Original subtitles

My mother and I are both famous

for making jajan pasar.

My mother's cooking was delicious. Everything she cooked was great.

It's not just delicious and clean,

but many people were coming to buy it.

And with my mom, the point is,

in a comparison between us, I am more famous than her.

Indonesia is the world's largest island country.

We have more than 17,000 islands.

The most populous island in Indonesia is Java.

And the city of Yogyakarta is the very soul of Java.

Yogyakarta is the only region in Indonesia that is still ruled by a sultan.

So, the people of Yogyakarta have this very strong pride

when it comes to the traditional culture.

It's like a time capsule, because...

they still do what the ancestors did.

Especially, when we talk about the street food.

Because the street food represents its people.

The street food represents its culture.

In Yogyakarta, the food is very local, very rootsy.

Like gudeg, made of braised jackfruit.

Gado gado, made from vegetables and peanut sauce.

Bakso, the meatball.

Nasi goreng, the fried rice.

And cassava noodles.

And then, there are sweet treats called jajan pasar.

Jajan pasar refers to a variety of street food snacks,

usually made from palm sugar, sticky rice, cassava, and coconut.

There is one lady, Mbah Satinem.

She is the master of jajan pasar

and she's been making it for more than 50 years.

And what makes Mbah Satinem's jajan pasar great

is that she uses a very classic recipe.

And everything about her style

is very precise, it's very detailed, it's chef-like.

She even cuts with string on her hands.

So fast like a ninja.

And when you taste the Javanese sugar,

my God,

it is nicely caramelized,

and you will taste the earthiness.

Mbah Satinem's way of cooking,

and even her joyful laugh...

It's authentic, it's real, it's honest.

When it comes to traditional food,

Mbah Satinem is unbeatable.

I get up at 12:00 a.m. to prepare my jajan pasar.

Every night,

my husband and daughter help me cook.

My husband assists me in lighting up the fire.

Sometimes, I get annoyed with him when he gets up late.

Because whenever we get up late for work,

we will not be able to sell our snacks.

When I am sick, I can't go to work.

At 5:30 a.m., my daughter gives me a ride on her motorbike.

I am the main support of our home.

I've been providing food for my husband,

my children, and my grandchildren for a long time now.

So be it. Everything comes from me.

Jajan pasar means "sweet treats in the market."

And it's the oldest recorded street food in Indonesian history.

It is dated back to the eighth century.

Today, you have two kinds of jajan pasar.

You have traditional, Javanese, Yogyakarta-style jajan pasar,

like the kinds made by Mbah Satinem.

They are all the color of the earth,

brown, and green, and pale white.

And then,

you have the kind that isn't.

You have new generations who make jajan pasar

influenced by other cuisines,

like the Chinese-style, the Portuguese-style, or the Dutch-style,

that is way more vibrant in terms of color and in terms of variety.

We make a variety of jajan pasar.

There can be more than 200 items.

But we keep updating it all the time.

So jajan pasar can be served in almost any occasion.

When it is being served in celebrations, we use bright colors.

We also serve it in engagement ceremonies.

To bond the couple together, we use glutinous rice.

It is also served in sad ceremonies.

We are developing more and more creative varieties of this snack for the future.

Of course, the young people of Yogyakarta,

they are adopting this modernity from other cities,

and exploring traditional food their own way.

This is how the cooking process evolves.

I was born in...

Well, I don't know what year.

But...

It has been very long, hasn't it?

Back then, the houses were made with bamboos.

There were many trees along the road.

The streets were full of gravels, it was terrible.

In those days, kids started school at the age of seven.

I was able to finish until the sixth grade,

I did not pass after that.

I cannot recall what year that was, but I started following my mom.

"Learn to sell first."

At that time, I used to sell dishes with her.

My mom used to make clean and delicious dishes.

And she was famous for her food.

She sold foods door-to-door.

She carried it on her back, like this, on her back, using a shawl.

So I started following her all the time.

We went door-to-door until the jajan pasar sold out.

I just imitated my mom, you know?

I was precisely imitating her.

She taught me every single day.

And it made me happy.

In Yogyakarta, jackfruit is commonly used for cooking.

It can be found everywhere.

And the most popular jackfruit dish is gudeg.

Gudeg is the symbol of Yogyakarta.

WELCOME TO THE SPECIALTY FOOD CENTER FOR GUDEG

On almost every corner, you will see gudeg sellers,

nowhere in this entire planet,

outside of Yogyakarta,

has this very distinctive cooked jackfruit,

braised with herbs and spices.

And sometimes it is served with egg,

chicken, and crispy ox.

I am too full to finish this food, Mbah.

Yes, Mbah.

One gudeg, please.

Thank you, Mbah.

Do you cook everything by yourself?

- Yes. - I see.

Old people can cook well.

- Yes, old people cook well. - Yes.

I am 100 years old already, you know.

One hundred.

- One hundred? - Yes.

I have no more teeth.

No teeth.

- It's okay, though, you're pretty. - Yes.

So, all by yourself. How about the spices?

There are red onions, garlic, coriander seeds,

bay leaf, and lengkuas.

If someone else continues the business,

will the recipe change?

No, of course not.

When you come to Yogyakarta,

it is like a window to the past.

The older women, especially, they embrace the recipes

from their grandmothers and their mothers with their heart and soul.

Using the same exact ingredients,

and the same method

each and every day, for many years.

They don't mess with that kind of recipe.

It's like a blasphemy to your culture if you are doing that.

I first met my husband, Jumirah,

on the street when I stopped for a rest.

But I ignored him then, and kept selling jajan pasar.

He was on the west side of the ring road,

I was on the east side of the ring road.

Then...

we talked to each other.

Put it in there, don't throw it.

I won't. It drains water.

So, when it was just the two of us,

we liked to banter.

I just fell in love with her.

She liked me, and I liked her.

So three months later, we got married.

Jumirah started to help me.

Since then, he got close to me.

Watching over me and loving me.

For me, she is the best.

"This is the way I am," she said. And that was it.

He's not handsome.

He was average. I was also an average girl.

Come on, let's go outside.

But I really like him when he makes jokes.

Cassava is a very strong root vegetable

and it's a very staple, local carb in Java.

Historically, people who cannot afford to buy the wheat flour,

or even white rice,

they have to consume cassava.

And they make cassava as a flour to make noodles.

It's called mie lethek.

And the mie lethek factory of Yogyakarta

is the only place still making cassava noodles in this traditional way.

My grandfather started this cassava noodle factory,

which means that I am the third generation.

Mie lethek have become an icon for Yogyakarta...

because this kind of cassava noodles is not being produced elsewhere.

The process starts from the cassava flour.

The ox,

I named him Hercules.

We steam the flour.

Then, we put it into the pressing machine.

It presses down and forms the noodles.

I am now indeed responsible for continuing and developing this business

and also how the production costs increase.

Some people, nowadays,

they want new technologies, new methods for making foods.

Especially, when they are business people.

But if modern technology overshadows the traditional way of cooking

in the next 10, or 20, or 30 years,

it will affect the genuine and authentic

quality of Yogyakarta food culture.

People can taste is it authentic or is it not.

The palette, the sense, cannot lie.

How much for the small one?

It's okay.

What would you like, Mbah?

Palm sugar, please, the good ones.

The genuine one, genuine palm sugar.

These ones are genuine.

Where do you sell?

Along the street.

- Selling things? - Yes.

Since I was single, and now I have seven grandchildren from three children.

I was close to my mother.

We cooked and sold jajan pasar together. That was our routine.

One day, my mother and I were walking home from the market.

Then, we...

saw my father riding his bicycle with another woman.

My mother and I were very upset.

Then, when my father scolded her, she confronted him.

And then, they got separated.

It all happened in just one day.

From time to time, she sunk deeper, deeper, and deeper in sorrow.

"Eh, ah, uh-huh." She just responded like that.

Then, she was taken to a hospital,

but no illness was found.

Mainly, it was her disturbed mind.

It was all up here.

She died soon after.

I mourned for quite a long time.

We used to help each other.

Mom was really kind to me.

After my mother's death,

I just couldn't work or sell anymore.

Surely, I was devastated.

I was sad for losing a mother so quickly.

I felt empty to stay at home for too long,

and I wouldn't have money.

My old house was terrible. It was made from bamboo weavings.

The timbers were eaten by beetles.

And because it was in bad condition, I bought timbers to fix it.

When the house was restored, I decided to start selling jajan pasar.

For Mom's sake. So she would feel good up there...

in heaven.

How many days did it all take place? I really did not know.

Back then, I was just selling a small amount of jajan pasar.

My mother wasn't very well-known.

One day, an assistant to former President Suharto

came to my stall.

The assistant said,

"Ma'am, Mr. Suharto wants jajan pasar."

After trying jajan pasar from Mbah Satinem,

the former president of Indonesia, Suharto,

actually became her regular customer because it's so good.

And everyone was asking,

"Wow! What is this jajan pasar?"

After that, she gained her popularity

which continues until this day.

From 5:00 a.m., there are people willing to wait for one, two, or three hours

just to try the jajan pasar made by Mbah Satinem.

After that, more and more customers

were coming to buy.

And I used the money to buy timber,

roof, and cement.

I fixed the house.

Later on, I even got us a kitchen in our house.

Do you know where that thing is?

My jajan pasar became...

famous!

Now, I support ten family members

from my jajan pasar.

I feel nothing but happiness.

The sales...

are very good!

Indonesia's 17,000 islands

means that it has so many culinary delicacies.

But Yogyakarta has a very unique role in Indonesia.

It's like a passageway to see into the whole millennia back.

Mostly, street food vendors,

their age is 70's, 80's, 90's.

Even Mbah Lindu in Yogyakarta, her age is 100 years.

What is your hope for the future, Mbah?

That I can eat anything I want.

Of course, there will be a change

in how the next generation of culinary heroes explore cooking.

And I don't know how long it's going to be

before food culture changes as a whole in Yogyakarta.

But, currently,

we have many of these elderly women

who still serve fantastically cooked traditional foods

made to perfection.

Grandma.

I'm highly educated, but I've never been in a film.

Well, isn't this your first visit?

How many years did it take?

Yes, that's right.

When you eat jajan pasar made by Mbah Satinem,

it's so comforting,

and you feel nostalgic also.

So, it's like you're eating

the full sweetness of history in your mouth.

One day, a Chinese woman versus a Javanese woman

had such a fierce fight over who was first in line

for my jajan pasar.

I was trembling in fear!

I now provide numbers for my customers to avoid fights.

And my jajan pasar always sells out!

What if I replaced you, Mbah?

If you can do it like I do, you can be like me.

I will always sell jajan pasar.

Someday,

I will train my daughter to replace me.

But, until then,

I can't stop.

I won't stop.

Well, maybe I'll stop

when I am very, very old.

Subtitle translation by Kurniawan Wisnu