Activities

Writer: Claudina Sibarani, Programme Associate
Editor: Firra Kholisha Mustika, Communication

The Culinary Training will take place on August 23-24, 2022 at the Batu Katak Ecotourism Area, Batu Jongjong Village, Bahorok District, Langkat Regency. This activity is part of a program to strengthen the capacity of tourism Human Resources (HR) in region III of Gunung Leuser National Park (TNGL). This training is aimed at community groups who are tourist business actors and the Batu Katak Tourism Institute.

One of the most popular types of tourism is culinary tourism. Tourist destinations are not complete without special dishes. To provide satisfaction to tourists, the quality of service and culinary products must be maintained. Culinary business providers in a destination both in the form of companies, institutions and the community, need to know the service standards and procedures for providing consumption properly. To create new innovations and develop culinary tourism products in Batu Katak Ecotourism, DESMA Center held culinary training with Celebrity Chef Ragil Imam Wibowo.

The first day, the training was divided into two sessions. The first session began with training material on cooking procedures and steps for using kitchen utensils, then continued with the presentation of material related to Strengthening Culinary Products and Empowering Women through Tourism. The second session continued with the practice of cooking karo specialties, namely "Acemi Fish, Sangkep Chicken and Tasak Telu". Participants are divided into 3 groups, each group will present the results of their cooking, then assessed and evaluated together. While cooking, the speaker gave an explanation and demonstrated the potential of Batu Katak Ecotourism. 

The second day, the training was divided into two sessions. The first session, the presentation of material related to local snack products at Batu Katak Ecotourism. Local snack products are one of the supporting factors in tourist destinations, tourist trips will feel incomplete if you don't taste local specialties and snacks. This food product has the potential to bring in tourists. Participants are trained to develop typical karo snack products by utilising product branding. The product branding process is more complicated because there are a series of activities that need to be carried out ranging from plans, target markets, production processes, product packaging, design, labelling, to the marketing process.

The second session was the practice of making a new food menu, namely "Nasi Goreng Bumbu Arsik". Fried rice became the first tastiest food in the world. Foreign tourists are certainly no strangers to Indonesian fried rice. Often fried rice becomes the menu of choice that is most in demand. To strengthen its taste and uniqueness, fried rice is combined with the batak food seasoning, namely "Bumbu Arsik". After watching the demonstration, participants immediately put into practice this unique cuisine.  After the food was served, the speaker gave an evaluation to all participants.

The next menu is to serve typical snacks "Kue Cimpa", Cimpa cake is a typical Karo food that can be used as a local snack. To complement local snacks, participants were guided to process drinks by utilizing plants that are easily found in the Batu Katak Ecotourism area. This preparation is made from young coconut and gelugur sour fruit. Coconut water mixed with passion fruit and Dutch eggplant is very suitable to be served when enjoying nature in Batu Katak.  Processed from gelugur acid fruit is used as syrup and jam, the sour taste of gelugur is unique and provides freshness and is very suitable to be enjoyed when relaxing.

Through this culinary training, participants who are tourist business actors in Batu Katak Ecotourism, are expected to be able to implement occupational health safety by applying procedures for working in the kitchen area and using kitchen utensils properly. Participants are also expected to be able to create the latest innovations and ideas and maintain product quality and quality.

Culinary Training, as part of the Ecotourism Digitalization Project and Strengthening the Capacity of Ecotourism Actors in Gunung Leuser National Park, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra which was implemented by the DESMA Center.

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Digitalization of Ecotourism and Strengthening the Capacity of Ecotourism Actors in Gunung Leuser National Park, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra, which is implemented by the DESMA Center, is a development project of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia, in collaboration with the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB), jointly financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW.

The Ecotourism Digitalization Program and Strengthening the Capacity of Ecotourism Actors consists of a series of training activities which include: (1) Tour Guiding Training (2) Itinerary Preparation Training and Tour Quotation (3) Service Excellence Training (4) Homestay Management Training (5) Culinary Training (6) Hygine & sanitation training (7) Financial Management Training (8) Social Media Management Training (9) Story Telling Training, Writing Captions,  wrote an Ecotourism Promotion Article.

This project also facilitates (1) the implementation of CHSE certification in the tourist destination category, (2) business matching, (3) Fam trips (4) Stakeholders Networking, and (5) Development of a digital platform that will synergize tourism and creative economy businesses in the Gunung Leuser National Park Area in the Langkat Regency, North Sumatra.    

The Ecotourism Digitalization Program and Strengthening the Capacity of Ecotourism Actors is aimed at providing solutions to market access challenges, connecting attractions and increasing quality tourist products in the TNGL region III area. This is in line with the government's objectives contained in the National Medium-Term Plan for 2020 – 2024, the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy 2020 – 2024 and the National Tourism Development Master Plan 2010 – 2025.

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