Food, Health, Happiness

Indonesia

Indonesian cuisine is one of the most unique in the world due to the geographic and cultural diversity of the country. While the meals are often kept quite simple, they use a variety of spices that add flavor to their dishes. Common spices include chili pepper, cumin, and ginger. Rice acts as a staple as it accompanies most meals and can also be used for making desserts and beverages. Though there are a lot of similarities across the whole country, there also a lot of regional differences. The food could differ drastically depending on which island of the country you are on. To name a few differences - Bali is known for their cooked duck and pig, Minahasa prefers mice and dog, and West Java enjoys meat or fish served in the blood of buffalo or pig.

The health of Indonesian people is mostly threatened by water and air quality, disease, and poverty. Diarrhoea causes large fatalities in young Indonesian children, and it is mostly caused by unsafe drinking water. Research also shows increases in asthma, upper respiratory infection and decreased lung function, which could be attributed to poor air quality known as the Southeast Asian haze. HIV/AIDS has also been presented as a large threat since the 1990s in Indonesia, as well as other diseases such as dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever and avian influenza.

Indonesia ranked 74th in the World Happiness Report that was released in 2015. This report measures citizen’s happiness based off of GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption. Out of 158 countries, 74th is pretty far down on the list and leaving Indonesia trailing behind its regional peers.