Papeda is typical food of Papua’s most famous. Papeda is like porridge and is really hot. To eat Papeda, we just need to swallow it. It is made out of sago and takes a long time to create this food. The people of Papua have to cut the sago trees first, cut and collect the inside and then cook it. This cuisine can even be more delicious when eaten with a sauce of yellow fish. |
The traditional food of sweet potatoes, sago paste cooked in banana leaves, taro and cassava are common to give to visitors. There is also a unique barbeque, different from the others. It is known as bakar batu literally “rock bake,” rockes are thrown over a pit of hot coals for hours.
Then, freshly slaughtered chickens and pork, sweet potato and its leaves, and red fruit known as tawi are wrapped in banana leaves and thrown into the pit.
The hot rocks are put on top of the food and left to bake for another few hours. The juicy, moist chicken flavored by the banana is most recommended, no salt nor seasonings are required.
Then, freshly slaughtered chickens and pork, sweet potato and its leaves, and red fruit known as tawi are wrapped in banana leaves and thrown into the pit.
The hot rocks are put on top of the food and left to bake for another few hours. The juicy, moist chicken flavored by the banana is most recommended, no salt nor seasonings are required.
There are two types of staple food in West Papua. Sago, mostly consumed by Papuans in coastal areas, which are Biak, Serui, Jayapura, Merauke, and others. People don’t normally grow sago as they grow wild all over the coastal areas. Normally people do not work hard in Papua, fish is available, pork and others are in the jungles, and sago grows everywhere. | Sweet potato, the people living in the highlands eat this as their staple food. Their main source of protein is pork, which is very valuable. The staple food in Papua are rice, sago, taro roots, and kau kau which are generally prepared with seafood, chicken, pork, and a variety of green veggies. |
Mumu is a traditional fish, named after the oven where they cook their dishes, combining pork, sweet potatoes, rice, and greens. It is cooked in the ground over hot rocks.