President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is well-known as a populist leader who’s rarely shy about showing off his middle class mentality, by, for example, taking commercial economy class flights and wearing clothes from Zara.
Jokowi burnished his credentials as a man of the people once again yesterday, asking kaki lima street food hawkers to serve lunch during a cabinet meeting attended by his ministers, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and himself at the Bogor State Palace.
In the post, Jokowi wrote that he ordered nasi goreng (fried rice), bakso (meatballs), and taoge goreng (fried bean sprouts) among others. And, as is true with most kaki lima, he said that the food was “delicious and cheap.”
According to Presidential Secretariat Head Darmansjah Djumala, Jokowi and his family have their favorite street hawkers that they hail when they are at the Bogor State Palace, with a nasi goreng seller who is usually stationed at nearby Salak Hospital being a particular favorite.
“It’s in line with his (Jokowi’s) philosophy that the State Palace must be close to the people. So he got his ministers to eat what is considered food of the people, like sate and bakso,” Darmansjah said, as quoted by Detik today.
Of course, all the street food Jokowi ordered was closely inspected by the Bogor State Palace’s household staff for safety and hygiene.
