Indonesia Gastronomy Museum is a digital archive of Indonesian cuisines created by Indonesia Gastronomy Community and PT Siji Solusi Digital, a digital startup company.

Indonesia Gastronomy Community’s chairman, Ria Musiawan, said that while it functions as a museum, Indonesia Gastronomy Museum aims to be the drive for Indonesia’s gastronomy sector.

Ria also said that the museum will also encourage the improvement of the tourism industry and small, micro and medium enterprises (UMKM) in Indonesia. The presence of the Indonesia Gastronomy Museum will open the strengthening of partnerships with relevant stakeholders.

“As such, the mission to preserve Indonesian food and also bring Indonesian cuisine to the world’s stage can be realized,” said Ria.

PT Siji Solusi Digital CEO, Dimas Fuady, said that the virtual museum is made to accommodate the needs of millennials. He compares the museum as a doorway that allows visitors to travel from one place to another while learning the history and origins of cultural processes. Visitors can also study certain gastronomy histories directly from their places of origin in the virtual museum. 

“The idea of Indonesia Gastronomy Museum is much more relevant during this Covid-19 pandemic, where a lot of museums are closed and don't allow any visitors,” said Dimas. 

Fancy features
The Indonesia Gastronomy Museum provides users with 3D features, 360-degree journey experience, digital films, infographics, mega photo gallery and 3D artifacts. The website also includes user-generated content and ‘Gastropedia’ marketplace.

It provides information about the history, origins, and also the process of cultural acculturation of various cuisines. More specifically, the food that is served and consumed by Indonesians every day.

The museum also supports the “Indonesia Spice Up the World” program to conduct the socialization of the top five Indonesian cuisines to the international arena. These five Indonesian cuisines are rendang, soto, nasi goreng, satai and gado-gado. According to Ria, this will be more possible with the support of a virtual museum.

Initially, there were 26 categories that will be displayed in the museum but after more discussions, it came down to 7 categories. These categories can be viewed inside the museum’s zones, which include Tumpeng as symbolic food, herbs and spices, variety of Indonesian cuisines, Pawon Kitchen, E-library, and Indonesia’s Food and Seafood for the Future. 

The virtual museum can be accessed through the site museumgastronomi.id. There, sources of information, knowledge, education and entertainment are available. The existence of the Indonesia Gastronomy Museum hopes to support various sectors of Indonesian gastronomy in a sustainable manner.