Saturday, February 21, 2015

Portland 9th Annual Chowder Challenge

Today I did my first chowder tasting ever! And voted for my favorite chowder. Totally important information.

I've been crazy about chowder since the first time I tasted it in the US - it's kind of my favorite of all western soups. So when I saw this even somewhere among my trashy surfing activity, I commited myself to go there and try various kinds of the city's best chowder. So there I was this afternoon: Portland 9th Annual Chowder Challenge!


I don't know if this kind of activity is popular enough in Jakarta or Palembang, but for it's a really nice process to legitimately determine which chowder is "The Best Chowder in the town"! So the idea is, upon paying $10, the committee will serve you 12 sample chowders (2 ouces each) from various bars/restaurants in a numbered tray, you blind-taste all of them, pick which one is your favorite, write it in your ballot, and submit it to the committee. After everyone's done with their ballot, the committee will count the vote (just like in all types of vote counting) and announce the winner. To make it easier to imagine, here are some pictures of my blind-tasting joy:

Here is the rule!

It's also amazing how Portlanders are so enthusiastic with this kind of thing. Portland is a city where everyone's willing to spend 30 minutes or more in a long line to try "what's hip in the town" - and apparently this annual challenge draws many voters each year!

The famous Portland long line

In the entrance, the committee will collect the $10, and then give us an empty tray and the ballot. Unfortunately I did not take the picture of them, but it's not so hard to imagine a tray with a paper divided by lines into 12 squares, each numbered from 1-12. What for? Since it's blind-tasting, so instead of revealing the names of the bars/restaurants cooking each chowder, they give us numbers so we can consider our favorites easily. And the ballot also provides a place to take a note in the back side!

Reception desk?

Volunteers filling the 2 ounces samples and put it in our tray according to their number

Welcome the chowders!

I started with a spoon for each of them, and it was amazing how chowders can really taste different! By tasting little by little and not finishing one at a time, I can go back to particular cup for a more narrow comparison when I need it. I did it repeatedly, each round dropping my least favorites until I end up with only 2 cups, and think carefully which one between the two is my favorite. Some people eventually made a mistake by finishing a cup before tasting all of them, making them can't go back to the other ones when they need to compare. My method eventually drawn attention from other people, some regretting their method and thought I'm a serious taster. I chatted with random people in my table, sharing our opinion and some of them even tell me particular ingredients they notice in each sample. Since my cooking knowledge is super tropical (and my chowder knowledge considerably zero), I enjoy the names they mentioned without really knowing what kind of thing they are.

Ah, and anyway, I finally done with my ballot and pick chowder no. 2 as my favorite and no. 3 as best with beer!

Comment section

This was the place where everyone sit together and share their thoughts on chowders! LOL.

Anyway, they just announced the winner for this year! Wilwood Cafe (no. 3), my pick for "Best with Beer" eventually get the title! But my pick for best chowder of the year did not make it, and the trophy goes to Lompoc Tavern (no. 5) - the one that I throw easily because I had a big chunk of potato instead of clam right there.

So when you visit Portland, don't forget to try 'em!

Monday, February 16, 2015

Cultural Understanding: Of Being Majority and Minority

I have been skeptical with Fulbright's mission to "promote cultural understanding" since the beginning of my involvement in this program. At the beginning, I thought that's just another slogan - as values are different, being that "cultural ambassador" thing will be limited with "introducing," or in other words, you can't do anything more than shallow compromise. I just realized how much "promoting cultural understanding" can mean after seeing my Indonesian Muslim brothers & sisters' reaction on Our Three Winners​. Yes, I'm pointing my fingers to you, brothers and sisters, on your outrage to the recently increasing hostility (or "incidents") to innocent Muslims, or Muslim-related attributes.

As politically incorrect as it sounds, here is my sincere reaction: folks, now you can understand how it feels to be a minority. Now you know how to put yourself in the shoes of those whose voice wasn't heard, whose case reported with heavy media bias, and who can't help but to feel insecure for some nonsense everywhere they go. Now you feel it.

Whoa, don't get mad at me at the first place. Now let's take a mirror.

I see some of you get really annoyed with "double standards" of the western media in reporting those cases, comparing Our Three Winners with Charlie Hebdo and you ask people to shout as loud as they did when whites are the victim and Muslims the villain. Now remember what happens back home. Do you ever notice how our mainstream media doesn't even care about the human rights violations and torture in Papua? How do you think they feel? And did you ever care how those Confucians and non-official religions feel for being "unrecognized" for decades, with the ignorance and acceptance from the majority? Ah, the more important: who were the majority? You! And where were you every time Christian community threatened by those stupid extremist? Do you know some communities struggle so hard to even pray? Ah, media doesn't really care to report that! Why? Maybe because the majority care more about shopping discount or discussing what's the newest MUI prohibition? Don't you think our media back home have done too much injustice to our minority? And did you find yourself shout out loud? Yeah, you, and me, are a part of the creation of "truth" - sacrificing the values not important to us to end up in silence. Like what you're accusing right now to the American media and society.

I see you're shocked with those people who shout on you just because you're veiled, you're feeling less safe wearing religious attribute. Welcome to the life of Chinese minority back home! How do you think it feels to be called "Cina!" "amoy" everytime you go to the market? They can't remove their eyes or skin like you can't remove your veil. And do you know how difficult it is to convince those Chinese mothers to send their children to public schools, even the best public university, just because feeling insecure of their childrens' ethnicity? And why do you think those rich Chinese kids always hanging out at expensive malls or within their community? Yes, it's a fear of discrimination and hostile treatment. If you're accusing Islamophobia, there's an unconscious pribumiphobia among them. How can I say that's unreasonable providing the fact of what harm our irresponsible society have done to them? Many of their daughters have been raped without proper trial. The mass pillage always targeting them. Public officials expect, and ask, bribes from them. Law and regulation has discriminate against them.

And I hear you're saying American laws have failed the Muslim community - that the state couldn't facilitate the peaceful existence of Muslim and guarantee their safety. What would you say about our country? Will your attitude differs when it comes to those incremental discrimination within our own society? Why don't you shout louder to our government, saying they have failed the rest of the society with their failure in controlling extremists back home? Are you now trying to say Indonesian government already tried to control FPI? And so does American government also tried to control that killing! And the fact that government fail to prevent that from happen at the first place does not justify anything!

I hate and I can't accept the religion or race-motivated hostility in any form. No matter what my religion. I understand your madness, but I hope you can take it as a lesson to build a majority who aware of the hurdles faced by minorities. In the global communication era like this, each of our voice might count and reach to the other part of the earth, but too many times majority's voices are shortsighted. And that's why this time, you, as a minority, speak loudly and ask the majority to listen. Now you know how it feels wearing the minority's shoes. The unheard voice, the people who have to accept the majority's truth. 

And that is the deepest cultural understanding that you can get. Cultural understanding on yourself. 

You can make a change. That feeling, that understanding of being minority, is a precious experience. It might be even more precious than all your efforts to spread and promote the justification of whatever the value you believe. Don't forget it when you're home. Don't use yourself to be that bad majority that you think you hate right now. If you used to be one of them, change. You can choose to be the people you accuse right now, or be a wiser person with more sensitivity in facing minority struggle.