Food Travel Experience: Tidung Island, A Short Trip To Jakarta’s Reputable Thousand Island
On Sunday, May 8th 2018 the tourism class that I am in went to Tidung Island for doing the Fun and Research program before the final exam. The well-known island is not so far from north of Jakarta, our boat trip was only about three hours to get there. On the way to the Tidung Island, the committees that taken care of this trip hand out some bread to the participants for a quick breakfast. The bread has chocolate filling in it, the sweetness from the chocolate mixed with the bread itself that create a good taste for such a cheap price.
We arrived at Tidung Island at about 11 o’clock, we headed to our homestay from the main port with bicycle that we rented. For the record we went to Tidung Island with a guide that has taken care of our trip from Muara Angke port to Tidung Island because none of us has been there before so it is best for us to have a guide. Although, if we ever wanted to come back to thousand island, we will not be using a guide because we can press our budget cheaper than it already is.
At 12 o’clock we had our lunch that has been provided on a table near the gazebo. The menus for that day was fried fishes, tamarind vegetable soup (sayur asam), some fried tofu ball that was covered with bread crumbs. Unfortunately, the woman that serves us foods forgot to bring the sambel (mashed chili) but she rushed back to the kitchen which is supposedly at her house and when she got back some of us had already finished our meal.
The foods is not different from any regular food, there is no unique side of the food in Tidung Island. When we walked to the Love Bridge (Jembatan Cinta), there are some food stalls that serves food that would normally being served in daily basis in Jakarta such as Bakso Malang (Malang meatball), Instant noodles, Coconut drink, even Soto. The only difference is that the place where we enjoyed them, the seashore where the breeze followed by the wave washed away and the feeling of eating together with friends.
Before we went to snorkeling, the girls went to buy some street food we saw earlier near the main port. The street food that we look for was the egg rolls seasoned with papeda spices, the food was good but also ordinary which means we can easily find them in Jakarta (aside from the Island). Fast forward to when we were snorkeling, three participants were being stung by sea urchins that were lied just under our boat without us knowing. Our tour guide said that, the sea urchins in that place were not poisoned and that they will be okay. The only thing that they should do is to take out any part of the sea urchin that still being sticked on their feet.
If we talked about, sea urchin we usually see them being eaten right away but after its spine being removed and we cut open their shells. We do not need to cooked them because the meat is very small and fragile so it is best to eat them right away. People said it is taste salty just like the sea, some seafood restaurant sells them but it is not very easy to find in random restaurant.
In the night time, we were being served with fried chicken with sambal, tofu, and crackers (kerupuk). After we had our dinner, we went barbecuing in front of our homestay that is looking out right at the ocean. The boys have role to grill the foods, and the girls dance along to some music. We are all dressed in Hawaiian themed clothes accessorized with flower crown which I personally hated it, but it is exceptional for this event.
The foods that were being grilled were some fish, sausages, meatballs, and some frozen seafood special for barbecuing.
All food were being grilled and seasoned with simple soy sauce and butter only. My favorite meal was the sausage which were always be everyone’s favorite in every barbecuing event I ever been on. The fish alone, were being prepared by our tour guide and we assume it is fresh from the sea. The fish taste good combined with some soy sauce and sambal and again, we were being accompanied with some music mixed with sound of the oceans wave.
The next morning before we depart from the island, we were being served with some Uduk Rise with egg balado, sambal and fried potato as the side dish. The Uduk rise was delicious, I finished them all which is very rarely coming from me.
In conclusion the foods in Tidung island is not very different from the food that we normally eat in Jakarta, there is still lack of uniqueness that I assume can be matured from the surrounding area in the sea. The locals should be serving their own seafood that is fresh from the ocean considering Tidung island is surrounded by rich sea area rather than serving the mainstream foods that are already familiar with the tourists’ taste bud. Some creativity can goes a long way, if Tidung island have their own taste in culinary I am sure that tourists will not only remember the breathtaking scenery of Tidung island but also the foods that will eventually lead them back to the Island. Thousand island does not only have Tidung island as its destination, therefore creativity in culinary tourism could be divided Tidung island with any other neighboring island.
One thing that people will easily remembering and reminiscing is always either smells or taste of some remarkable food. In order to have more and steady tourist visit in Tidung island, other from their infrastructure is their food. They could transform the seaweed into edible food that can be served as the side dish or even dessert such as jelly.
There is so many way they can make use of their surrounding, if only they pay more attention to this subject rather than being a tour guide or only renting out their houses there are more into it than those mentioned subject.
