ASIA / PACIFIC
October 16, 2017
Pair of giant pandas from
China welcomed in Indonesia
By Niniek Karmini
The Associated Press
AKARTA, Indonesia — Giant pandas Cai Tao and
Hu Chun arrived to fanfare in Indonesia, where a
new “palace-like” home that cost millions of dollars
was built for them.
The male and female pair landed at Jakarta’s
international airport from Chengdu and are under a
quarantine period at Taman Safari zoo outside the capital
before the public can visit.
The zoo hopes the seven-year-olds will mate and add to
the giant panda population. It built a special enclosure
and facilities that cost about 60 billion rupiah ($4.5
million), Taman Safari president Tony Sumampouw told
The Associated Press.
There are fewer than 1,900 giant pandas in their only
wild habitats in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan,
Shaanxi, and Gansu.
China gifted friendly nations with its national mascot in
what was known as “panda diplomacy” for decades.
Countries now pay to be loaned pandas, but they remain
a potent symbol of Chinese soft power at a time when
Beijing is seeking Southeast Asia cooperation for its
ambitious plans to create a modern-day Silk Road that
enhances its economic and political clout.
Zoo spokesman Yulius Suprihardo said the living
quarters for Cai Tao, the male, and Hu Chun, the female,
resemble a three-tier temple.
It’s on a hill surrounded by about 5,000 square meters of
land and equipped with an elevator, sleeping area,
J
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
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PANDA “PALACE.” Taman Safari’s new enclosure for giant pandas
Cai Tao and Hu Chun is seen in West Java, Indonesia. The giant pandas
arrived to fanfare in Indonesia, where a new “palace-like” home that cost
millions of dollars has been built for them. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
medical facilities, and indoor and outdoor play areas.
He said after the quarantine period, a “soft launch” for
public viewing, could be held in late October or early
November.
“During this time we can only see the adorable pandas
from images, videos, and television. In the near future,
Indonesian people can see [the pandas] directly,”
Suprihardo said. “And we hope they can breed here; that’s
part of our goal.”
Bugs are in the food by design at fine-dining bistro
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Continued from page one
pillars, silkworms, and giant water beetles.
“It’s a new thing,” Thitiwat said. “You live in the world,
you need to learn the new thing.” He said he’s cooked with
pork and chicken for a long time, but insects are “a new
world of cooking (and a) new lesson.”
For Kelvarin Chotvichit, a lawyer from Bangkok, the
menu has been a revelation of taste and texture.
“When I taste this, it’s opened my new attitudes about
foods: that insects are one of the foods that’s edible,” he
said. “And it’s tasty, too. It’s not weird as you thought. And
the feeling — it’s crispy; it’s like a snack. Yeah, I like it.”
United Nations food experts have pushed insects as a
source of nutrition for years. Studies show they’re higher
in protein, good fats, and minerals than traditional
livestock. Even when commercially farmed, their
environmental impact is far lower, needing less feed and
emitting less carbon.
Wholesaler Amornsiri Sompornsuksawat is one the
suppliers to Insects in the Backyard. The prospect of a
new market — the fine-dining sector — is enough to make
her salivate.
“I hope that people will eat more of my bugs and I can
sell more of them,” she said. “We can have new menus,
replacing the old familiar ones. It’s great.”
Insects in the Backyard has only been open a matter of
weeks, so it’s too early to tell whether its mission to
metamorphose insect cuisine is on track.
Amornrat Simapaisan, a local shop manager, tucked in
quite happily to her watermelon and cricket salad on a
recent evening.
“It’s tasty. It’s munchy,” she said.
But her dining partner exemplified the biggest problem
the restaurant faces: that lingering feeling of disgust.
“I still have a barrier, something on my mind to stop me
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SILKWORM SPAGHETTI. A dish of spaghetti with silkworm and
cricket is seen at Insects in the Backyard restaurant, in Bangkok, Thailand.
United Nations food experts have pushed insects as a source of nutrition
for years. Studies show that insects are higher in protein, good fats, and
minerals than traditional livestock. Even when commercially farmed, their
environmental impact is far lower, needing less feed and emitting less
carbon. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
from eating it,” said Patr Srisook, a freelance
photographer. “But, yes, it kind of tastes like normal,
nothing, like normal food.”
And that is the message from the restaurant itself:
Judge us on our food.
“There is obviously the shock value with insects and
that might bring some people in through the door,”
Pairojmahakij said. “But, essentially, for the longevity or
sustainability of the restaurant, and, for the sector of the
edible insects as a whole, it has to stand on its own legs, so
to speak. It has to be attractive. It has to be delicious. And
it actually has to add something to the cuisine as we know
it.”
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Return applications by 5:00pm, Thursday,
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