GASTRONOMY TOURISM UBUD GIANYAR

“Gastronomy is also a fertile breeding ground for creative tourism”

(Richards, 2002:16)

 

 

This book describes various aspects of gastronomic tourism in Ubud, Gianyar. The topics of discussion include the history of gastronomy, gastronomy as a supporting aspect of cultural tourism, the potential of the Ubud-Gianyar gastronomy, activities relating to gastronomic tourism, and a number of pioneers who explored, introduced, and advanced the Ubud-Gianyar gastronomy. Despite various aspects of the Ubud-Gianyar gastronomy revealed in this book, there are certainly many aspects and potentials that need to be further explored considering the dynamics of gastronomy development in line with the development of tourism and postmodern lifestyle marked by the recurring interest in looking for food that is unique, distinctive, traditional, organic, and natural (back to nature).

 

Gastronomy has been and continues to be a new way of branding for Ubud-Gianyar tourism. International travel agencies like TripAdvisor have created a number of voting polls to determine the best restaurants at the Asian or world levels. In the polls by TripAdvisor, Ubud has always been included in the list of the best restaurants. In early December 2018, for example, TripAdvisor listed 25 best fine-dining restaurants in Asia, which include four restaurants in Ubud, namely Kubu at Mandapa, Swept Away at the Samaya, Mozaic Restaurant, and Blanco par Mandif.[1] The inclusion of these restaurants in Ubud in the list of the best luxury dining restaurants in Asia does not only serve as a recognition of the restaurants, but also a promotion of tourism and gastronomy in Bali in particular and Indonesia in general.

 

This book is part of the efforts to support the Gianyar regency program which has also received support from the Ministry of Tourism in accelerating Ubud-Gianyar as a gastronomic tourism destination to gain international recognition from the UNWTO. Ubud-Gianyar has long been famous throughout the world as a cultural tourism destination. UNWTO’s recognition of Ubud as a gastronomic tourist destination will strengthen the image of Ubud-Gianyar in the eyes of the world. In addition to strengthening the image of Balinese cultural tourism, the success of Ubud as a gastronomic tourist destination will also be able to improve the image of Indonesian tourism by the brand Wonderful Indonesia.

 

According to the theory of tourism area life cycle, introduced by Richard Butler (1980), the Ubud-Gianyar tourist destination is experiencing an ever-increasing growth stage, entering a stage called rejuvenation. Butler’s theory establishes the stages of the development of tourist destinations based on the years and number of visits. Although the indicators appear to be two, namely the year and number of visits, there are actually many other determining factors. Take for example, the number of visits which increases or decreases, which is of course due to factors, such as attractiveness, accessibility, competitiveness, cleanliness, safety, beauty, and quality. What is clear is that the number of visits to Ubud can be seen to continue to increase, as evidenced by the increasing number of accommodations, restaurants, attractions, and the emergence of many alternative tourism in Ubud, such as yoga, wellness, cycling, trekking and jogging. It is undeniable that based on Butler’s theory, the tourist area of Ubud never enters a stagnant stage, let alone declining. On the contrary, the number of visits continues to increase, and the destination has become increasingly more attractive, fresh and rejuvenated.

 

Initially, when Ubud-Gianyar began to develop as a tourist attraction in the late 1920s or early 1930s, this cool green village was introduced as a cultural tourism destination. The image of cultural tourism continued when Indonesia gained its independence and still continues today. Ubud is known as a village of arts, both performing arts and fine arts (paintings and sculptures). Many world artists, such as Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet lived and produced their artworks in Ubud. Many Indonesian artists also choose Ubud as a place of work, including the maestros Affandi and Basoeki Abdullah. Together with local artists, they built creative spaces for painting, fine arts and performing arts.

 Collaboration by artists not only creates monumental works, such as the creative Kecak Dance by Walter Spies and Wayan Limbak, but also strengthens the image of Ubud as a cultural tourism destination. The presence of a number of painting and sculpture museums in Ubud strengthens the pillars of cultural tourism in Ubud.

 

Entering the 2010s, the new Ubud-Gianyar branding as a culinary destination followed by its branding as a gastronomic tourism destination increasingly strengthened. Since food is an aspect of culture, the new branding of gastronomic tourism does not replace the image of cultural tourism. It instead, strengthens the image. It is therefore natural that Ubud-Gianyar welcomes, celebrates, and continues to develop gastronomic tourism in a creative and innovative way as has been seen so far.

 

Gastronomic Tourism and Its Definition

Gastronomic tourism is a new label for the potential of Ubud which has long existed and developed. What is gastronomy?

 

According to Encyclopedia Britannica (2000), gastronomy is “the art of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food’ (Richards, 2002: 3). The term gastronomy is already recorded in the online Indonesian Language Dictionary (KBBI) with the meaning similar to that provided in the encyclopedia. Based on the KBBI, gastronomy is the ‘art of preparing delicious dishes; culinary art’. Richards suggests that initially gastronomy was for the upper class, the nobility, but recently, gastronomy is also for ordinary people.

 

Besides the term gastronomy, a similar term is also known, namely culinary, which means ‘related to cooking’. Popularly, culinary is better known as [something related to] food. The phrase ‘culinary tourism’ usually means traveling to enjoy food. In various places, cuisines can be the main attraction, or primary reason for people to come, for example, Jimbaran and Kedonganan in Badung Regency which are famous for their grilled fish, and Kedewatan in Ubud which is famous for its chicken rice. People often come to these places because of the food and only to eat. This is called culinary tourism. Typical dishes do exist in various places and they can be an attraction for tourists to come and stay there to enjoy the dishes offered.

 

Compared to the term ‘culinary’ or ‘culinary tourism’, the term ‘gastronomy’ obviously has a broader scope of meaning. It covers not only different kinds of dishes or food, but also other relevant aspects, from the selection of food ingredients, where the ingredients are sourced from, cooking process, food presentation, and details of each food element, as well as tasting, eating, and enjoying the food. Travelers get to not only consume food as in a ‘culinary tour’, but also use the chance to learn about the stories behind a dish.

 

An Indonesian gastronomy researcher, Murdijati Gardjito, stated that gastronomy is ‘a science that studies how humans enjoy the food they eat’.[1] Concerning the relationship between gastronomy and culinary, Murdijati stated that gastronomy is a continuation of the development of culinary products and it is studied in the food technology. As a science, according to Murdijati, gastronomy is multidisciplinary since it involves knowledge of history, social and cultural studies, geography, and culinology, as well as food tastes and the impacts caused by consuming food.

 

An interesting thing about what Murdijati has stated is her commentary that Indonesia has huge and unique gastronomy potentials that are different from other places in the world. She mentioned that Indonesia had thousands of culinary arts. Viewed from the biodiversity of the available foodstuffs, Indonesia has 77 sources of carbohydrates, over 400 kinds of fruit, 273 kinds of vegetables, and 65 kinds of spices. If these potentials are combined, it easily comes to mind that thousands of Indonesian dishes can be created. With the existing potentials, we should be able to say that ‘Indonesia is the world’s greatest gastronomy kitchen’, or ‘Indonesian gastronomy is the greatest in the world’, or ‘Indonesia is the most comprehensive gastronomy kitchen in the world’.

 

These culinary riches are Indonesia’s  advantages that can be explored to yield various benefits in many sectors, for example in economy, food security, preservation of biodiversity, and of course in strengthening national identity. These are all very possible, since nearly every specific region in Indonesia has their own distinctive culinary traditions, with dishes such as rendang (spicy meat dish), empek-empek (fish cake in vinegar sauce), soto (chicken soup in clear broth), variants of satay, rawon (beef soup in rich, dark broth), asinan (pickled vegetable or fruit dish), and many others. In 2012, the government through the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy identified the traditional dishes across the Nusantara (meaning the Indonesian archipelagos) and picked a number of dishes as national icons. Up to this day, these dishes have been maintained as icons and developed as a tool to market the Indonesian tourism. Culinary tourism has a huge market power because travelers will definitely spend their money on food and drinks.

 

The aspiration to develop gastronomy at a national scale receives support from the local regions throughout Indonesia. Ubud has just started to introduce its long-standing potential. This has been possible with the positive response from Gianyar Government to the motivation from Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism. As a new entity, in the context of tourism, gastronomy is a creative tourism. However, more than that, according to Greg Richards’s assertion as quoted at the beginning of this prologue, gastronomy is also a fertile breeding ground where creative tourism grows. This is not at all far from the truth. The development of Ubud as a gastronomic tourism destination is a creative effort, and from this effort various other creative entities will grow, supporting one another, each strengthening Ubud’s position as a tourist destination that continues to undergo rejuvenation.

 

Creativity from and for Gastronomy

In the past two decades, creative efforts in the field of gastronomy have been made in Ubud, for example in the creation of new dishes that have become well-loved by many such as Kedewatan chicken rice, Bu Oka suckling pig, and Bebek Bengil crispy duck, each now being a tourist attraction of its own. There have also been tour packages on offer that include a cooking class in the program. The cooking class activity is connected to or combined with a tour to the local market or a place from where food ingredients are sourced. Popular explanations and philosophy of food ingredients are also part of the cooking class program.

 

Also worth noted in Ubud is the emergence of a trend of organic food which a number of restaurants now serve. The organic food business definitely requires supplies of organic food ingredients, which encourages the development of organic agriculture. The organic food trend is part of the development of the postmodern age, where people are no longer interested in consuming food prepared with ingredients produced with the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and genetic engineering, which breaks the principle of natural plants and foodstuffs. Richards (2002:3) also asserted that gastronomy has indeed become a resource to shape the identity of the postmodern society. Going back to nature and searching for the traditional are two of the primary characteristics of the postmodern society.

 

There are at least five benefits that can be drawn from a destination if gastronomic tourism is developed. First, gastronomic tourism is a new tourist attraction that is able to satisfy the traveling needs of the postmodern society. Travelers  have a desire to taste and become familiar with local cuisines. During their holidays, they need to have meals and some of the meal times will be used to enjoy local food. Local dishes will be available to complement international dishes, which are what the travelers need.

 

Second, gastronomic tourism can be used as a strong promotional tool. Promotions are continuous activities that are carried out non-stop to promote a destination that seeks to grow. The new branding of gastronomy will become a unique promotional tool to increase competitiveness considering that local cuisines are different from one another. Gastronomy helps a destination to highlight and promote its local cuisine. Local dishes or creative preparations of local dishes can also be a featured commodity that travelers can take home with them as a gift, such as Yogya’s gudeg or Bandung’s brownies, or Pia Legong and pie susu (milk pie) from Bali.

 

Third, gastronomic tourism can create new creative tour activities, such as cooking classes and tours to the local markets, or combining gastronomic tourism with cultural tourism and natural tourism. For example, travelers may be offered a tour package of visiting a coffee plantation or an organic farm to learn about the sources of food ingedients. Giving a real experience to travelers while they are on holiday is a new trend that is on the rise everywhere. This is one of the special characteristics of gastronomic tourism, that it gives travelers an experience that is more than just consuming food.

 

Fourth, gastronomic tourism opens up more opportunities for creativity in event tourism, such as the organization of food festivals. This activity not only adds to the varieties of activities in the destination, but also has an economic effect with the sales of food products and ingredients to travelers and other visitors.

 

Fifth, gastronomic tourism can foster pride among the local community of the gastronomic culture potentials inherited by their ancestors. The success in promoting and developing gastronomic resources not only gives color to the art and culture field but also arouses a sense of pride by making the cultural element a foundation for  establishing identity. Tourism and culture are often treated as a dichotomy and posed as oppositions in the criticism that tourism commercializes and erodes the local culture, which are not entirely true. On the contrary, tourism opens up opportunities to explore and develop the local culture, one of the elements being gastronomy.

 

Upon observation, in Ubud, Gianyar, the five benefits of gastronomic tourism are existent and continue to grow. For the first time, in 2018, Ubud Food Festival was held, and this event will continue to be held as an annual event to add more excitement into Ubud tourism alongside other festivals such as the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and Bali Spirit Festival.

 

This book tries to explore all the potentials and aspects of gastronomy that Ubud has. It is expected that what is revealed in this book will be able to contribute new insights, and more importantly give inspirations to explore the various aspects and dynamics of gastronomic tourism in Ubud, Gianyar as detailed, deep, interesting, and creative as possible. Ubud, Gianyar undoubtedly has a creative power from and for gastronomy.

 

 The prologue written by I Nyoman Darma Putra