Taste test in North Jakarta

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Early this morning, I visited a couple Mercy Corps-sponsored food carts in North Jakarta and ended up being a pretty good billboard.

We spent much of the day following street food vendors who work for our Healthy Street Foods Project — Kedai Balitaku, which translates to "My Child's Café" in Bahasa, the Indonesian local language — as they wound their way through the narrow alleyways of labyrinthine neighborhoods. The project's goal is to provide nutritious snacking options for young children while also creating small business opportunities for unemployed residents of poor areas.

As part of my research for these blog entries, I sampled three dishes from the carts. The first was bubur ayam, a porridge made from rice, chicken, salt and coconut milk, and topped with bright vegetables. It costs only 2,000 Indonesian rupiah (US $0.20) per serving, is packed with nutrients and satisfies one-third of a child's daily caloric needs.

And it tasted really good. Thatcher and I quickly downed one bowl each and wouldn't have minded seconds, at all. But it was time to move on.

A little further along the route, I was eager to try another item that's become very popular with local children: fruit jelly. I asked Pak Jadi, the vendor, what flavor children liked best. The choices were tempting, including strawberry, orange, papaya and guava.

"Corn," he said. "They like corn best."

So I tried a corn popsicle. And it was oddly delicious. Imagine corn-on-the-cob blended into a puree, formed into a wobbly goop and somehow attached to a popsicle stick and you'll get the idea.

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

As I tried to eat my corn jelly before it slipped off the stick, I noticed that several neighborhood women — many with babies — were gathering around the food cart to make purchases.

"First-time customers," Pak Jadi told Dini, our field officer. Seems like the silly American guy eating kids' food was a pretty good draw.

Later in the morning we ended up with another street vendor, Ibu Saripah, who was cooking up meatballs. So, of course, I tried some. They were made from egg, carrot, flour, salt, spinach and chicken, and served in a peanut sauce. If I could go around the corner in my neighborhood back home to pick up a half-dozen meatballs for only 2,500 Indonesian rupiah — about twenty-five cents — I'd probably have a fatter wallet and a skinnier midsection.

During our visit, dozens of mothers and children bought food and snacks from the cart, and all seemed enthusiastic to do so. Some even purchased porridge for later in the day to feed their babies. All of them expressed appreciation at the low prices, healthy options and good taste.

I give the food — and the Healthy Street Foods Project — five stars.