Unit 1 VCE Indonesian

We are unable to travel to Indonesia; we are unable to ‘eat in’ at any Indonesian restaurant in Melbourne or Geelong; we are unable to prepare an Indonesian meal in the Food Technology area at school; so what can our Unit 1 Indonesian V.C.E. students experience to enhance their learning about our Term 3 Unit, Food and Cultural Etiquette, during on-line learning?

On Monday, 24 August, our class participated in a Zoom Master Cooking class from Denpasar in Bali in Indonesia. Our hosts, Bu Ayu and Pak Ngurah, not only shared their Indonesian recipes with us but also their language and some of their cultural beliefs.

After 150 minutes our students produced a 3 course meal for their family to share and hopefully enjoy. Gado-Gado or Vegetables with Peanut Sauce, Perkedel Jagung or Corn Fritters and Nasi Goreng.

Norma Ellis

Student Reflections of their cooking experience

Thomas

The Zoom Master Class which we undertook was an incredibly valuable experience. Through the combination of cooking and language we were able to improve our skills in an innovative way. My favourite dish from the class was the gado-gado because of the mouth-watering peanut sauce. Moving from dish to dish very quickly was challenging at times but it only enhanced my cooking skills while also making me more efficient. I would certainly repeat the class again. Having the ability to cook on zoom with Indonesian people gave me a new perspective about the cooking experience and how to utilise particular ingredients in dishes.

Hudson

I thought that the cooking class was fantastic and I really enjoyed it. Bu Ayu and Pak Ngurah did an excellent job at expressing the culture and experience and the food was great! My favourite dish was the Nasi Goreng although I really loved the corn fritters too.

Belen

I personally really enjoyed the satay sauce that our class made with Ayu and Ngurah. They did an excellent job at teaching everybody and I think that this would be a great experience for anyone!

Lily

The cooking class was such an amazing experience. My favourite thing to cook was the corn fritters, they were so crispy and delicious. The host couple was amazing and made the class really fun and super easy. It would be too fun to do this again in the future

Kaitlyn

I really enjoyed the Master Cooking Class. I got to make and try new foods. My favourite dish was the nasi goreng (fried rice). One challenge that I had was my mortar and pestle was small compared to what Ibu and Bapak were using. So it took me twice as long to crush and grind everything. However, I think it was a great experience and I would like to do it again. I was also able to talk to Ibu and Bapak in Bahasa Indonesian and in English. I found that it helped my Indonesian and improved my vocabulary learning. In true Balinese fashion the Master Cooking Class was only meant to go for 90 minutes but it went for 150 minutes1 Jam karet!

Cate

The cooking class was so much fun! It was good to see the traditional way of cooking in Bali and to even try it out. The food was so delicious. Bu Ayu and Pak Ngurah were so kind and helpful.

Ella

The online cooking class was a really fun experience, and I really enjoyed meeting Bu Ayu and Pak Ngurah. It was great talking with them and getting a bit of an insight to their lives, while also learning how to cook some traditional Indonesian meals. The food was very tasty - pure, traditional Indonesian flavours.

Mikaeli Fraser

A wonderful experience especially when we are all in ‘iso’.

We made three amazing dishes during our master class, my favourite dish out of the three was the corn fritters. The class got a bit hard for me as I was doubling everything as I was cooking for four people instead of two. This was an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys cooking or loves eating different cultural food. My family wasn’t really bothered with me taking over the kitchen during this time as I normally cook and they got some delicious food out of it. I would definitely do this again with some different recipes and learn some more Indonesian recipes to cook whenever I want.