Jakartans get taste for herbal health food

JAKARTA－Amid the spread of the Omicron variant in Indonesia, more eateries in Glodok, the largest Chinatown in capital city Jakarta, have begun selling Chinese style herbal and medicinal foods.

In a rented space in front of a house in Glodok last week, Cindy Tan was busy selling Chinese style chicken herbal soup, popularly known in Chinese-Indonesian communities as Cia Po Tim Ayam, to her customers.

"Cia Po Tim Ayam can be consumed by anyone. It's to build or boost one's stamina. This is good for a woman who just gave birth," says the 32-year-old woman.

The soup basically comes in the form of chicken stock that is infused with goji berries, ginger and other herbal ingredients.

Of Chinese descent, Tan has been gaining a small fortune from her modest food business.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the habit of consuming healthy foods as a method of building immunity. Noticing that, Tan decided to start her business in September.

"I want to sell foods that can boost the human immune system. In my family, my mother often cooks herbal soups when her kids feel unwell or unhealthy," Tan says, adding that she learned how to make herbal soup from her mother.

According to Tan, she usually has at least 100 customers in a day, with some of them being in the millennial age group. Tan is also selling Chinese dishes using food delivery service platforms such as GoFood, Grab-Food and ShopeeFood.

Graduating with a degree in marketing management, Tan is thinking of establishing more food stalls selling herbal soups in other areas of the city, as she believes that the business is in high demand amid the pandemic.

Glodok, situated in West Jakarta, is a spot for Indonesians to buy Chinese food, traditional Chinese medicines and cheap electrical goods. In the past, the area was designated by colonials as a residential area for ethnic Chinese.

Having grown up there, Stanley Wijaya, a Chinese-Indonesian, is now running a food business that was started by his parents about 50 years ago.

Months after the pandemic hit Indonesia, he decided to add new menu items in the restaurant, including the aforementioned soup.

"Since we want to adapt to life under COVID-19, we want to put healthier meals on the list so that more customers will come to our restaurant," he says.

The demand for healthy foods is increasing amid the pandemic, Wijaya says, adding that selling Chinese herbal or medicinal foods is a great decision.

"Our earnings increased significantly after we started selling Chinese medicinal foods," he adds.

Wijaya further says that he has not yet contracted COVID-19, and he believes that consuming medicinal foods regularly is one of the factors why. "It's not scientifically proven, but I think that maintaining our immune system by eating medicinal foods is important to give us good health," he adds.

Xinhua