Education on Traditional West Java Cuisine: Variety of Foods and Its Natural Packaging in Al-Aqsha Islamic Boarding School

Abstract

West Java as one of the provinces in Indonesia has a diversity of values, traditions and culture. The diversity of traditional food in West Java is both wealth and identity for people in West Java (Sundanese people). Various types of food can be seen on the gastronomic map of West-Java food which shows the distribution of types of food into main foods, snacks, complementary foods, dessert, and snacks. These types of food develop and are introduced in society through generations. But along with the current globalization that caused the swift flow of information and cultural movements between countries, people in West-Java also felt the change. The rise of foreign restaurants, especially fast food, which spread in big cities in West-Java shows a slight shift towards the consumption style of the types of food from foreign countries. The fact is that fast food restaurants in big cities are always filled with consumers, especially school-age children. One of the reasons why they prefer to consume fast food is for practical reasons, the taste of the food, and the comfort provided by the service and restaurant. This is the reason why researchers give education to high school-aged students, especially Al-Aqsa Middle School in Jatinangor. This program aims to introduce as well as remind again of these students the diversity of traditional West-Java food and the noble values contained in packs of food that are attached to nature, considering plastic packaging is considered a big polluting factor on the earth. The students need to get high motivation on their identity and prideness as Sundanese youth generation. This activity held in form of workshop. The results of these activities indicate that most of the students in the school are familiar with the types of traditional West-Java food, but most of them do not know the type of leaves and the techniques used to wrap these foods. In addition, they prefer to enjoy fast-food because they are considered to have prestigious value even though they realize that the food has a more expensive price compared to traditional West-Java food.