Long story short
It all started with a question “why is plant-based food made to be trendy and expensive?” As Indonesians who grew up eating various Indonesian food that many are plant-based such as jackfruit rind curry from West Sumatra, tofu, the nationally beloved tempeh, mandai — indigenous southern Kalimantan fermented jackfruit rind, I find this question tugging me the moment I set afoot in Europe. I found plant-based food made to be a lifestyle in Europe that is not accessible for all. I mean not the real plant-protein rich diets that has been practiced for so long in Asia, but many plant-based and vegan products and restaurants that exist in Europe.
Then, 1 year into living in Sweden, I started to miss tempe so much I was thinking maybe by luck I can find it in the market. Then I found 2 food brands in Sweden that sells tempe and sell it as completely other name than tempe, making it as if they are very innovative vegan brands that come up with tempe fermentation. (I mean imagine taking Kombucha, Wine, or Kimchi and obliterate the whole entire history of the food and heritage and call it other name).
Living in Sweden for a year, I started to crave the taste of tempe so much. For the hope of it all thinking that I will find tempe in Swedish supermarket, I stumbled upon two food brands selling tempe under completely different names, making it as if they had discovered some revolutionary vegan innovation. The audacity 😒I mean… imagine taking Wine or Kimchi and erasing their entire history and heritage.
Here they are food companies that pretend they care about planet, greenwashing people who genuinely care about the planet and at the same time profiting off Indonesian food culture and simultaneously erasing our culture, and present themselves as innovative and not telling people this food has at least 500 years history and food heritage behind it. (At this point I think, being and sounding unhinged is earned 😭).
So, being an Indonesian, a current food student who is deep into the topic of decolonizing and making food system more inclusive with food technology background, I feel like I want to really do something about it. There are actually stories and wisdom of sustainability from tempe that I would like to share. I also want to share to Swedish people how good real tempe can actually be because in Indonesia,
Neocolonialism, in the context of food, refers to a contemporary form of economic and cultural domination by powerful entities, such as multinational corporations, over less powerful regions and their food systems. It involves exploiting resources, knowledge, and traditional foods for profit, often while erasing or appropriating the cultural and historical origins of those foods.
So, I started Kuno Tempe because cultural authenticity, transparency and food story are necessary ingredients for sustainable delicious food and also because the incredible potential to enhance biodiversity by crafting tempe from locally sourced Swedish beans, utilizing the rich knowledge of Indonesian food traditions.
