As a traditional celebration food dating back more than 17,000 years, ‘Nasi Tumpeng' will take centre stage at the Indonesia Culture and Culinary Festival in Tauranga this month.

Next Saturday, February 18, the festival – at Tauranga Waikato University on Durham St in the CBD –will be a feast of diverse and vibrant Indonesian culture and food.

There will be authentic Indonesian dance performances, interactive music performances of the bamboo instrument ‘Angklung', cooking demonstrations, Indonesian film and much more.

At the heart of it all will be Nasi Tumpeng – a yellow mountain-shaped, turmeric rice dish surrounded by side dishes.

'The meaning is to represent the glory of god and the side dishes is to show the ecosystem and the nature and harmony of life itself,” says Bay of Plenty Indonesian Community leader Mona Zielviana. 'We usually ask elders or respected people to come to the front and cut the top of the Nasi Tumpeng and give it to honoured guests.”

Normally prepared for celebrations such as Indonesia Independence Day and birthdays, the Bay of Plenty Indonesia Community is excited to share Nasi Tumpeng at their first ever Indonesian festival!

Batik and art

Something Mona loves most about Indonesia is the beautiful dresses. 'Batik is our traditional material that we wear.” The festival will show batik demonstrations, which involves dying cloth with wax. 'We use a special wax in the material that you can't find in New Zealand.”

Artist Dali Susanto from Indonesia's art capital, Jogjakarta, will have some of his bold and distinctive paintings on display at the festival. Since living in New Zealand from 2007, Dali's work has been exhibited across Hastings, Napier and Taupo. Now, the Bay has an opportunity to see his work up close! He'll have an exhibition at The Incubator Creative Hub from February 19-March 4.

Thousands of islands

Event organiser Syully Dobson says te festival will highlight Indonesia's diversity – sharing the country's different languages, cultures, foods and traditions. 'Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands and it's the fourth most-populated place in the world as well so there's a lot people don't know about Indonesia and our mission is to promote other parts of Indonesia,” says Syully, who is from Manado, North Sulawesi, of Indonesia. 'There's more than just Bali.”

Bay of Plenty's Indonesian community consists of about 55-65 families, says Mona. 'We'd like to encourage other minor communities like Philippines, Thai, Japanese, or Korean to do festivals because we'd like to learn their culture and heritage.

'Maybe from this we can get more different festivals going on and make Tauranga more multicultural!”

The Indonesia Culture and Culinary Festival is 11am-5pm next Saturday, February 18, at Tauranga Waikato University, Durham St, Tauranga CBD. Free entry.