Cultural Dynamics in a Globalized World – Budianta et al. (Eds) © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-62664-5

“You are what you eat ... and post”: An analysis of culinary innovation and cultural branding in Panggang Ucok’s Instagram account

S.M.G. Tambunan & M.R. Widhiasti Department of English Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas , Depok, Indonesia

ABSTRACT: Culinary practices in our everyday lives have been analyzed in a great deal of researches arguing that food and drinks are essential parts in identity construction. The main function of culinary practices is to establish a sense of belonging in a particular environment. One of the tools in disseminating information about culinary practices whilst constructing one’s cultural identity through culinary practices is social media, in this case Instagram. Through a Cultural Studies perspective, this research investigates how Panggang Ucok, a culinary business in Jakarta, relies heavily on culinary innovation mixing localities from all over Indonesia to sell its products. At the same time, through its Instagram account, there are multiple strategies used to construct personalized images by emphasizing on the owner’s family as well as close and friendly relationships with the employees and customers unlike other Instagram pages owned by other culinary businesses, which focus solely on the products. In other words, in the dynamic relationship between the business owner and the ‘imagined audience’ of the Instagram page, Panggang Ucok is constructing an ideal image of a traditional-modern, commercial-private, and local-global articulation of identity.

1 INTRODUCTION

Social media has become a space where we document and curate our everyday lives, including the meals that we eat daily. People are snapping photos of their meals before they eat either in a fancy restaurant or a food stall on the side of a busy road. This has transformed a cul- tural practice as a necessary daily routine to a competitive sport between social media users. They will hunt for the newest and most trendy/happening culinary gems to elevate their own personal status. Eating has always been a focal point in socializing, and our culinary practices reflect an array of social and cultural status, such as our class, gender, and to which genera- tion we belong to (Rousseau, 2012). Furthermore, the existence of social media in its connec- tion to culinary practices has destabilized the dissemination of food information through old media without the presence of a centre of information flow. The driving force of social media is a conversation opening new spaces to talk about food and culinary practices. Instagram, for example, has become a tool for today’s consumers to learn about products based on the experiences of other consumers instead of experts or food critics, or even food reviews by journalists in the old media, namely printed newspapers or magazines. Marketing via social media in the culinary business has experienced a significant develop- ment in the last few years. “Unlike traditional media such as company websites or paid outdoor advertisements, social media create a two-way street between businesses and their core consumer segments” (Bui 2014, 6). Even though, on one hand, owners of culinary business make use of social media as a promotional tool, consumers are also able to give feedbacks to the business owners through their social media posts. As mentioned earlier, conversations created by social media between the actors are tools to construct particular images and build brand awareness for new consumers. In the process of branding, business owners need to continuously innovate, even

805 though their first priority is to gain profit. However, at the same time, they need to construct images that will become the main characteristic of that culinary business. For culinary business owners selling traditional menus, innovation marketed through social media could also be seen as a representation of identity. As a case study, this research investigates a culinary business, Panggang Ucok, which was established in August 2015, sell- ing or Roasted from . However, Panggang Ucok (which will be abbreviated into PU throughout this article) is not only selling its Bataknese or North Sumatra identity. This particular ethnic identity is somehow obscured since there are constant innovations repackaging the food they sell inspired from different localities in Indonesia. The research focus is on how Panggang Ucok as a representation of ‘traditional yet modern’ culi- nary business owners utilizes social media through strategies of innovation and collaborative yet emotional branding. By conducting a thorough textual analysis on its Instagram account, the main objective is to investigate how social media is constructing the desired images, cre- ating conversations between culinary actors, and articulating a dynamic identity formation through culinary practices.

1.1 “Make yourself feel at home”: PU’s strategic branding PU has used its Instagram account (@panggangucok) to promote the restaurant’s products by constantly posting the pictures of the products and alluring testimonials from their con- sumers. There are several narratives that are used to signify the culinary business’ distinct features. One of the main narratives being used is the discourse of family. Among the photos posted on @panggangucok instagram page, almost half of them are photos portraying Bang Ucok (the owner)’s family or employees, who are depicted as part of the Panggang Ucok’s family. Most of the pictures are depicting his family or his employees’ daily lives because as business grows strong, the family’s centre of activities is at the restaurant. By posting pictures related to his personal life, Bang Ucok uses @panggangucok Instagram account more like his personal account, even though it is used to sell roasted pork. The account is exclusively used as a business account since it has been created for business purposes. The strategy to manage the account like a personal account creates amity between Panggang Ucok and its consum- ers. This is a strategy that is rarely used by other online culinary business owners who mainly use impersonal or very business-like posts to sell their products. In general, the pictures (and captions) of family members and employees posted in @panggangucok reflect a sense of affection and gratitude towards the people who work for the business. When this account gained 1000 followers, for example, @panggangucok posted a picture of its employers holding a cake with a caption “All credits go to these hum- ble people behind every pork bowl we have enjoyed.” Furthermore, before Eid Mubarak, @panggangucok posted a picture of Ucok sending his employees away to go mudik or go back to their hometown to celebrate Eid Mubarak. By showing these pictures and from the captions, PU is expressing an identity of kinship that has become the foundation of the busi- ness. Moreover, PU relies mostly on online transportation apps, such as GoFood from Gojek or GrabFood from Grab, for the order-delivery system. In @panggangucok, we can see a lot of posts depicting PU’s gratitude towards the drivers from Gojek or Grab. These drivers, from the posts, are considered as part of the family because of their contribution to the busi- ness. As an example, PU posted pictures of Gojek drivers having a free meal or a corner in the restaurant with free drinks for the drivers who come to pick up orders. By emphasizing on the discourse of family and kinship reflecting the restaurant as a ‘home,’ PU strategically uses the converse nature of modern culinary practices, which relies on busi- ness-like features of convenience, casualness, and speed. Moisio, Arnould, and Price (2004) argue that in modern times, particularly in an urban setting, food consumption has been altered to fit the fast-moving lifestyles. The consumers’ culinary habits have been changed, for example, the development of fast-food industry altering family life and consumption rituals. PU is reassessing the meaning of eating out or even eating at ‘home’ as relying on its family and kinship identity to create a more ‘feel at home’ or ‘be part of the family’ nuance, not only from the food they sell but also from their business features depicted in their social media. 806 1.2 Panggang Ucok’s ambiguous Bataknese identity

In the past, PU’s was an online culinary business selling its product by mainly posting the products on Instagram. Customers could order the food via instant messaging services and it would be delivered to the customer’s house by Gojek, the online transportation service. The restaurant used to be the main kitchen in which Ucok and his staff cooked and prepared the food before being delivered to the customers. Even though their main menu is - nese roasted pork, PU is different from a regular traditional Bataknese restaurant, which is called Lapo. If someone wants to eat Bataknese roasted pork or other Bataknese delicacies in Jakarta, they will immediately think about Lapo. The word Lapo actually refers to a tavern or a space in many areas in North Sumatra where people (mostly men) gather to drink coffee, tea, or tuak, a traditional alcohol fermented drink, and some Bataknese food. In its origin, Lapo is not actually a place to have big meals as it mainly sells drinks and a few choices of food. The main function is as a space to get together and engage in conversations. However, in Jakarta, Lapo is, first and foremost, a restaurant selling Bataknese food for the Bataknese diasporic communities in the capital city. PU portrays its restaurant as the ‘modern’ lapo, but the only thing that signifies the restau- rant as lapo is simply because it sells Bataknese roasted pork as the main menu. The interior or even the types of food and drinks they sell are completely different from the regular lapo. However, by referring to lapo in constructing their images on Instagram, PU is associating itself with the image of a Bataknese restaurant. On the other hand, not only do they sell food that one could never find in a regular lapo, the way they serve the traditional Batanese roasted pork is also distinct. In a lapo, roasted pork is served in a plate separated from the rice. Other dishes will also be served on separate plates. However, in PU, the roasted pork is served in the same plate with the rice and other delicacies, such as the Medanese anchovies and chilli. This style of serving roasted pork is actually quite similar with the Chinese (mixed rice dish) in which rice is served with multiple pork dishes in one plate. Besides the menu, the interior design in the restaurant is different from a regular lapo as it adds a modern and trendy touch to the setting of the restaurant. On the walls of the restaurant, the owner has put some posters with inspiring yet also funny quotes about eating (or eating pork). This type of interior design is often found in many modern/contemporary/urban cafés in Jakarta. Some examples of the writings on the wall are: “people who love to eat are always the best people” or “eat lots of pork when times get rough, and eat even more when times are great”. This modern touch of the interior design is parallel with the packaging PU used to serve their menus, which is a combination of the ‘old’ and the ‘new.’ For delivery and take away, for example, PU serves the roasted pork in a rice bowl. This is uncommon for a lapo, which usually prepares the takeout in food wrapping papers. Through this practice, PU once again makes itself distinct from a regular lapo, therefore distancing itself from a Batakense identity, but at the same time uses other Batak- nese identity features. The name Panggang Ucok is the main signifier. Among the Bataknese peo- ple, the word panggang (literally means roasted) refers to babi panggang (roasted pork), although there are other kinds of roasted meat. In other words, when someone hears the word panggang, they will not associate it with roasted chicken or because it has been associated with roasted pork. Moreover, Ucok is a widely popular Bataknese name, which actually means a young Batak- nese man, and in PU, Ucok refers to the owner, Sahat Gultom. Another signifier of PU’s Bataknese identity is the way it interacts with the customers on Instagram. When PU responds to the customer’s comments or in the caption, it often uses Bataknese language, or the content is related to the Bataknese identity. For example, in one of the posts, it says: “Mauliate, sold out! Thank you.” It was actually an announcement that they no longer have any roasted pork they could sell that day. Mauliate in English means thank you, and by using this Bataknese word to show his gratitude, PU articulates its Batak- nese identity and at the same time shows respect to his Bataknese customers as the ones who can understand the language. This does not mean that PU’s customers are mainly Bataknese people because nowadays PU has been very successful and the customers come from a vari- ety of ethnicities. Even so, it still uses Bataknese language to often communicate with its customers implying a strong association with its Bataknese identity.

807 This indefinite representation of identity through PU’s culinary practices is a result of constant negotiation between continuity and transformation reflecting the dynamics of cul- ture. Roland Barthes (1997) in his article “Toward a Psychosociology of Contemporary Food Consumption” states that food and culinary practices need to be seen as “a system of com- munication, a body of images, a protocol of usages, situation, and behaviour” (21). Food has become signifiers and the meanings are produced in the process of making the food or the way we consume it. “Techniques of preparation” and “habits” of consumption, or their contexts—how, why, when, where, and by whom the units of signification are prepared and eaten” (22) are the foundation of the process of identity formation in culinary practices.

1.3 Re-inscribing culinary practices through innovation To explore the implication of PU’s ambiguous representation of its Bataknese identity, the analysis will look at one of the most renowned menus, which is the Roasted Pork Burger. It looks like any regular burger but besides the roasted pork, it also contains anchovies from , North Sumatra, and andaliman chilli, a traditional Bataknese chilli. The anchovies and chilli are known as Bataknese food, but through innovation, Ucok, the owner of PU, has made these two types which were originally eaten in supplementary with rice now eaten as part of a burger. Innovation is done by transforming the way of serving the dish in order to attract the consumers. On one hand, the changes in the culinary practices have made roasted pork and Medanese anchovies (and andaliman chilli) famous or more renown because now one does not need to eat them with rice. On the other hand, PU’s roasted pork has also been considered as less Bataknese compared to the ‘original’ one. One of the reasons is because the roasting process is not the same since PU uses modern ways of roasting the meat unlike the traditional way of roasting the pork directly on top of firewood. Original roasted pork will have black marks from the firewood roasting, which you will not see in PU’s roasted pork. PU menus are incorporating elements of Bataknese traditional cuisines with local dishes coming from other parts of Indonesia disarticulating the Bataknese identity. Menus, such as Babi (Chili Pork), exemplify innovation and the mix of culture between Bataknese and Sundanese (Gepuk is a Sundanese dish) culinary practices. Gepuk is actually made out of beef because in West where this disc comes from, the dominant popula- tion is Muslim. Therefore, it is unimaginable to have gepuk to make out of pork. However, in North Sumatra, most of the populations are Christians and most of the dishes are pork- based meals. A mixing of culture in this sense does not only come from two different ethnici- ties, but it is also heavily influenced by the religious beliefs, which in turn affect the culinary practices in the two different locales. Besides from Indonesian localities, PU also creates meals inspired by American or European food, such as the aforementioned Pork Burger and Panacota Pudding, an Italian inspired dessert. It could be concluded that through constant innovation in the menus, PU is articulating ‘traditional yet modern’ culinary practices, which are also reflected in the setting and design of the restaurant. Culinary practices are spaces where individual and collective identities are constructed and articulated. According to Gabaccia (1998) in We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans: “…. the production, exchange, marketing, and consumption of food have generated new identities—for foods and eaters alike … eating habits changed and evolved long before the rise of a modern consumer market for food. Human eating habits origi- nate in a paradoxical, and perhaps universal, tension between a preference for the culinary familiar and the equally human pursuit of pleasure in the forms of culinary novelty, creativity, and variety.” (Gabaccia, 5–6) Changes and evolution of culinary practices, just like what is being done by PU, should not only be seen as an effect of the changing market or merely as an economic practice. There is a cultural dynamics reflecting constant negotiation between the familiar, the food we are comfortable with, and the new, creative, and innovative ones. Most of the time, the need to innovate comes from limitations; for example, for diasporic communities, when the first 808 generation, like Ucok’s mother and father, left their hometown, they carried their culinary knowledge and experiences that became the basis of their culinary practices in the new place (Tan 2011). The need to reinvent new food through localization and invention bring about the reproduction of familiar food and taste from existing local ingredients and resources, which might be completely different from what they have in their hometown.

2 CONCLUSION

To sum up, PU exemplifies its identity through its Instagram account by emphasizing on narratives of family, ambiguous identity, and innovation. In relation to identity, Panggang Ucok is at the same time Bataknese food and not Bataknese food as it is both modern and traditional. Innovation is an important factor, as recipes are constantly reinvented to try to find familiar flavours from the past whilst creating new ones. These narrations on identity and innovation could be concluded as part of the identity formation of the culinary actors, in this case for the owner of Panggang Ucok. It has become a space where narrations could be conveyed and where culinary actors could make meaning out of their fluid and complex identity. The exploration of the re-inscribing of culinary practices does not only inform us about how food is constantly transforming, but also problematizes the dynamics of culture and its implications.

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