Monday, July 02, 2007 The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Standing in line in hot and sunny weather Saturday, Salwa was more than happy to bear the discomfort. "I want to know what the roasted meatball is like," said the resident of Cibubur in East Jakarta, who came with her family. "I heard about this event from a TV commercial and because it's all about food, I came here to try it. We need food, right?" she said. Around 45 stalls displaying food from across Indonesia took part in the annual Bango Food Festival. The two-day festival was held in the southern parking lot of Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta. Heru Prabowo, the event's organizer, said the event was aimed at preserving traditional Indonesian food in the face of the spread of popular Western fast food. "Through this we can introduce our country's culture by showing off our country's traditional foods," he said. The stalls treated food lovers' taste buds to dishes such as es goyang (ice on sticks), risol setan (spicy rissole), South Sumatran pempek and Surabaya's rujak cingur. "We haven't had a chance to try all of the cities' traditional food and this festival brings them closer to us," said Ita, who came with her twin sister Ati. As people with colorful umbrellas jostled among the crowd, Inge, another visitor, sat quietly finishing her soto mie (clear soup with noodles) in front of a shady stall. "This is the third dish I've had since I came here, and they're all good," she said happily. Unlike Inge, who found a shady spot, many people had to have their meals on tables stretching along the plaza's yard. "There should be have been tents put up so we didn't have to eat in the sun like this," a visitor said. The third Bango food festival has already been held in Bandung and Surabaya this year. The festival will next stop in Medan in the next two months. The festival also features performances from well-known Indonesian singers. (13) http://www.thejakartapost.com/Archives/ArchivesDet2.asp?FileID=20070702.C02
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