Local knowledge of the Sundanese community on traditional foods to enhance the family food security

Abstract

Sundanese people in rural West Java have a rich the local knowledge on a variety of traditional foods. However, studies on the local knowledge of Sundanese rural communities on the variety of traditional foods are still rare. The objective of this article is to elucidate the local knowledge of Cijambu Village community, Tanjungsari Sub-district, Sumedang District, West Java, on the traditional foods. The method used in this study was qualitative with Gastronomic Ethnobiological approach. It may be defined as the study of the complex interactions between human societies, food, and their environment. The result of study showed that there are at least 26 types of traditional foods that are usually created by the local community of Cijambu Village. The producing of a variety of traditional foods is based on local knowledge of the rural people as a result of inheritance from one generation to another. The basic ingredients for creating a variety of traditional foods are mainly used various plants that are produced from village agroecosystem. At least 39 species of plants representing 21 families are predominantly used to create 26 types of traditional food of Cijambu village community. Almost all of those plants are obtained from the production of various village agroecosystems of Cijambu, including homegarden, upland field, and wet-rice fields. The existence of a variety of traditional foods in rural areas, in addition to maintaining the identity of the village traditional food cultures, is also important to support food security in rural areas.

Ethnobotany of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in the traditional peri-urban Sundanese community of Cireundeu Hamlet, Cimahi City, West Java, Indonesia

“…Because the cassava is easily grown, even in marginal lands, including dry land and non-fertile land, easy grow and no need intensive farming inputs. As a result, it has built a biocultural system that has been jointly shaped by biological and cultural dynamics, which has a strong relationship between culture, linguistics and biodiversity Maffi and Dith 2014;Iskandar and Iskandar 2023a).…”

“…The Cireundeu people are smilar to other rural Sundanese communities in general, including the Cijambu rural community of Cijambu Village and Tanjungsari Sub-district, Sumedang District, West Java. The cassava has traditionally made various distinctive Sundanese foodstuff, including boiled vegetable (lalab), sayur/angeun daun sampeu, tumis/oseng daun sampeu, and urab daun sampeu (Iskandar et al 2023a) (Figure 6).…”

“…On the basis of ethnobiological perspective, it has been known that there is a strong relation between cultural diversity and biological diversity, which has formed the biocultural system jointly shaped by biocultural and cultural dynamics (Maffi and Dilts 2014;Seele et al 2019;Franco 2022;Iskandar and Iskandar 2023a). Traditionally, some local communities in Indonesia used various distinctive local staple foods, such as sago, corn, cassava, and sweet potato (Nurfitriani and Hindersah 2021), but corn, cassava, sweet potato are native to South America, they are not local, but now naturalized.…”

“…In addition, the national food security program in Indonesia prioritizes increasing rice production rather than various other types of non-rice food. In the early 1970s, for example, the Indonesian government made efforts to modernize rice farming businesses through the Green Revolution (Iskandar et al 2023a). The government has also been trying to increase rice production by creating new rice fields.…”

“…Historically the reason for switching to cassava occurred when there was a shortage of food, especially rice, during the Dutch colonial period (Logayah et al 2021). The cassava has been farmed and used by the Cireundeu people since 1924 with their local knowledge and beliefs (Iskandar et al 2023a).…”