Every year, tempe stakeholders in Indonesia celebrate National Tempe Day on June 6.
This year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, USSEC continued its collaboration with the Indonesian Tempe Forum (ITF), the National Union of Tempe, Tofu Producers Cooperative (GAKOPTINDO), and other Indonesian tempe stakeholders to celebrate the occasion in the form of a virtual Talk Show and Tempe Cooking Demo.
The talk show moderated by Dr. Dadi Maskar, USSEC Indonesia, featured three experts: Professor Made Astawan, ITF Chairman; Mr. Aip Syarifuddin, GAKOPTINDO Chairman, and Mr. Sandiaga Uno, a successful young entrepreneur and the former Deputy Governor of Jakarta before he resigned the office to run for Vice President during the 2019 Indonesian presidential election. A virtual cooking demo on tempe was conducted at the end of the session by Chef Adam, a young celebrity chef in Indonesia.
Themed “Tempe for Millennials: Health Benefits, National Culture, and Creative Culinary Business Opportunity,” the virtual event targeted the young generation to instill a sense of pride in tempe as a national heritage among the Indonesian youth. The virtual National Tempe Day celebration was conducted in Behasa on Zoom and streamed live over MyTempe YouTube Channel. The 3-hour program was viewed by more than 4000 live viewers across both platforms.
Tempe is a traditional Indonesian soy product made from fermented soybeans and is a staple source of protein due to its affordability. As a functional food, tempe has high nutritional and health benefits, therefore making it a viable solution to improve the national nutrition level of the Indonesian population, particularly in vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant and lactating women.