Reflections on Food
Before traveling to Indonesia, I was asked to consider creating a guiding question for my travels. This guiding question was one that made a natural connection for me as a science teacher, correlated to the work I have been doing for the past few years as an educator, but more over spoke to the deepest core of who I have been my entire life.
How do food systems in Indonesia compare to those in the United States in terms of culture, economy and health?
What I did not really anticipate was that like the people of Indonesia, it's food systems are just as radically diverse and localized. While this is certainly an obstacle in what may be a never ending quest for deeper understanding, I did gain a few insights. But let me begin by describing my interest in this topic and making a case for comparison in the United States.
My Story
As a lover of food for decades this question and its implications spoke to me on a very personal level. In my life, I have had a passionate love affair with food. There were very few foods I didn't like, but as many Southern Americans, gravitated towards deep fried, cheesy, starchy and beefy as my major dietary food groups. As I moved into adulthood, I struggled financially to support my family. My husband and I persevered through college on a single person's income while the other went to school. Many nights our dinner included cheap, fast food options as these allowed for a busy schedule of working, going to school and child rearing. Our daughter grew up as a child of the chicken nugget age. Healthy food choices were not on the menu as a matter of culture and economy.
After graduating college, I began teaching science at Irmo Middle School. While teaching, I inherited the job of restoring the commercial grade greenhouse and garden area at our school. Over a span of five years and with the help of many colleagues, parents and students, we revitalized the greenhouse and began growing food. I found a exciting source of inspiration not only for science, but a renewed interest in food. Over the years, my students and I completed many PBLs centered on food production and scarcity. We used the greenhouse as an answer to these global problems and created growing guides, raised bed designs and even held an annual plant sale featuring sustainable and organic food sources.
After graduating college, I began teaching science at Irmo Middle School. While teaching, I inherited the job of restoring the commercial grade greenhouse and garden area at our school. Over a span of five years and with the help of many colleagues, parents and students, we revitalized the greenhouse and began growing food. I found a exciting source of inspiration not only for science, but a renewed interest in food. Over the years, my students and I completed many PBLs centered on food production and scarcity. We used the greenhouse as an answer to these global problems and created growing guides, raised bed designs and even held an annual plant sale featuring sustainable and organic food sources.
I still did not adopt the mantra for myself." |
While the projects and learning centered around the greenhouse were inspirational and spoke clearly to my passion, I still did not adopt the mantra for myself. I was talking the talk, but not really walking the walk. At my peak, I was a massive 270 pounds and touting the importance of a healthy lifestyle. To say I was a walking contradiction was a gross understatement.
One year before leaving for Indonesia, the years of unhealthy eating finally caught up with me. I had a small stroke when a piece of cholesterol dislodged from the wall of one of my arteries and became lodged in a small capillary in my brain. I was diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Change was an absolute matter of health.
I changed my eating habits immediately and over time lost nearly one hundred pounds. While there was plenty of blame and frustration aimed at myself for allowing this to happen, I began to question more deeply how I ended up in this situation in the first place. Looking back, I can point to my culture and economic situation as a portion of the problem. I began to wonder how these factors impact the health of people in other places around our world.
One year before leaving for Indonesia, the years of unhealthy eating finally caught up with me. I had a small stroke when a piece of cholesterol dislodged from the wall of one of my arteries and became lodged in a small capillary in my brain. I was diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Change was an absolute matter of health.
I changed my eating habits immediately and over time lost nearly one hundred pounds. While there was plenty of blame and frustration aimed at myself for allowing this to happen, I began to question more deeply how I ended up in this situation in the first place. Looking back, I can point to my culture and economic situation as a portion of the problem. I began to wonder how these factors impact the health of people in other places around our world.
Food in the United States
While my story is unique to me, to say that I am in the minority would be unfair. Right now, we have a staggering obesity problem in the United States. According to The State of Obesity, 32% of children aged 10-17 are obese. In a state by state data comparison, seven of the top ten obese states are in the south. The percentage of obese adults is higher with 38.1% of American adults suffering this problem. Not only is a current problem, the trend points to an ever increasing issue as American are continuing to pack on the pounds.
There is a clear case for cultural implications in terms of the America's weight gain. Notice that our heaviest states are generally located in the south and central southern states. As previously mentioned, I clearly remember dinners in the south included hefty servings of fats, meats, and starches. No good self-respecting southerner has dinner without a side of buttermilk biscuits and jelly. And it would absolutely be unheard of to have it without hunk of meat and a potato product. That's what dinner is...right?
But it isn't just a matter of culture. There is also the idea that healthier foods are more expensive. And to be fair, in some ways they are. If a person considers meat as a main course and adds healthy side dishes as a supporting cast, the meal can prove to be quite expensive. In fact, according to a Harvard study in 2015, a healthier meal consisting mostly of fruits, vegetables, nuts and fish, can cost upwards of $1.50 more per day per person than one based on processed foods. If you consider a household of 5 and extrapolate that cost out over a month, eating healthy can cost an additional $300 dollars at the grocery store. Of course that number assumes that we are all eating 2000 calories per day and none of it being commodity foods. This just isn't feasible for our some of our lowest income earning Americans.
But it isn't just a matter of culture. There is also the idea that healthier foods are more expensive. And to be fair, in some ways they are. If a person considers meat as a main course and adds healthy side dishes as a supporting cast, the meal can prove to be quite expensive. In fact, according to a Harvard study in 2015, a healthier meal consisting mostly of fruits, vegetables, nuts and fish, can cost upwards of $1.50 more per day per person than one based on processed foods. If you consider a household of 5 and extrapolate that cost out over a month, eating healthy can cost an additional $300 dollars at the grocery store. Of course that number assumes that we are all eating 2000 calories per day and none of it being commodity foods. This just isn't feasible for our some of our lowest income earning Americans.
But how does economics play into the serving of healthy food? Is there a connection between income and obesity? Interestingly enough, some of the lowest "real" pay states according to Money.com are also some of the states with the highest levels of obesity. While it is not completely consistent, it definitely begs the question of how much of a correlation is there between economics and healthy food.
Income level alone is not the only factor contributing to obesity. The State of Obesity asserts that education level also plays a role in obesity:
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This research underpins many of my thoughts about how health, economics and culture are impacted by food in the United States. There are many other connections to be made, of course, but these are the thoughts that were running through my head as I prepared for my time in Indonesia and my experience with the food.
Food in Indonesia
While in Indonesia, I threw caution to the wind and ate whatever I wanted and to my heart's content. I also gained approximately 12 pounds. While my weight gain can also be attributed to the abundance of opportunity to taste and eat larger than normal quantities of food, I also know that were I a permanent resident in Indonesia, I would be faced with some of the same food issues as I am here in the United States. There was absolutely no shortage of fried foods and quick, cheap places to stop and grab a bite. The streets in both Padang and Jakarta were packed with food vendors but there were also places like Wendy's, Pizza Hut and KFC. In fact, one could make an argument that KFC (or some version of it) is the McDonalds of Indonesia.
It seems to me that in the cities many people grab food from one of the many stalls rather than cooking at home. I say this with some trepidation, because my experience was extremely limited. To really make this claim stick, I would need to spend a much longer time in Indonesia. While in Padang, we ate out every night except one in which some of my host teacher's friends came over and cooked a version of fried rice for us.
When visiting school, I noted that the school's cafeteria is set up to host stall type vendors there as well. Many schools had different booths for locals to prepare and sell different foods. While some combination of fried rice, noodles and vegetables were available, fried chicken and even fried chicken nuggets seemed to take center stage. I did notice that one school had posters, very similar to what I would expect to find in US schools, about what constitutes a healthy meal. The posters recommended eating foods from multiple food groups and getting a variety of fruits and vegetables in every meal.
It seems to me that in the cities many people grab food from one of the many stalls rather than cooking at home. I say this with some trepidation, because my experience was extremely limited. To really make this claim stick, I would need to spend a much longer time in Indonesia. While in Padang, we ate out every night except one in which some of my host teacher's friends came over and cooked a version of fried rice for us.
When visiting school, I noted that the school's cafeteria is set up to host stall type vendors there as well. Many schools had different booths for locals to prepare and sell different foods. While some combination of fried rice, noodles and vegetables were available, fried chicken and even fried chicken nuggets seemed to take center stage. I did notice that one school had posters, very similar to what I would expect to find in US schools, about what constitutes a healthy meal. The posters recommended eating foods from multiple food groups and getting a variety of fruits and vegetables in every meal.
I noticed that there are lots of calorie dense foods available in all of the cities that I visited in Indonesia. What I don't know is how that story changes with the change from urban to rural areas in the country. Many of the teachers I met are either farmers themselves or are children of farmers, so I assume that there are rural areas that focus more on cooking at home.
When visiting the markets of Indonesia, I noticed that there was a wide variety of healthy foods available and that their prices were extremely reasonable when given the relative cost of eating out. One major difference in considering food procurement is that there is not typically what I would consider a grocery store. Instead, there were much smaller markets that specialize in this or that variety of food. Many of the markets had fresh, harvested same day options that were very reasonable as well. While I don't see that the food costs are prohibitive, I do notice a huge economic tie to the local vendors as the market or street food stalls are likely their main source of income.
When visiting the markets of Indonesia, I noticed that there was a wide variety of healthy foods available and that their prices were extremely reasonable when given the relative cost of eating out. One major difference in considering food procurement is that there is not typically what I would consider a grocery store. Instead, there were much smaller markets that specialize in this or that variety of food. Many of the markets had fresh, harvested same day options that were very reasonable as well. While I don't see that the food costs are prohibitive, I do notice a huge economic tie to the local vendors as the market or street food stalls are likely their main source of income.
It seems that Indonesia is crawling with healthy food options and economic conditions are not a barrier to making healthy food choices. When I asked my host teacher about hunger in Indonesia, she insisted that this is not a problem they have frequently. I probed further and she explained that if someone is hungry they will get food from a friend or neighbor. She insisted that people do not frequently go hungry that she is aware of because others will step in to make sure everyone eats.
In terms of health, I saw very few Indonesians that were overweight or obese. What I did notice was that the people of Indonesia are much shorter and smaller in general stature than people in the United States. According to UNICEF, people in Indonesia are faced with acute and chronic malnutrition. Twelve percent of Indonesians are malnourished while an astounding 37% are acutely malnourished. I don't know if this is because they are choosing high calorie, low nutritional value foods or if it is because more rural areas have less food availability. One issue includes the prevalence of malaria and other auto-immune disorders. These problems are actively being tackled by health care providers who offer nutrient rich foods and breastfeeding education for nursing mothers. (UNICEF)
In terms of health, I saw very few Indonesians that were overweight or obese. What I did notice was that the people of Indonesia are much shorter and smaller in general stature than people in the United States. According to UNICEF, people in Indonesia are faced with acute and chronic malnutrition. Twelve percent of Indonesians are malnourished while an astounding 37% are acutely malnourished. I don't know if this is because they are choosing high calorie, low nutritional value foods or if it is because more rural areas have less food availability. One issue includes the prevalence of malaria and other auto-immune disorders. These problems are actively being tackled by health care providers who offer nutrient rich foods and breastfeeding education for nursing mothers. (UNICEF)
In summary, the food system in Indonesia, just like that of the United States, is no less complex than the people it serves. There are delicious options, culturally ingrained foods, severe nutritional deficiencies, and strong economical ties to food. I cannot make any firm declarations based on this short trip to Indonesia and am instead left with many more questions than I have answers for at this time. As I continue to press forward in my own health journey and the work of educating children in the United States, I hope to continue to develop an understanding for the food system in Indonesia and have a chance to share whatever knowledge I gain far and wide.
“This blog is not an official U.S. Department of State blog. The views and information presented are the grantee’s own and do not represent the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, IREX, or the U.S. Department of State.”