AN ISLAND'S TIME

An emerging food movement that reconnects locals with traditional flavours is broadening Bali's appeal.

- Tjok Maya Kerthyasa

In 2019, Bali welcomed six million visitors. In 2021, just 45 travellers came. Having lost their livelihood in the tourism industry, many Balinese returned to their hometowns, where they realised the value of the island's rich cultural and geographical landscape and how these gifts must be preserved going forward. One was the chef and priest Jero Mangku Dalem Suci Gede Yudiawan. Once a busy restaurant owner with three spots on the heavily touristed side of Bali, Yudiawan returned to the gentler pace of his home village, Les, on Bali's tranquil northeast, after the pandemic began. "I was a robot," he says. "Now I feel human." Les is a seaside community with quiet temples and waterfalls cascading through slices of emerald-green jungle. It feels worlds away from the excess that has made Bali synonymous with over-tourism. The area is steeped in traditions such as salt making and the harvesting of lontar palm nectar practices, says Yudiawan, that he and the community have sought to embrace more fully.