Gerry Barja - my food adventures in Asia

Gerry Barja

Before I take you on this journey I want to explain how I developed my taste for the culinary arts. It started back in my mothers' kitchen. My mother always taught me to be adventurous with food. Having an Asian, Indonesian background I was always eating rice as a staple and various vegetables and meats local to our coastal home. My mother was always intrigued by foreign foods and always told me "even though we are not rich and unable to travel we can certainly get a taste of other foreign foods". She was certainly right as she would prepare Italian, Indian and other foods from other faraway lands. Up until my university years I already had the taste buds for foreign foods.

Gerry Barja

My school years were spent at Jakarta State University. I had little money to spend but would always try to eat American burgers and often sought western dishes. Hamburger and french fries was my starting point for western food. I always thought the western food was a little bland for my taste but loved the simpleness to the combinations of flavor. I typically found that contrast and relations between tastes are what made western food appetizing. Mixing sour and sweet, salty and hot, sweet and hot/sour etc. Westerners achieve this with basic pepper, table salt as appose to fish sauce, ketchup substitutes for sweet and sour etc.

Gerry often like traveling to remote unpopular areas in Asia and exploring food adventures.

Gerry Barja: Watch the video on Thai food