Consulate General of The Republic of Indonesia on June 22, 2019 held an event named “Indonesia Food and Cultural Festival” in Movenpick Hotel, Istanbul. This event brought Indonesian cultures to Turkey with purpose to widespread Indonesian culture to international society, particularly Turkish people.
There were around 24 booths that displayed Indonesian traditional clothes, handcraft and foods where visitors could walk around and taste Indonesian food. For most people in this event who have tasted Indonesian food for the first time,, they did love it despite Indonesian food is not so familiar in Turkey.
One of the visitor namely Ersa, a Turkish girl said that the taste is quite nice and delicious.
“This is my first time I eat Indonesian food and feel that Indonesian foods are so delicious, I tried Tempe and Bakso,” she said.
Furthermore, Indonesian traditional dances such as Ngibing Dance, Maumere Dance and Merak Dance were also performed.
The Consulate brought InaDance, two Indonesian women who have stayed in Holland and already traveled in many countries to spread Indonesian culture by performing Indonesian traditional dance.
Nikita Engelbert Van Bevervoorden & Amina Tanoewidjaja, the member of the InaDance said that they love Indonesian culture even though they stay in Holland for a long time. They started dancing since 2008 and have performed in various occasions.
The Consul General of Indonesia, H.E Herry Sudradjat in his speech said that the ties between Indonesia and Turkey should be a sustainable cooperation in many sectors.
“The bilateral economic and trade cooperation between Turkey and Indonesia shows a promising development, we need to acknowledge the importance of people to people connection through culture and education. For now, there are about 2.500 Indonesian people living in Turkey and approximately 400 Turkish nationalities who are living in Indonesia,” he said.
In this event, Indonesian songs also performed by the Indoneian Students Band based in Istanbul named The Manjo. The Consul General of Republic Indonesia, H.E Herry Sudradjat directly trains and supports this band because they have brought Indonesian flavours in their repertoire of music. This band actually has been in many events held by the Consulate. Furthermore, this band composes their own songs such as “Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia”. In this song, it describes their feelings when they saw Blue Mosque for the first time.
As the time passes, a lot more visitors came to the venue and when the Maumere Dance performed, a lot of visitors also dance together on the stage. They share laughs, joy and happiness with Indonesian culture.
Additionally, Indonesian art and Language Centre (PUSBIN) in the Consulate have been taught Turkish people to speak and understand Indonesian culture.
One of the student, Fatime Busra Kuzucu can speak Indonesian Language fluently after two years studying in PUSBIN. She feels so happy about Indonesian culture and about to married with an Indonesian this June.
There were more than 400 visitors came to this event from different nationalities. Thalitta, one of the visitor from Ukraine described her feeling towards this event.
“This event is really nice and also this is my first time trying Indonesian food. I like it so much”, she said.
The Consulate hopes that this event will be annual program so that Indonesian culture can be well-known in Turkey.
"We hope that this event can be sustain for the next year", said Iwan Wijaya Mulyatno as the Information, Social and Culture function of the Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia in Istanbul.
Indonesian Food and Cultural Festival is an event organized by Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Istanbul in collaboration with Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Indonesian Students Association in Istanbul (PPI Istanbul).
