Record-high palm-oil prices due to voracious global demand for the oil used for food and now increasingly as a biofuel have left many ordinary Indonesians without their usual culinary fare. Palm oil-derived cooking oil is a staple in the Indonesian pantry. It is used to fry many of the spicy dishes that are part of the local cuisine.But the high price of oil has forced millions of poor Indonesians to eat their food boiled instead of fried.
"I only have fried tempe when I have money, but mostly I don't," said Nurhayati, a mother of five, referring to a traditional dish made from fermented soya beans.
"So my family just eats rice ... and soy sauce," she added as she scrubbed pots in a house where she works as a maid earning 300,000 rupiah ($33) a month.
Read More
