biodiversity
The Gen Z Creator Who Is Reigniting Indonesia's Food Biodiversity Scene
Words BY ANGELINE MULIA
“Hi, I'm Tamtam and I think Indonesian food is under appreciated.”
PRATAMA NUGRAHA, 'tamtam'
image courtesy of qiyun
Right at the centre of Indonesia's online food scene is one name who has invigorated the creator space in the past year. With his English narration accompanying his short-form style recipe content, Pratama Nugraha or more commonly called 'Tamtam' via his social media pages has gone to start his own page after working at Jakarta Vegan Guide for two years - his first full time job after graduating with a degree in French Pastry in the pandemic. NEO's editor in chief Angeline Mulia speaks with him through an online call to talk about his journey and the inner workings behind his success in the digital space.
Starting from your background, you specialised in French pastry, right? And then you switched to local Indonesian cuisine, which is quite a complete shift.
What made you decide to change your focus?
tamtam
It was because of climate change, actually. I was concerned about our climate and our future. So around 2020, I was among the Extinction Rebellion, protesting and after a year of unemployment due to the pandemic, I got my first job at Jakarta Vegan Guide. They're the ones who taught me about content creation. I knew that if I were to make an impact, I would have to do it in food; that's my role in this climate change crisis. My job was mainly to veganize every Indonesian food, but I realized the dishes most valuable to me are the ones originally vegan. I think veganism is a good vessel to diversify our plate and preserve our biodiversity. Everyone who is into local gastronomy will eventually realize that Indonesia's strength is in food biodiversity, because we are really mega-diverse.