On the picture H.E. Ms. Retno Marsudi , Minister of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Wesaka Puja, Ambassador.
By Roy Lie Tjam.
Amstel Park in Amsterdam has been the venue for the incredibly popular annual Taste of Amsterdam Festival for many years, this year it was held from the 2nd to the 5th of June 2016.
Taste of Amsterdam is a food festival where you can find the best chefs and their creations, all under one roof. The size of the dishes is therefore geared to give you the chance to taste of multiple restaurants and delicious dishes during your visit.
The festival is not merely just food tastings but also wine tastings, cooking master classes and demonstrations by famous Dutch chefs. You can also shop for unique artesian products from small producers and local entrepreneurs, who are present at the festival.
H.E.Wesaka Puja Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in the Netherlands officially opened the Indonesian booth “Indonesia Coffee House” on Friday the 3rd June.
The Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs who is a former Ambassador to the Netherlands H.E.Ms. Retno Marsudi graced the festival with her presence. Indonesia attended the festival to promote its coffee, as it is the fourth exporter of coffee in the world.
During the festival, it was guessed that over 5000 cups of coffee were handed out, free of charge. A chef (Indonesia Satu) offered a variety of Indonesian delicacies and coffee cocktails called coffeetail. Furthermore, there has also been an ongoing coffee brewing demonstration by Barista Coffee Roaster.
Ambassador Wesaka Puja, in his inaugural address, highlighted how the Embassy of Indonesia has been participating in the Taste of Amsterdam since 2014 and is the only participant from the diplomatic missions in the Netherlands. Indonesian cuisine is one the many relevant links held between the two countries, with this link being embodied in by the well-known phrase saying “You are what you eat” and therefore “Eat, drink and be merry!”
The reason for having the Indonesian Coffee House at Taste Amsterdam is that one needs to drink as well as to eat to be merry. It is said coffee is the best drink to accompany Indonesian food. However coffee is not just a drink, it is one of ten main export commodities of Indonesia. Today Indonesia is also home to the richest variety of specialty coffee such as Luwak, Toraja, Aceh Gayo, Papua, Bali Kintamani, Flores and many more.
Ambassador Wesaka Puja continued, the Embassy will always be conducting promotional events such as participating in the Taste of Amsterdam to support the efforts to enhance our bilateral relations.
“From a shared history into a common future” is the theme for the current bilateral relations.
By employing the coffee theme in order to participate this year, Indonesia hopes to reintroduce herself to the younger generation of Dutch people, and thus to maintain and enhance the economic and people-to-people relationship.
