Pork

I have never thought of pork as properly belonging to Indonesian cuisine, because I was brought up in quite an orthodox Moslem family and spent my early life in predominantly Moslem communities. Even in Central Java, however, there are large numbers of Catholics and Protestants, with a fair sprinkling of Buddhists and Hindus and representatives, I suppose, of every other major and minor religious faith. Most people eat pork from time to time if their religion allows them to, and will order it in a restaurant even if they do not fancy cooking it at home. You can always buy pork at any market-place in Java; you might find it harder to get in Sumatra, though in big cities like Medan the Chinese will always see to it that there is a good supply. In Bali you see pigs everywhere, free-ranging individualists who all end up the same way: packed in cylindrical baskets, one pig to a basket, they are stacked up on the back of a truck for their last ride.