Papua Culinary – Enjoying Papua tourism feels incomplete if you haven’t tried the typical Cendrawasih Earth cuisine other than papeda, namely mashed taro.
Mashed taro is a traditional Papuan substitute for rice, made from boiled taro and then pounded until smooth. Usually, this food is served at night. At the first Appearance is was only used as a regular food for the Papuan people, but over time, this food began to become a mainstay menu and was bought and sold on many streets in Papua..
Mashed taro is also suitable to be eaten with ferns or kale mixed with papaya flower leaves. As a side dish, it is usually eaten with smoked shredded fish, rica-rica fish, or fish in yellow sauce and don’t forget the chili sauce to add a spicy taste.
The culinary dish of mashed taro, usually sold by Papuan mothers or ordered from food vendors, is served at family events, religious ceremonies, weddings, or other activities at the same time as a buffet. This typical Papuan culinary dish can be recreated into tumpeng mashed taro, a birthday cake made from mashed taro and contemporary snacks of mashed taro with the addition of grated cheese, customized color and of course using natural food coloring..
We also need to know that taro has health benefits such as: helping to keep blood sugar levels under control, replacing rice as a staple food and so on. Taro preparations can be packaged in the form of: taro chips, taro compote, taro soup, taro barapen, porridge mix, pudding, taro sticks and others. The creation of various taro servings can be used as an alternative for community empowerment in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).