Indonesian Food outside Indonesia (international symposium)

Name: Indonesian Food outside Indonesia (international symposium)
Start: 2026-03-27T09:30:00+01:00
End: 2026-03-27T16:00:00+01:00
Location: Leiden University Observatory

Schedule

Fri Mar 27 2026 at 09:30 am to 04:00 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

Leiden University Observatory | Leiden, ZH

Across Europe, North America and beyond, Indonesian dishes are cooked, adapted, remembered, reinterpreted and sometimes misunderstood. Restaurants open and close. Cookbooks are written. Family recipes are guarded or transformed. Dishes evolve to suit local ingredients, tastes and expectations. At the same time, questions of authenticity, ownership and representation become more urgent.
The symposium Indonesian Food Outside Indonesia brings together chefs, writers, researchers and culinary professionals to reflect on how Indonesian cuisine is experienced and positioned outside Indonesia.
This gathering is an initiative of Stichting Eating Habits and Indonesia Diaspora Network Global (IDN-Global), in collaboration with KITLV in Leiden. It creates space for dialogue between practice and research, between lived experience and historical context.
We will explore:
- How Indonesian food is perceived internationally
- How diaspora communities shape culinary identity
- How dishes change in new environments
- What authenticity means in different cultural contexts
- How Indonesian cuisine can be promoted responsibly and sustainably abroad
It will be a forward-looking conversation about visibility, representation and the future of Indonesian food in a global context.