I gave N. my sound recorder and a good microphone and asked her to bring me back sounds from the Pasar Malam Besar. Which she did. Apart from a few keroncong tracks, she brought back this recording, of six cooks making martabak at Warung Semarang. Much Indonesian food is street food, which you buy at stalls. Best eaten when it’s just from the pan, but N. brought back telor asin, which you can hardly get in The Netherlands, and only for a very limited time when they are in season. Such a pity that you can’t have scent recording too, because it is the most powerful memory for me: durian, the smell of charcoal fires used for sateh, spices… Couldn’t eat any of the kue manis she brought, and 80% of the joy of those is looking at them (did anyone say food colouring? I remember the kelepon N.’s grandmother made to be a vibrant, almost fluorescent green)
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