Ubud food

Around Ubud and before dawn, the first light of the day cracks through from the kitchens, and bubbling hot water steams away and blends with the misty morning air. Sounds of spoons clinking against glasses filled with fine powdered coffee, sugar and hot water stir the sweet morning brew. Food is a vital part of the local life and culture, and is seen throughout the village in many different forms.

Women play the role of daily cooking at home and all food preparations are usually fresh daily. The Ubud market which starts early is also a women's world, where the buyers and vendors are typically women. It is a colorful sample of the village's livelihood. The produce is coming fresh daily from all over the island -- the vegetables from the Bedugul mountain area, and fish from the Lebih beach area south of the town of Gianyar. There are stalls brimming with produce, meats, fresh fish, spices, fruits, supplies for offerings and ceremonies, utensils and supplies for cooking, fresh flowers, handicrafts, gold, and even copies of branded watches. Amidst all the activity the ritual of bargaining prevails.

Back home, in the southern part of the compound is the kitchen, and the traditional layout on the far left will have a water vessel and a fire pit with firewood hanging above. The fire pit serves as a traditional stove made with mud and bricks, with one inlet for the firewood, and three outlets on top for heating and cooking. Right at the kitchen entrance is a small bale (a bamboo structure about the size of a day bed) which serves as a place to do cooking preparation and to gather and drink coffee during the day.

The local way of cooking is unique and therefore dictates the type of utensils used. Although Balinese foods are a dynamic mix of flavors, the tools are quite simple, and most of them are made from natural materials, such as a stone to grind the spices and the meats, clay pots to cook and mix in, bamboo weavings to strain and steam things. Cutting boards are made from thick slices of waru tree trunks, and coconut shell scoops with bamboo handles serve to ladle or scoop liquids.

Daily Staples: A usual day starts with coffee in the morning which is accompanied with something sweet like grilled cassava root, sweet potatoes, or black rice porridge served with grated coconut and palm sugar. Others are fried bananas, boiled bananas in their peels, sumping (bananas coated in rice flower and wrapped in palm leaves and steamed) or klepon a pandan-infused rice flower ball with a liquid center of palm sugar.

Daily meals are prepared once a day in the morning and will be set out for the day to be eaten for lunch and dinner. The whole meal revolves around white steamed rice, or sometimes rice steamed with chopped sweet potato. A common vegetable fare is tumis (sautéed vegetables in a light broth), or urap (hand- mixed vegetables with coconut and spices) or lawar. The meat or fish is commonly cooked with basa gede, a signature bumbu (spice paste), or tum (meat or fish steamed in banana leaf), or pepes (which is a similar version yet grilled). Pindang is also a local favorite, consisting of small fried fish tossed in a savory tomato chili sauce. Meat alternatives are tempe or tofu, and meals are never complete without one of the many varieties of spicy sambal, or something crunchy like krupuk (flavored rice crackers).

Food In Offerings: Offerings are an everyday part of life in Ubud, and food is a major element. They range from simple daily offerings to more ornate full and dark moon offerings, to more elaborate varieties for steps of life, weddings, or temple birthday ceremonies. Certain types of offerings, according to religious codes, are meant to be presented specifically for the gods, ancestors, human souls, and lower spirits.

Mesaiban is the daily gesture of putting small offerings around the family temple and house, and these offerings include a sampling of the daily cooking, called ngejot, set on small squares of banana leaves. They are set at high levels for the gods and ancestors and low for the lower spirits.

Babi guling (whole suckling pig) can be found in ceremonies for people, like the first three stages of life, for teeth filling, or at weddings. They are presented for the souls of people involved in a ceremony, then after the ceremony the offering is called a lungsuran, or a blessed offering which will then be shared and eaten by the family.

Gebogan are tall beautiful stacks of fruit, cakes, and sometime roast spring chicken, secured by a stock of banana trunk in the center and carried on a wood tray. During temple ceremonies in Ubud many ladies from around the community will gracefully escort these offerings on their heads to the temple in the late afternoon.

Pak Lungsur from the Sambahan area of Ubud is well-known for cooking and constructing the pungent sate tungguh, a two to three meter tower for the gods, which is elaborately decorated with many different displays of cooked and raw meat from a pig. In Puri Saraswati, Ibu Agung Ari is renowned for making beautiful sarad, standing plaques of ornately arranged and colorful cakes made of rice flour which are assembled together to create an image which suits the occasion.

Pecaruan is an offering made of certain animal parts which is intended for the lower spirits, and is not meant to be eaten.

Cooking and Gathering: Some days the morning breaks with the sound of the kulkul (wooden village bell) from the Ubud banjar (community hall). At that time the men and women will come out from their compound gates dressed in their Balinese clothes, the men usually carrying their blakas knife on the left side of their body in a leather case, to help make preparations for some event, perhaps a wedding or temple ceremony.

The women will concentrate on making the beautiful offerings of fruits, cakes, and colors. The men will have the task of preparing the offerings made of meat, starting from livestock, to butchering, to cooking.These gatherings are the base of socialization amongst Ubud's people, since it gives them an opportunity to engage in and discuss village issues. For the younger generations it serves as a "rite of passage" because it's a chance to prove themselves.