One of the best ways in which you can literally get a taste of Balinese culture is to try its various cuisines. Balinese food has its deep roots in Balinese society and it encompasses every person on the island, regardless of their social background.
This is an astounding phenomenon, given that the traditional Balinese are known to have well-defined class structures and a multi-layered language to communicate with various class ‘levels’ or castes.
Regardless of how you view the cultural significance of Balinese food, there are many different reasons to try a Balinese dish yourself.
1. Discover unknown combinations of spices and ingredients
Bali, like many other islands in Indonesia, uses the basic ten spices — garlic, shallots, turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, clove, cumin, coriander seeds, candlenut, and kaffir lime.
From these ten spices, the Balinese like to add various fat extracts from fish, chicken, pork, and coconut milk. Together with any vegetables that they can find (even with banana flowers and banana shoots), they can create hundreds of specialty dishes that are distinctively Balinese.
Nasi Campur Bebek
2. Balinese Food is a great conversation starter
In Indonesia, it’s normal to ask each other if you have eaten (“Sudah makan?”). You’ll often find that the local people are delighted to hear that you’ve tried famous Balinese dishes, like babi guling, urap, ayam betutu, and nasi lawar.
As a community-oriented society, the Balinese people love to know that a foreigner enjoys food that the local culture has offered — it gives them a bit of pride, and people will like you even more. Go ahead and talk about everything that you enjoy from the dish that you’ve tried and the places where you’ve eaten them.
Ayam Betutu
3. Balinese Food has options for everyone
If you travel in a group, and one of the members has a preference for vegetarian or vegan options, or would like to avoid certain foods for health and belief reasons, the Balinese menu has something for everyone.
Sayur urap and gado-gado are all salad-based dishes that use no animal fat. Gado-gado contains peanut sauce, but not urap. You can easily find nasi lawar that doesn’t use chicken meat, and still tastes excellent because of the savory grated coconut. Babi guling is essentially roasted pork, but you can find halal options such as ayam betutu chicken or bebek kaliwang duck.
If you would like to be 100% sure, many local restaurants and large warungs clearly define their options, but you can still ask what the dish contains.
Babi Guling
Enjoy a great variety of cuisines at The Colony Hotel
Visit our boutique hotel’s restaurant and enjoy a great variety of cuisines from East to West. At The Colony Hotel, we personalize guest experiences from the moment we pick you up at the airport to the moment we say goodbye.
Don’t forget to take a look at our accommodation offers and contact us if you have any questions.