Indonesia

Indonesia is an archipelago of over 17,000 islands in Southeast Asia. It’s an ethnically and linguistically diverse place, although the only official language is Indonesian, also known as Bahasa Indonesia. This is the fourth most populous country in the world, with approximately 238 million people. Despite the population density, Indonesia has the second highest rating for biodiversity in the world. Rhinos live in Java and orangutans are in Sumatra, but both are facing threat to their survival. Indonesia’s terrain includes volcanic peaks, lakes, beaches, and rainforests. You can see striking religious (or animist) architecture in spots like the 18th-century Buddhist temple of Jin de Yuan in Jakarta, or the mysterious, erotic 15th-century Candi Sukuh in Central Java.

Rice and tubers like the native talas (similar to taro) are important staples. Green vegetables like kangkung, spinach, genjer, melinjo, and papaya or cassava leaves are frequently eaten, sometimes sauteed with garlic. Gado-gado (boiled vegetables in peanut sauce) is a typical dish. Try sayur sop, a soup made of cabbage, cauliflower, potato, carrot, macaroni, garlic, and shallot in chicken or beef broth. It is pretty easy to find vegetarian Asian foods of different kinds, but organic eateries are mostly in large population centers. If you’re lucky, you may find some raw vegan or macrobiotic eatin’s. You can always try to get closer to being one with the universe at a Buddhist restaurant.