When we think of Indonesian cuisine, dishes such as nasi goreng and gado gado come to mind, which can often be found in small canteens like Ayam Goreng 99 in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. What is not so commonly recalled is the rich and multifaceted culture that these dishes convey, from Dutch colonialism to the array of ethnic groups across Indonesia.
Food plays an integral role in daily life in Indonesia, with 41.6% of income in Indonesia going towards food as based on a 2005 study, being spent on ever-present and wide variety of offerings provided by the traditional street food vendor or a common food court where a family shares dinner (Clements & Chen, 2006). Street food in Indonesia is a staple of daily life as vendors form part of the important informal activities in the urban areas of the country, such as in the cities of Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
More recently, the rise and dominance of social media has seen changes in the relationship with food in Indonesia. Whilst Indonesian cuisine may not be recognised globally to the Michelin stars or as commonly found on world’s best restaurant lists, the emergence of Indonesia based food bloggers on platforms such as Instagram has been swift in becoming the most popular method of instantly sharing tantalising images of indonesian cuisine.
Food bloggers such as Prawnche Ngaditowo, who is is known on Instagram as “foodventurer”, began sharing images of the meals he ate in Jakarta as a student after moving there from a small town. The extensive culinary options afforded by living in a big city was inherently exciting for Ngaditowo, who wanted to share his exploration of Indonesia’s gastronomic diversity. As Ngaditowo was not financially capable of studying overseas, exploring the diversity of Indonesian cuisine through food blogging provided an alternate method of exploration in Jakarta itself. Through social media. His audience is unhindered by geographical location, and via his own interactions with his audience he can connect on a global scale, also learning about their own perceptions of Indonesia and the influence his blog has.
Other bloggers such as filipusverdi, a medical student in Jakarta similarly blogs about eating Indonesian street food such as tempeh or bakpao to gado gado, which translates somewhat to “mix mix”. Gado gado is an interesting indicator around Indonesia of different ethnic and historical influences depending on the region, with gado gado betawi referencing the Betawi, who consider themselves the original inhabitants of Jakarta and are now the second largest ethnic group in the city after the Javanese. 
Moreover, the value of blogging in Indonesia is being increasingly recognised for its positive impact, with the country being involved in Influence Asia, a social media awards show that aims to “honor achievements in social media Influencers around Asia”, for which Ngaditowo won for the category of food blogger Indonesia in 2015. In her book Food Blogging for Dummies Kelly Sengei argues that food blogs help preserve food legacy, acting as a recording of dishes in a global and easily accessible platform. This is especially true for Indonesia, a country with a large population and where it’s regional diversity can often been unknown on an international scale, with food blogging helping to educate both local and international audiences.
References
Clements, K.W, Cheng, D, 2010, ,Affluence and Food: A simple way to infer incomes’. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol 92, No 4 (July 2010), p.p. 909-926, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40931056
Djiwandana, R, 2015. Food for thought: Indonesian cuisine in the Netherlands. Georgetown University, accessed 4 December 2017, https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/food-for-thought-indonesian-cuisine-in-the-netherlands
Harsianti, J, 2017, Spreading the live of Indonesian cuisine. The Jakarta Post, accessed 4 December 2017, https://www.google.cl/amp/www.thejakartapost.com/amp/life/2017/07/11/spreading-love-of-indonesian-cuisine.html
Schonhardt, S, 2017, 40 Indonesian foods we can’t live without. CNN Travel, accessed 4 December 2017, http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/40-indonesian-foods/index.html
Shapiro, A, 2017, Indonesian food bloggers: the unifying power of cuisine and social media. NPR, accessed 4 December 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/03/561386218/indonesian-food-blogger-the-unifying-power-of-cuisine-and-social-media
The Jakarta Post, 2016, Indonesian foodies you should follow on Instagram. Accessed 4 December 2017, http://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2016/06/15/indonesian-foodies-you-should-follow-on-instagram.html
The Jakarta Post, 2016, The many culinary delights of Solo. Accessed 4 December 2017, http://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2016/12/28/the-many-traditional-culinary-delights-of-solo.html
Indonesia Global Design Studio 
Food is such a large part of Indonesian culture, but as you have researched it is so different across all parts of Indonesia. I like how you researched into food bloggers as this made it more relevant to a modern day audience. I am looking forward to trying some authentic street food in Banjarmasin!
I love your choice of topic for this blog post because we’ve all adopted the habit of letting the “camera eat first” as my friends say before we actually dig into our meal. It’s interesting that you made the point that food blogging is an alternative way to explore a city because I can relate to this on so many levels!
Wow! food blogging is definitely a very strong method to share and introduce many cultures, especially Indonesia! It definitely works since food has always been a strong tool to draw people in!
Being able to expose many Indonesian food internationally and nationally through social media will uncover many unexplored gems of indonesian food all over the country. How exciting!
Cooooooool topic! How’d you find it? Wish I’d read this one beforehand! But considering it in light of our experiences, the topic has a whole lot more depth I reckon. We saw how significant their phones are, and how valuable it can be to engage through social media. There’s such a huge food culture there that it’s a powerful means of cultural engagement.