Balik kampung, nih!

It's phrase uttered by Barack Obama during his speech in University of Indonesia.

"Balik kampung, nih" means "I'm back hometown!"

Probably the only thing I've been waiting for in Jakarta is all about the food. Since I'll be going back home tomorrow, it's good to educate you a little bit.

There would be thousand kind of exotic food in Indonesia and the only thing I really hate is how Indonesian love their chilies.

Ooooh... i hate chili. I hate the piquancy of the food. Sometimes it's nice to have a little hot sensation here and there but most of them are annoying.

Now this might be new but let me introduce you to one word. "Piquant" (adj.) "Piquancy" (n.)
It simply means the hotness from chili. In Indonesian, it's a true English translation for "pedas".

This word is not really known in Singapore (we express it as "spicy"). But Piquant would give a non ambiguous meaning compared to "hot" or "spicy". Hot can refer to temperature. While spicy may be refer to the taste of spice. So hot chai tea (indian traditional mixture of black tea and spices) would be hot and spicy, but not piquant.


Indonesian is one of the country with food known for it's piquancy. Regions such as Padang, Lombok and Manado are places where extra piquant food are abundant.

Other countries such as Mexico, India, some parts of China are known best for their sweat inducing delights.

So if you like food with chili heat, remember the word "piquant".

discern! and digest... ; )