The Mentawai Pesona Festival, known by the Mentawai people as Punen Laggai (People's Party), is an annual celebration to commemorate the anniversary of the Mentawai Islands Regency and marks the return of the festival, which was not held during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Pesona Mentawai Festival is not just a celebration, but a platform to preserve and introduce Mentawai culture.
With this platform, one of the efforts made is the introduction of Mentawai's local food potential. Congratulations, this festival has become a meeting point for the entire Mentawai community, including the presence of domestic and foreign tourists. With the enthusiastic presence of tourists, YSI's partner organisation Basis Masyarakat (OMB) took the initiative to be involved in campaigning and promoting local food as one of Mentawai's culinary specialities, in addition to increasing public awareness and support for the importance of local food in the Mentawai community ecosystem.
The campaign took place from 4 to 7 October 2023, attended by representatives of OMB members from Saureinu, Nemnemleleu, Beriulou, Bosua, Katurei, and Madobag Villages. They introduced various local processed food products including crab, sago, taro, banana, woodworm (toek), sago worm (batra), coconut cooking oil, and salai frog (smoked frog). These products are processed into various dishes, such as crab soup, obuk (processed taro in bamboo), kapurut sago, and oseng batra or sago worm. In addition, taro is also made into flour to fulfil various needs.
One of the interesting things is the high interest from the community in the introduction of local dayang food brought by various YSI partner villages in Mentawai, especially crabs and taro flour. Taro flour, for visitors or tourists, received a lot of attention and was felt to be a new innovation produced in Mentawai. Not only selling products, OMB also explains in detail the process of local food development, including the field school method used in research and learning about local food cultivation in Mentawai as a plus for the products sold.
In addition to the general public, partners in Mentawai such as local CSOs, DPRD members, and the Local Government also participated in supporting and enlivening the OMB stand. From this campaign, a new awareness has emerged that local food is a valuable asset that must be protected, and local food that is often considered ordinary can be processed into derivative products that have economic value. In order to maintain the spirit of the local food campaign, OMB plans to continue the campaign in their respective villages by targeting more layers of society at both the school and household levels.