Indonesia does not have a food crisis. What we have is actually
a food policy crisis. We have the answer, actually,
in our food biodiversity. We have over 1,200 grains,
over 600 edible roots, not to mention more than 550 fruits

and 1,600 seafood and many more. And we can find all these food sources
in different landscapes. So Indonesia has a very diverse landscape. We have over 17,000 islands
across the archipelago, from sea to the mountains,

including rainforest,
mangrove area, peatland area, arid land area. You know, everything is there. So actually there is no need
for a one-size-fits-all diet, because each of these landscapes
have their own food sources.

For a lot of Indigenous communities, these landscapes
are a supermarket without bills. So I started Javara 15 years ago with the mission of bringing back
forgotten food biodiversity to help Indigenous and smallholder
food farmers to improve their lives,

while also providing consumers
with healthier diets, with products that are also ecological. So of course, I got to travel
across Indonesia, spending time with Indigenous communities, and to my surprise, places that are so remote and not even touched
by the government policy,

food policy programs, are well-fed and healthy. Yes, they may not have much cash, but they are not lacking
of healthy, nutritious food, as long as the natural environment
is not being destroyed. So let's look into
the crop diversity that we have.

We have grains. We have edible roots. We have fruit-based.
We even have tree trunk. And all of these are gluten-free. (Laughter) So another example
is on our sugar diversity. We have at least four native fruit trees, 

including coconut
for the lowland and coastal area, arenga tree in the forest area. We have arid land with the lontar or palmyra sugar. And then we have nypa in the wetland. But by the way, nypa also produces salt. 

How bizarre it is. The same plant produces sugar and salt. And every single one of these sugars
is low-glycemic, providing slow-release energy. And they are very sustainable. They can easily be productive
at least for another 50 years. 

Yet the government decided
to come up with massive food estates on sugar cane plantations. So let's deep dive into an example
of ube or greater yam. Ube can be found in the wild. Easily domesticated,
can grow under the shade of the tree, 

and it can easily --
you get over 40 kilos each harvest. So this is the type of staple food which you don't need
to destroy the forest, you don't need to poison our soil, and basically you don't even need
to introduce a new type of crop. 

Unfortunately, the government, the policy for over four decades
chose to ignore our food biodiversity, and instead monoculture of rice prevails. Over 98 percent of Indonesians
are consuming rice right now. Let's compare with 1954,
where actually it was only 53 percent. 

The rest was based on cassava,
corn, sago and other edible roots. So I have to say, this is embarrassing, and at the same time very frustrating that a country like Indonesia
where the food is abundant, we have such a high rate
on stunting and malnutrition,

not to mention the impact
of our food policy towards deforestation, land degradation,
climate change, natural disasters, impoverishment of our farmers and also poor diet among the population. We do have a vision, actually,
on how the policy should be.

We need to shift from monoculture
to food biodiversity. We need to revive back the heritage food that actually can provide
good nutrition for all, while also keeping intact the nature. It is time for us to give a center stage
for the food biodiversity.

To be able to find
the solutions that we need. This is an example
of a small village in Central Java, which decided to embark on a journey
to nourish its community, making sure that every household
[has] a food garden,

cultivating chicken, fish,
vegetables, fruits, herbs. And this is interesting
because once they did that, they can reduce their grocery
costs by 30 percent, improving their household
income by 20 percent, increasing class attendance
and also improving the student grades.

So nutrition matters. Feeding the nation is one thing, but nourishing the community
goes a very long way. So children [are] our future. It is also time for the food policy to also include food culture education
into our curriculum,

teaching our children
about where their food comes from, what is the food biodiversity
available around them, to embrace their food culture identity, to understand the nutrition that they have and how our food relates
with sustainability. So basically, 

if we can shift the policy to include food biodiversity, we can provide nutrition, good nutrition for all without jeopardizing our nature. It is time for us
to invest more in food biodiversity, in the mainstreaming of biodiversity as a practical, inclusive solution
for the future of our food.

Not only that we have
a food policy crisis, we also have a food identity crisis. For decades, we have been ripped off from our relationship
to culture and nature. We have to help the people
to go through this crisis of identity,

allowing them to understand
the importance of heritage food to become the answer, and also to understand
that it is the food of the future. Rebranding it, making it sexy and hyped so that it is no longer perceived
as a poor man's diet.

The Foods Humanity Forgot — and How We’re Bringing Them Back | Helianti Hilman | TED

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com