Exploring Indonesian Cuisine Ethnographically: A Fusion of Heritage and Innovation Through the Lens of Local Wisdom

Abstract

Background: Traditional cuisine as an ancestral cultural heritage is a marker and an inherent identity characteristic of the presence of an ethnic group in a city. The preservation and development of Indonesian culinary become the important choices to preserve the cultural heritage of foods. This research aims to find the types of preservation and development of Indonesian culinary as the cultural heritage in East Java. Methods: This research employed the ethnography approach, which was carried out in East Java, Indonesia, specifically in the cities of Surabaya, Gresik and Sidoarjo as the representation of community with the industrialist culture and coastal community using marine products as the distinctive food ingredients for the community. Result: The dynamics of culinary food stalls, such as rawon, soto, rujak cingur, penyetan and kupang lontong which produce traditional cuisine has become the attributed icons in East Java. Indonesian culinary preservation that is established in the traditional cuisine-based industry has given new hope to consolidate the populist economic sector or the small and medium enterprises, as well as providing job opportunities for the urban community. Through this preservation, Indonesian culinary can be the important part of cultural heritage as well as the distinctive identity of a city.