Living in the UK: Cuisine Matter

For a moment, I looked at my calendar, “It is 9 November 2016”. I looked around, “Well, I am no longer in the land where I was born”.

For more than one month I have been here, London, UK. Many things I have obtained so far, new friends, new experiences, new culture, new time zone, and so forth. At some points, I am still striving to get used to it, but at the others, Alhamdulillah, I have been quite familiar.

Although the United Kingdom (UK) is famed for the artistic architecture, they do not have special dishes to be proud of. In Indonesia, if we visit some city, we will easily find its special food. If we visit another city, we will also find the other special native dishes. In the UK, when I attended the Orientation Programme in my university, the lecturer introduced “Fish and Chips” as the only and most famous British dish. So, for instance, If we visit London and then Edinburgh, we will only find the same native dish, “Fish and Chips”! Even though I have not tasted that dish myself yet, I think I know how its flavour. You can google it how it looks like.

In relation to food, Indonesian students who are studying in the UK (and other countries) have to find the way to, at least, keep consuming their own Indonesian food. Their need for rice every day sometimes becomes a distinctive challenge. Alhamdulillah, almost in every city in the UK we can find groceries selling rice to be cooked. They also sell spices usually used to cook Indonesian cuisines, such as onion, garlic, tomato, etc. Sometimes they also provide “Indomie” – a well-known Indonesian instant noodle. For the latter, the seasoning in Indonesia is far more delicious than the exported one. Trust me!

Mostly, Indonesian students in the UK have a kitchen room in their house that can be used to cook groceries. I have frequently heard the stories on which most Indonesian students become good cooks after going back to Indonesia. It is probably because of the condition compelling them to cook different kinds of food every day.

To conclude, based on my experience, Indonesian food with hundred varieties of the seasoning is still the best food in the world. It is also reasonable that “Rendang” and “Nasi Goreng” are the most two delicious cuisines in the world.

So, guys. Let us be proud to be Indonesia! 🙂