Yohanda Belinda, Jakarta – Whenever a viral food trend takes over social media, from Dubai chewy cookies and Melbourne's Mont Blanc coffee now storming the local internet to cheesecake and the never-ending matcha craze, one thing stands out: none of these rely purely on ingredients native to Indonesia.

More recently, however, food influencers and cafes have started promoting local ingredients through modern creations, giving them a chance to ride the same wave.

Suratini, 47, who goes by Tin, went viral on Instagram when she swapped conventional ingredients for kimpul (Xanthosoma sagittifolium), earning her the moniker "Ibu Kimpul" across platforms.

She uses her now-viral catchphrase, "Karena tidak punya, maka saya ganti kimpul (Because I don't have it, I replaced it with cocoyam)", to introduce a dish she has made with the tuber, whether a drink with boba pearls or a cream soup.

But kimpul, also known as Belitung taro, is hardly a new discovery. The tuber has long been consumed locally as a source of carbohydrates and an alternative to rice.

Evy Damayanthi, a nutrition lecturer at IPB University, says kimpul is low in fat and has a low glycemic index, according to National Geographic Indonesia. It also contains dietary fiber, resistant starch, minerals, vitamin B3 and bioactive compounds.

The same article notes that the tuber is still cultivated in several parts of the country, including Semarang and Klaten in Central Java, particularly around the slopes of Mount Merapi, and parts of Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara.

Tin, who grew up in Yogyakarta's Kulon Progo regency, says she was inspired to revive kimpul when as an adult, she realized that some of the root vegetables and tubers she ate as a child had disappeared from dining tables, either forgotten or no longer cultivated. She also noticed that many of these foods were becoming increasingly overlooked amid contemporary food trends.

It seemed like a loss, given that the country has no shortage of alternative carbohydrate sources, from singkong (Manihot esculenta; cassava) to talas (Colocasia esculenta; taro) and many other tubers.

New room for tubers

So, Tin decided to do something about it. In 2026, she decided to create content simply for the joy of it. That simplicity carried over into the way she speaks: direct, with no lengthy explanations. Her viewers loved it.

"I often say this in my content also, that I didn't go to school, I had no formal education, no academic knowledge, that sort of thing. So, it all comes from my life experience, from learning firsthand along the way while living life. I'm still learning now, too," she says.

"These days, things like that are pretty easy to find, all sorts of recipes and so on. Anyone can do it. I just mix [cocoyam] with the foods I've eaten since I was a child."

Tin points out that today's healthy diet trend often comes in "fancy packaging", while local viewers forget that their country already has plenty of alternatives to rice.

"There are other options, other [alternative] sources of carbohydrates. I put that into my content," she says.

"There's one I've really searched for and haven't find yet called tomboreso. But in different regions, tubers go by different names," Tin says, referring to Dioscorea pentaphylla, a type of yam, describing how difficult it has become to find some of the foods she grew up eating.

Not everything she tries works out, she admits. One attempt to make boba pearls, for instance, ended up with a texture that was slightly off.

"I never aim for the taste, because everything tastes different anyway. And that's not the biggest hurdle, because I'm after the texture. Other foods have been challenging too, like making noodles."

Her experimentation eventually caught the attention of Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who highlighted the benefits of kimpul, including its potential to help people feel full longer as well as manage blood sugar.

"Kimpul makes an affordable gluten-free option, packed with nutrients including calcium and phosphorus for controlling blood pressure and improving heart function," Budi said on Aug. 6 in a TikTok post.

Food influencers have since taken up the tuber, preparing it in various ways and dishes, showing how versatile an ingredient it can be.

"Look at Indonesia. There's really no clear framework guiding us to develop these local food commodities." – Hardian "Seto" Eko Nurseto, food anthropologist, Padjadjaran University

Old roots, fresh look

Indonesia is not the only Southeast Asian country looking to elevate a local crop, potentially making it go global.

The ube craze in the Philippines, built around the purple yam (Dioscorea alata), for example, has developed into a form of culinary soft power.

According to a report by DW, the neighboring country exported 1.7 tonnes of ube products worth US$2.9 million in 2025, including purple yam extracts and powders, with the bulk going to the United States. That was 20 percent higher than the previous year.

The Philippine government distributes seeds and trains farmers to grow the vivid violet tuber, helping turn what was once a humble ingredient into a food trend embraced by Gen Z.

There is little reason kimpul and other Indonesian tubers cannot receive similar attention, developing beyond their traditional use by being given a recognizable identity and a contemporary presentation.

Hardian "Seto" Eko Nurseto, a food anthropologist from Padjadjaran University, offered a few explanations for why many local ingredients remained relatively unknown.

For one, tubers were never prioritized as the country's main staple carbohydrate. This created a bias in metropolitan cities such as Jakarta, where finding menus built around local ingredients can be difficult.

"First, on social media, both content creators and consumers have at least a good level of digital literacy for local foods. They can access information from abroad more easily than trying to access information that isn't available on the internet," says Seto, pointing to suweg (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius), or the elephant foot yam, as one such example.

The challenge goes beyond getting local people to try native ingredients, he says: "Look at Indonesia. There's really no clear framework guiding us to develop these local food commodities."

Diversifying commodities

Seto says strengthening local food resilience also matters.

"If we depend on just one commodity and its supply gets disrupted, either by disaster or a food shortage, we [immediately] go hungry right away. But if we know how to consume other commodities, then when that one runs out, we can just consume the others," he says.

The country is blessed with a wide variety of carbohydrate sources, and modernizing the way local ingredients are processed could be key to drawing more consumers to try them.

Wonderful Indonesia Gastronomy 2026 is one Tourism Ministry initiative that aims to raise global awareness of local ingredients. Highlighting the local wisdoms, traditions and philosophies behind the food, the program explores how Indonesia's culinary heritage can be translated into contemporary experiences.

The ministry has credited kimpul and its viral turn as a food substitute with helping spotlight the country's culinary wealth.

"Our tourism trends are [becoming] local, so the more local it gets, the more special it becomes. And the closer it is to us, the more [it is] sought after," said Ni Made Ayu Marthini, the Tourism Ministry's marketing deputy.

"Millennials already get this [trend], but for Gen Z, kimpul has become a fresh new trend," she added.

Source: https://asianews.network/meet-kimpul-indonesias-forgotten-tuber-gone-viral