The Foods Humanity Forgot — and How We’re Bringing Them Back | Helianti Hilman | TED

Indonesia does not have a food crisis.

What we have is actually a food policy crisis.

We have the answer, actually, in our food biodiversity.

We have over 1,200 grains, over 600 edible roots,

not to mention more than 550 fruits

and 1,600 seafood and many more.

And we can find all these food sources in different landscapes.

So Indonesia has a very diverse landscape.

We have over 17,000 islands across the archipelago,

from sea to the mountains,

including rainforest, mangrove area, peatland area,

arid land area.

You know, everything is there.

So actually there is no need for one-fits-all diet,

because each of these landscapes have their own food sources.

For a lot of [the] Indigenous community,

these landscapes are a supermarket without bills.

So I started Javara 15 years ago

with the mission of bringing back forgotten food biodiversity

to help Indigenous and smallholder food farmers to improve their lives,

while also providing consumers with healthier diets,

with products that are also ecological.

So of course, I got to travel across Indonesia,

spending time with Indigenous community,

and to my surprise,

places that are so remote

and not even touched by the government policy,

food policy programs,

are well-fed and healthy.

Yes, they may not have much cash,

but they are [not] lacking of healthy, nutritious food,

as long as the natural environment is not being destroyed.

So let's look into the crop diversity that we have.

We have grains.

We have edible roots.

We have fruit-based. We even have tree trunk.

And all of these are gluten free.

(Laughter)

So another example is on our sugar diversity.

We have at least four native fruit trees,

including coconut for the lowland and coastal area,

arenga tree in the forest area.

We have arid land

with the lontar or palmyra sugar.

And then we have nypa in the wetland.

But by the way, nypa also produces salt.

How bizarre it is.

The same plant produces sugar and salt.

And every single of these sugars [is] low-glycemic,

providing slow-release energy.

And they are very sustainable.

They can easily be productive at least for another 50 years.

Yet the government decided to come up with massive food estates

on sugar cane plantations.

So let's deep dive into an example of ube or greater yam.

Ube can be found in the wild.

Easily domesticated, can grow under the shade of the tree,

and it can easily -- you get over 40 kilos each harvest.

So this is the type of staple food

which you don't need to destroy the forest,

you don't need to poison our soil,

and basically you don't even need to introduce new type of crop.

Unfortunately, the government,

the policy for over four decades choose to ignore our food biodiversity,

and instead monoculture of rice prevails.

Over 98 percent of Indonesians are consuming rice right now.

Let's compare with 1954, where actually it was only 53 percent.

The rest was based on cassava, corn, sago and other edible roots.

So I have to say, this is embarrassing,

and at the same time very frustrating

that a country like Indonesia where the food is abundant,

we have such high rate on stunting and malnutrition,

not to mention the impact of our food policy towards deforestation,

land degradation, climate change, natural disasters,

impoverishment of our farmers

and also poor diet among the population.

We do have a vision, actually, on how the policy should be.

We need to shift from monoculture to food biodiversity.

We need to revive back the heritage food

that actually can provide good nutrition for all,

while also keeping intact the nature.

It is time for us to give a center stage for the food biodiversity.

To be able to find the solutions that we need.

This is an example of a small village in Central Java,

which decided to embark on a journey to nutrify its community,

making sure that every household [has] a food garden,

cultivating chicken, fish, vegetables, fruits, herbs.

And this is interesting because once they did that,

they can reduce their grocery costs by 30 percent,

improving their household income by 20 percent,

increasing class attendance and also improving the student grades.

So nutrition matters.

Feeding the nation is one thing,

but nutrifying the community goes a very long way.

So children [are] our future.

It is also time for the food policy

to also include food culture education into our curriculum,

teaching our children about where their food comes from,

what [is] the food biodiversity available around them,

to embrace their food culture identity,

to understand the nutrition that they have

and how our food relates with sustainability.

So basically,

if we can shift the policy

to include food biodiversity,

we can provide nutrition,

good nutrition for all

without jeopardizing our nature.

It is time for us to invest more in food biodiversity,

in the mainstreaming of biodiversity

as [a] practical, inclusive [solution] for the future of our food.

Not only that we have a food policy crisis,

we also have a food identity crisis.

For decades, we have been ripped off

from our relationship to culture and nature.

We have to help the people to go through this crisis of identity,

allowing them to understand the importance of heritage food

to become the answer,

and also to understand that it is the food of the future.

Rebranding it, making it sexy and hyped

so that it is no longer perceived as a poor man diet.

Thank you.

(Applause)