"When we were children, we often ate this (jungle rice). No one ever got a stomachache or ulcer like the villagers, so we didn't mind eating only once a day. But now our children often get stomach aches."

In an effort to support economic development based on local knowledge and wisdom in the Suku Anak Dalam (SAD) community, Pundi Sumatra in collaboration with the Family Welfare Empowerment (PKK) of Pelepat District held an educational activity on the use of local food as well as a campaign on processed forest products made from tubers on 24 June 2024, located in Dwi Karya Bakti Village, Pelepat District, Bungo Regency. The activity, which was supported by the Partnership, also aimed to identify and revive the SAD's local food sources that are rich in nutrients but are increasingly being abandoned by the rise of instant food.

Before the introduction of instant food products, the need for carbohydrate sources was met from tubers that the SAD obtained from around the forest. Some of them are bana, gadung and yam. However, the loss of forests has resulted in the scarcity of these local food sources, while these types of tubers have not been planted by the SAD community. The community increasingly favours packaged foods that can be consumed instantly, as processing bana or gadung also takes time in addition to complicated stages, before the ingredients are safe for consumption.

This campaign activity will not only be participated by the SAD community, but also involves the village PKK, PKK at the sub-district level, and is attended by the PKK of Bungo Regency. The participants consisted of five groups of mothers and teenage girls from SAD group representatives and Dwi Karya Bakti village representatives.

Each campaign participant was given approximately two hours to prepare a menu of their choice. Sri Bungo, one of the participants, shared the story of the menu that her group made. "We use gadung, we want to fry it into crackers. In the past, it was made into porridge," she said. Sri Bungo also shared that processing gadung until it can be eaten takes quite a long time. The peeled gadung must be soaked on land for three days, and washed in a river with flowing water for a day. After the soaking and washing process, the gadung is dried in the sun for two days. "Because of the long processing, we rarely eat gadung, at least once a week," he continued.

Produced mostly in the form of porridge, the Hari and Badai SAD community calls it jungle rice because the ingredients they take come from the forest.
"When we were children, we often ate this (jungle rice). No one ever got a stomachache or ulcer like the villagers, so we didn't mind eating only once a day. But now our children often get stomach aches," said Yeni, one of the participants.

Darmalita, the Head of Pelepat sub-district, also had the opportunity to educate the SAD community about healthy food. In her delivery, Darmalita appreciated the ability of the SAD women's group to produce healthy food for the family by utilising forest products. "The mothers here must understand that the bana, gadung, and yam that we are processing now have the same value as rice. This means that if we don't eat rice, it won't be bad for us," she said. Darmalita also encouraged the SAD group to add vegetables to every side dish served to complete the source of nutritional intake.

After the discussion and sharing session, the participants were invited to eat the processed food together. This educational campaign was an opportunity for the SAD women's group to reintroduce traditional food from their ancestors.

"We hope that this activity can reinforce the existing knowledge in the community and raise awareness that local food is actually rich in nutrition, economical and healthier than packaged/instant food. In addition, we want to raise the culinary specialities of the SAD community that may have been forgotten," said Yori Sandi, coordinator of the Estungkara programme.

Read more: Sri Bungo the Tough Women Cadre