dad who drives the car. Though I have a brother whose age 15 years old, he's never sit behind the steering wheel when Dad is present. I don't know whether it is always my brother's decision to not drive or not. It's sort of a matter between him and Dad. Boys thing, I guess.

Every year me and my family have this two hundred and fifty kilometers trip to Cirebon, a city where travelers spend some hour or a day to rest, to eat tahu gejrot (fried tofu with chili or sour sauce), Jamblang rice, empal gentong (Cirebon's specialty; a spicy curry-like beef soup) or other Sundanese cuisines, or to buy local snacks such as pickles (or 'acar' in Bahasa), sweetmeat (or 'manisan' in Bahasa), 'melarat' cracker (or 'kerupuk melarat/kerupuk pasir' in Bahasa), or sredded shrimp (or 'abon udang/ebi' in Bahasa). We are not like most travelers because we really stay for days there. It is Mom's hometown, so we indeed go there to meet the grandparents (I call them Mbahkung and Mbahti).

*All of photos above were taken when our car was passing a city called Sumedang.