Food

• Indonesia is a food paradise! Enjoy, be diverse - Indonesians are!

• Eat local food as Indonesians are generally crap at cooking foreign food.

• Eat anything you want, but avoid salads unless you are sure that they washed the vegetables with purified water!

• Being vegetarian is actually quite easy as Indonesians eat lots of rice, tempeh, tofu and eggs. However, you might have to be a bit relaxed about fish sauce, because this is not thought of as meat.

• Indonesian hygiene rules are different to western rules, instead of based on Christianity they are based on Islamic/Hindu beliefs

  • Think Chakras... they progress from your feet to your head, getting more purified as they go

  • Food may be prepared on the ground, then moves up to be cooked, then moves to the table (which can be a mat on the floor)

  • Everything is dirty until cooked

  • Only westerners and fools eat uncooked food

• All tap water and ground water in Indonesia is heavily contaminated with Giardia and E.coli, only drink boiled or bottled water

  • Avoid ice unless it is "ice shaped" – this tells you that it was made where it is served. Ice chipped from a block is still made from boiled water, but the transportation process is dodgy and can contaminate the ice.

  • Ice made freshly at the restaurant or bought in ice shaped blocks is clean and ok

• Chili kills bugs... eating hot food is cool

• Eat stuff that is freshly cooked at time of purchase