Food And Drink

Compared to other Southeast Asian cuisines , Indonesian meals lack variety. Coconut milk and aromatic spices at first add intriguing tastes to the meats, vegetables and fruits, but after a while everything starts to taste the same - spiced, fried and served with rice. Be particularly careful about food hygiene in rural Indonesia, avoiding poorly cooked fish, pork or beef, which can give you flukes or worms.

Rice ( nasi) is the favoured staple across much of the country, an essential, three-times-a-day fuel. Noodles are also widely popular. The seafood is often superb, and chicken, goat and beef are the main meats in this predominantly Muslim country. Vegetarians can eat well in Indonesia, though restaurant selections can be limited to cap cay - fried mixed vegetables. There's also plenty of tofu and the popular tempe, a fermented soya-bean cake.