Paper 1a
Read the following passages and then do the exercises below.
a Indonesia is a very large and populous country consisting of around 13,000 islands, some huge and some tiny, scattered near the Equator. From this information alone, we can make some predictions about the local food. Rice is widely grown and the basis of any meal, and fish and other seafood is consumed in large quantities.
b Just close your eyes for a moment and picture those islands. What can you see? Yes, lots of palm trees and swaying banana plants - so coconuts and bananas are also important ingredients.
c What else do you know about Indonesia? Why did the area attract a lot of foreign attention? Yes, right again: there were the Spice Islands, and of course a lot of the food is very spicy. Another common ingredient in Indonesian cooking, which is a little harder to guess, is peanuts.
d The typical meal consists of some soup, a salad, a bowl of rice with some fish and some sambal, a very spicy sauce. The food can be eaten with the hand (it sounds messy but if you do it all your life it can be very graceful and clean) or a spoon and fork.
e Let's consider some typical dishes. Beef rendang is beef cooked in an almost dry sauce of coconut milk and every spice you can think of, including of course lots of garlic, chilli and pepper (make sure there is plenty of water on the table).