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.