Bas-relief of Borobudur depicting cooking and cleaning the fish scales
Indonesian cuisine has a long history—although most of it is not well-documented, and relied heavily on local practice and oral traditions. A rare instance is demonstrated by Javanese cuisine that somewhat has quite a well-documented culinary tradition. The diversity ranges from ancient bakar batu or stone-grilled yams and boar practiced by Papuan tribes of eastern Indonesia, to sophisticated contemporary Indonesian fusion cuisine. The ethnic diversity of Indonesian archipelago provides an eclectic combination — mixing local Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Minang, Malay and other native cuisine traditions, with centuries worth of foreign contacts with Indian traders, Chinese migrants and Dutch colonials.
Bas-relief of Karmawibhanga of 9th century Borobudur depicts a rice barn and rice plants being infested by mouse pestilence. Rice farming has a long history in Indonesia.
Rice has been an essential staple for Indonesian society, as bas-reliefs of 9th century Borobudur and Prambanan describes rice farming in ancient Java. Ancient dishes were mentioned in many Javanese inscriptions and historians have succeeded in deciphering some of them. The inscriptions from Kingdom of Mataram era circa 8th to 10th century mentioned several ancient dishes, among others are hadaŋan haraŋ (minced water buffalo meat satay, similar with today Balinese sate lilit), hadaŋan madura (water buffalo meat simmered with sweet palm sugar), and dundu puyengan (eel seasoned with lemon basil). Also various haraŋ-haraŋ (grilled meats) either celeṅ/wök (pork), hadahan/kbo (water buffalo), kidaŋ/knas (deer) or wḍus (goat). Ancient beverages include nalaka rasa (sugarcane juice), jati wangi (jasmine beverage), and kinca (tamarind juice). Also various kuluban (boiled vegetables served in spices, similar with today urap) and phalamula (boiled yams and tubers served with liquid palm sugar). Other ancient vegetable dishes include rumwah-rumwah (lalap), dudutan (raw vegetables) and tetis.
