Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has a reputation for being a simple everyman, often showcasing his modest side to the public by doing things like flying in economy class, getting stuck in Jakarta’s notorious traffic jams and vlogging.
On his social media accounts, Jokowi recently posted a quick video profile of his long-serving personal chef, Tri Supriharjo, who shared some insights into what fuels the Indonesian president on a daily basis.
In the video, Tri described Jokowi as having a taste for the simple life (well, except for having a personal chef, but he’s the president, so we’ll overlook that). Tri said that he often cooks classic Indonesian home dishes for Jokowi, such as chicken soup, spinach soup, stir fried tempe, and noodles on ketoprak.
Among Jokowi’s favorite snacks are Indonesian staples like fried cassava, fried tofu/tempe, and bakwan. Every morning, without fail, he drinks sour tea and jamu, Indonesia’s iconic herbal elixirs usually concocted out of ginger and turmeric.
Tri has been cooking for Jokowi since 2013 and he said the president has never complained about his cooking, let alone gotten angry at him.
Cynics might call videos like this a PR stunt, but it’s still pretty cool for the leader of the country to actively promote local and traditional food and beverages, as we are indeed a rich nation in that respect.
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