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A Day in the Life of an Ubud Cooking Class

The Full Bali Cooking and Cultural Experience

By Sh*t Happens - Lost Girl TravelPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
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About to begin out wonderful Ubud cooking class (photo credit to the author)

The Market Tour

As many cooking classes do, we started our day at 8 am at the food market. But unlike other local cooking classes, we did not visit not the super touristy Ubud market.

This was a relief because Ubud market involves having things waved right in your face every 3o seconds or so, be it an incense holder, elephant t-shirt, or a wind chime. The last time I was there, an aggressive saleswoman physically dragged me into her shop by the arm and even fought over me with the shop next door. After this fight, she felt entitled to me and bullied me into buying a sarong. I felt lucky to get out alive. It’s a lovely sarong but it’s tarred, now every time I look at it, I think of this scary woman!

Instead, I was grateful that we drove to the next town over to a traditional, local food market. Our small group of seven were the only tourists there and our guide seemed almost famous in the market and is warmly welcomed wherever he wanders. He tells us that he no longer shops here for himself because people say “You must be rich because you work with tourists!”

Our first sight outside the market entrance is a gigantic suckling pig, sans head. Our guide apologised for its lack of head, somebody came and bought it this morning.

For most people here this is a traditional Balinese breakfast. This pig takes over 5 hours to cook, so the vendors have been here since 1 am cooking and prepping the people’s breakfast. Now that’s dedication!

We are asked what does every traditional Balinese market have to be opposite?

Erm… a temple?

No. It’s a palace!

A palace?! What?! Just how many palaces are there in Bali? Surely it should just be the one, no?

Nope, not here in Bali. During our market trip, we are quizzed about our knowledge of local herbs and spices, fruit and vegetables, marinades, culture, and history. It feels like school but I kind of like it. It’s fun and we learn so, so much.

We try giant oranges, kind of like grapefruit and snake fruit with the skin of a snake and a sour, chalky taste that will suck all the saliva right out of your cheeks. We saw a table full of beautiful, ceremonial flowers. Smelt aromatic ginger, fresh turmeric, and kafir limes. Were asked if we would wear this woven cone as a hat and then told that we would be laughed at because it’s actually a rice steamer.

Learning about family life

The course itself is located inside our guide’s family compound. It’s so wonderful to be invited into somebody’s home and to learn all about Balinese family compounds and how they work. Life is very different to back home.

In Bali, you don’t just live in a single house or apartment and you don’t live with only your partner or your immediate family and definitely not by yourself.

Your entire family, all generations, and outer layers live together. So you would live with your partner and children, your mum and dad, aunt and uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and of course your grandparents.

The complex is set in a hierarchal structure. Grandparents, of course, get the best room. You never leave home. That is unless you are a woman and you get married, then you have to go and live with your husband’s family.

The adage is that you are born here and you will die here. Speaking of dying, that’s pretty different and interesting too. Bodies are cremated but only once every 5 years when there is a mass cremation to save on costs. Bodies are wrapped up in the meantime and buried before being dug back up when the day comes.

When babies are born the placenta is buried in the garden and marked. Once the child reaches puberty, the marking is removed.

In modern-day Bali, to start primary school a child must be 7 years old and have a birth certificate to prove their age. But this is a relatively new concept and most of the older generation can not tell you their age. They don’t know when they were born, not even the year. It’s not important. This must be kind of liberating, you literally are as old as you feel!

I asked if they didn’t know the age of a child then how did they know when to send them to school. He said that when they are able to place their arm over their head and touch the ear on the other side. I just love this!

Religious ceremonies

An example of some of the ceremonial offerings (photo credit to the author)

We are told all about the Balinese ceremonies and offerings to the Gods. Both to appease the higher spirits, placed up high, and to placate the lower spirits, placed on the ground. The offerings are only prepared by the women. A monumental portion of people's time and money is spent on the offerings and I mean a huge portion! Huge!

We got to meet our guide's mother.

"My mother is Instagram famous. There are pictures of her all over Instagram, you can have a picture with her if you like."

"Does she like being famous?"

"Err…so, so"

He wiggles his hand from side to side and we laugh.

Me with Sunday's Instagram famous mother (photo credit to the author)

She completes an offering ceremony for us to watch which is interesting while Sunday (our guide) explains all the different elements.

The cooking!

We are then left with our chef for the afternoon. The cooking course itself is fantastic! Engaging, interesting, and funny.

The ingredients (photo credit to the author)

First is the laborious process of making sweet potato sticky rice the traditional way, twice-cooked.

We then make a beautiful base marinade, sambal, and peanut satay sauce. We also make soup, chicken curry, and veggie salad. We all keep smelling it every 5 minutes, eyes closed in sheer bliss.

For dessert, we made Pandang, bright green pancakes filled with sugary syrupy, desiccated coconut which is all rolled up. The pancake had to be made incredibly thin and quickly peeled off the pan and flipped over with your fingers which was pretty funny to watch each of us struggle to do-especially the highly competitive males of the group. "No, no let me try another one. No, I've got it, I've got it!"

We all then sat down together for our full 3-course feast in this walled garden paradise. I left with a full tummy, full brain, and full heart. But most of all fond memories of Ubud and Bali to last a lifetime.

Thank you for reading! Hearts and tips are always welcome and your support is very much appreciated.

This story was originally published on Medium

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About the Creator

Sh*t Happens - Lost Girl Travel

Hi! I’m Georgie and I share travel stories of when sh*t happens. I think that sometimes the worst things that happen to you traveling, are often the funniest

Follow me on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/sh.t_happens_lost_girl_travel/

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  • Dharrsheena Raja Segarran2 years ago

    I truly enjoyed reading this! I just have so many things to say, lol! 1. I've heard of man fighting over a woman but this is the first time I've heard saleswoman fighting over a woman 🤣 2. That's so much dedication cooking from 1am 3. I've had the snake fruit before if it's what I think it is. I'll post the picture in the comments. Please let me know of that's the one 4. It would have been hilarious if you used their rice steamer as a hat 🤣 5. Is there any particular reason to mark and then unmark the burial place of the placenta? 6. I love how they determine is a child is ready for school 🤣

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