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Bali Style Magazine, Book Review. James Fenton. "Books About Food and Spirit. Bali's Food Culture." Vol. 10, no.2 May 2014
“To an outsider, the cuisine of Bali is perhaps one of its least visible cultural
features. Just about every visitor to the ‘island of the gods’ will have witnessed
the spell-binding beauty of Bali’s brightly festooned temples and colourful
ceremonies. Many of us have had the experience of being stopped in traffic while
a long procession of Balinese in traditional dress pass by. However, how many of
us have witnessed first-hand the intrinsic cultural links between Bali’s cuisine and
its culture and religion? How many of us have witnessed the pains-taking predawn
rituals of preparing the many and varied dishes that accompany a traditional
celebration, such as Lawar or Babi Guling?
In Balinese Food: The Traditional Cuisine & Food Culture of Bali, social and cultural
historian Dr. Vivienne Kruger has compiled a meticulously researched record of
the many aspects of Balinese cuisine—from the secular to the spiritual—with an
eye for detail that evades most observers. In the book Dr Kruger chronicles in
careful detail the ceremonies, rituals and practices that accompany virtually all of
Bali’s unique culinary arts—from satay to sambal. All the classic Balinese dishes
are represented such as a babi guling, the popular spit-roast pork to bebek betutu,
whole smoked duck—each accompanied with a detailed recipe for those who
would like to have a go at preparing the dish themselves. Lesser known aspects
of Bali’s intriguing eating habits are also presented here. You may not know that
the Balinese enjoy catching and eating such delicacies as dragon flies and rice
paddy eels. Dog is also widely eaten around the island, and regretfully, endangered
species of turtle are still consumed on some occasions. In all, Dr. Kruger has
prepared a spicy and multi-layered dish as delicious and pains-takingly prepared
as the dishes described within to create an impressive work of scholarship jampacked
with information and insight into the rarely seen world of Bali’s cultural
cuisine.
”
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