Exploring Pasar Traditional And its people
Pasar Tradisional is a type of marketplace in Indonesia that sells various goods including seafood, fish, vegetables,spices, even household items. Pasar itself in English means market but there seems to be no exact English term for this type of market. The word “traditional '' is attached to it in order to distinguish this place from the modern marketplace. The most interesting part about this market or generally any pasar is the excitement of bargaining.
In Indonesia, many pasar tradisional is open 24 hours but some of it starts as early as 3 AM. This is where many small sellers are shopping for their kiosk or for their vendor cart. So generally, in this place things are sold in higher quantities.
Pasar is a place that I can recommend to anyone who wants to travel and actually experience Indonesia's life. You might gain some newer perspective than just lounging in the shade served by an Indonesian waitress. You will have some pictures of how their day-to-day life might look like. Afterall, Pasar is part of the culture.
And traveling doesn’t always mean to visit nice places, even humble places have their own story and interest.
I went to Pasar Tradisional with my mom as early as 6 AM. I wanted to do some shoots and learn about something called “human interest”. I want to see for myself how mundane things can actually evoke a certain emotions and story. Everyone has a story and I suppose that’s the reason there’s a human interest story perspective.
Like the pasar my mom and I went to, most pasar sell common items. But it depends on the places/region that you visited. Pasar will always have its own food signature and goods that you can only find in that place.
The first seller that we stumbled upon was a man in a truck full of coconut. These coconuts are not for drinking, rather for cooking. These coconut will be shredded and made milk out of it. The seller was busy moving the coconut from the truck to the stand, so I didn’t bother asking.
On the way to the heart of the market, I saw some cute cats enjoying their breakfast. This spot is known for having a lot of stray cats as the owner always provides cat food for the stray cats around the area.
As we walked more, I spotted a banana seller looking rather dejected. Perhaps, it was her natural expression but since she was on the road side of the street, I could not ask.
Just a few steps after the banana seller, we found a chicken seller. In this place, the seller and the buyer were asking me to take a picture of them when they noticed I had a camera in hand. They didn’t mind that I was shooting a few times of their exchange and expression. It was fun and I said thank you to them.
As I have mentioned that each place has their own unique cuisine, I finally reached a place where they sell klanting, a colored rice cake snack eaten with liquid palm sugar. This snack used to be my favorite and I hardly find them anywhere other than in pasar around east java.
While I stood waiting for my klanting, I took a picture of a spinach seller. These people with bamboo carts on their bikes are often selling things from their own garden or farm.
Finding Exotic Food
Then after I got my klanting, we went looking for a place that sells Sate Pecel. This is not your typical satay or pecel. This dish is the signature of this place. The satay is made from the innard of a cow. So, in a piece of satay you can mostly find intestines. It is given some spices with peanut sauce then grilled.
The satay is served with pecel, a dish that refers to rice and vegetables with peanut sauce. It’s definitely a hell of a breakfast, so filling and so fatty.
Since my mom forgot the exact location, we walked around a neighborhood filled with murals. One of the murals is a symbol of this city and the rest are filled with aliens and solar systems. We eventually met a local who told us the place.
“ It’s there, did you see the sign?” said a woman while pointing out to the street sign.
“ Thank you!”
We reached the place too early and the owner, a woman in her early 72’s , was chatting with us. She told us to wait and that the place opens at 7 AM. The woman was friendly and made our waiting time pleasant. She told us that a few days ago, a reporter from the city’s magazine was covering her story. From her cover story, she mentioned that she has been selling the satay since 1937. While we were at her place, she also told us that she used to sell it at the market but eventually moved home. And at her age, she still loves working because she can earn some money even if it’s not much. Having the establishment at home made it better as she doesn’t have to transport the ingredients.
I would say her type of satay color is similar to satay padang. Yet again, it differs. It’s main ingredient is from the cow's womb and the innards. Perhaps, that’s why it can’t be specified of the name and would rather have it as, than a cow's womb satay.
And to be fair, I didn't even know it was a cow’s womb.It was right after I read the cover story that I discovered what that soft-texture that I ate was.
To enjoy a plate of it, it costs 1$ for 5 pieces of mixed satay with rice, bean sprouts, spiced shredded coconut and peanut sauce. It’s quite a reasonable price to enjoy this exotic food.
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 | Mac is a jack of all trades. A typical introvert in love with literature, books, technology and philosophy. She is also so into nootropics, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than that, she is passionate about cooking and traveling. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things. If you like her content, don't hesitate to upvote, leave a comment or a feedback. A re-blog is also appreciated. |
I seriously loved this post. One of the reasons I love travelling is to be able to do what you did: to get immersed in the culture, learn from it and embrace it. It's so nourishing for us to expose ourselves to different cultures and how others live, rather in just the beautiful and touristic things a place has to offer.
You certainly did say a lot about you in that sentence. I simply love when people appreciate and want to genuine understand the roots and the essence of a place. Thank you so much for sharing you thoughts on this market and the story behind it! :)
PS: The more I get to see from Asia here in Hive, the more I fall in love with it. Can't help it, lol.
It's really about balance. The nice touristic place is eye-candy but what makes traveling more interesting is when you're exposed to different culture, ways of living and communicate with strangers and hear their stories. I wish I hear more stories like this from all over the world but unfortunately, many of us or at least the ones I read are always afraid of interacting with the locals. I am such an introvert and quite timid, but when I explore a place, I go all in. A lot of time when I am exploring places, I ended up learning one thing or two. Thanks for checking this out!
Hahahaha this meals looks so yummy! I'm hungry now😀 . I believe those markets people are very friendly to allow you to take those pictures. They are really beautiful pictures, I really love the first one with the Coconut seller. His expression is hilarious.
It is really cheap and affordable. Oh my! Indonesia is such a beautiful place to live. Thank you @macchiata for showing us these places.
!PIZZA
They can be very friendly! whenever I go and bring my camera, they really welcome it. I honestly was surprised that a lot of people just don't mind about it, in fact they even asked to be photographed. The coconut seller was chatting with the other 2 people and he was making some sort of joke. They really captured the moment of what a market supposed to look like. And it's exactly what I wanted to capture, the moment of exchange between the buyer and the seller.
Thank you for the story and I will re-read it later. Usually we call the bazaar a very big market filled with big and modern products, but your story suggests otherwise.
Oh yeah, In that way, Bazaar is a different concept of Pasar Traditional. Many western media often refer this place as wet market but it's not quite right either, because it sells more than just seafood or dairy.
A lot of Indonesian word is also derived from Persian, sankrits, and more. Pasar itself is etymologically from Bazaar. And like I mentioned, the word after Pasar is often indicating what kind of place is. So, it's gonna be a different thing when I say Pasar Modern (supermarket, modern market), or Pasar Ikan(fish market).
I find trying new delicacy quite interesting. None of the mundane repetitive dish that I'm totally bored of. The pictures are well taken so much so that I'm salivating.
Trying new delicacies is always interesting. It's part of every culture and from cuisines, we can learn about the locals as well. Klanting in that picture actually has a color symbolism that represent the city. Plus, it's a great place to learn about the people and their ways of living.
I understand this. Food is as much of an identity of a people's culture as much as stories and traditions
Such and interesting reading! Wherever I go during my travels I always make a stop at local markets, to talk with locals but also to try some local food and buy some locally products.
I must have forgotten to send reply. Anyway, that's cool of you! I did the same too and a great way to actually learn something during my travel.
Market always has a lot of stories
There are always interesting stories when visiting Pasar in Indonesia.
Pasar Tradisional in Indonesia is the backbone of our country's economy. The existence of "Pasar Tradisonal" has made our country safe from two economic crises (1998 and 2008), even in the era of the covid-19 pandemic "Pasar" still exists as a place for the economy to rotate.
Couldn't agree more. Even when the shopping malls are empty, pasar will always be packed. Unfortunately, a lot of these people are still downplaying the pandemic. But it was around 33C so quite understandable that they feel suffocated + uncomfortable from the mask.
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I really like sate @macchiata :(
we all do.
as an unapologetic foodie I can’t help but notice the above mentioned delicacies.I honestly would like to know how indonesia delicacies taste like, From what i see they look so pretty good and i bet they are taste buds friendly as well .
There's plenty of delicacies to try. I haven't tried some of the extreme ones, just medium range extreme. Many of them are really good as often it's cooked with spices and herbs for quite a while. Thanks for checking out this one!
This post made me hungry 🤤 lol 😆
Thank you for sharing this yummy story with us, @macchiata!😋
I'm curious to try some of these foods, they must be very tasty!