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Meet the Muslim and Vegetarian Cooks Behind Indonesia's Best Pork Take-Out
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Meet the Muslim and Vegetarian Cooks Behind Indonesia's Best Pork Take-Out
The white house in the Bintaro Jaya section of Tangerang Selatan is hidden enough that it's a difficult trip for first-timers. But GO-Jek drivers know the route well. That's because this house is the home of Panggangin—one of Greater Jakarta's best pork restaurants.
There are no chairs or tables at Panggangin. Instead, the two owners—Sulung Koesuma and Bobby Mandela—run their business as a delivery and take-out only affair. But that doesn't stop customers from eating in their cars right in front of the house, they said.
In Muslim-majority Indonesia, pork isn't a common dish on most menus. Sure, you can find pork on the menus of Chinese restaurants, as well as in Hindu-majority Bali and other provinces with large non-Muslim populations. But what sets Panggangin apart from the pack are its two founders. Sulung Koesuma is vegetarian and Bobby Mandela is Muslim. It makes them an unlikely pair to own a pork restaurant—after all how much can a vegetarian and a Muslim know about a meat that, technically, neither should be eating?
VICE: So, when did you guys start Panggangin?
Bobby: Last Ramadan.
Sulung: Yeah, that's it exactly. It was during Ramadan.
Bobby: So, I was leaving my previous job.
Sulung: Didn't you get fired?
Bobby: I was forced to resign. I was working at a radio station, as an assistant program director. Then I had a beef with my boss. It was typical shit. So after that I said to Sulung, since we both cook a lot why don't we do that for money instead? But since we live here near South Jakarta, we figured selling pork wouldn't do all that well.
Sulung: We live in Bintaro. It's mostly Muslims.
Bobby: But we wanted to do something different. The two of us created everything from scratch right here.
You made all of these recipes from scratch?
Sulung: Well, from YouTube.
Bobby: No joke, we learned this all from YouTube.
Sulung: It was a lot of trial-and-error. It took a lot of tries, a lot of 'oh, this is not quite right yet,' until we got to where we are today. We had zero knowledge about cooking pork.
OK, but then why did you choose pork?
Bobby: I eat pork. I like pork. I'm trying to accommodate others who do. Nowadays there are a lot of Muslims who consume pork. It's like 'I'm a rebel! I eat pork!' [laughs] That's how things are now.
Sulung: Yeah, that's what a lot of people say. 'Yeah, I'm Muslim, but I eat pork.' Bobby thought that if he cooked pork, then he could eat it every day. But can you actually eat pork every day?
Bobby: Apparently not. [laughs] Now we're at the point where we go, 'no, you try it.'
So now you're sick of it?
Bobby: If you eat pork every day, you're bound to get sick of it. It's so bad that Sulung hasn't eaten pork in days.
Sulung: There were moments when, like one week, I decided to have a pork-free day. No pork was allowed to enter my mouth. I sleep here too, so imagine that. When I wake up in the morning, I walk downstairs and the first thing I smell is pork fat. Of course, I'm fed up with pork.
But wait, I heard you were a vegetarian?
Sulung: I'm an occasional vegetarian. I have gout, so actually my body doesn't really allow me to eat pork. It's all so ironic.
Bobby, what did your parents say when they heard you were selling pork?
Sulung: He got caught red-handed ...
Bobby: Apparently, I had shamed my family. My parents were furious with me. So after that, I started lying to them. I would buy a kilogram of oxtail, take a photo of it and be like 'hey mom, I'm selling oxtail now instead of pork.' They've been more accepting since they met Sulung. He thought he was going to be interrogated, but it was fine. Since then, I've been telling them that I just make the sauces, while Sulung handles the pork. And I stay away from Panggangin's social media accounts, except instagram.
Personally, do you think it's OK for Muslims to eat pork?
Sulung: Be careful Bobby. This is on the record.
Bobby: In my opinion, it's a personal decision. My religion says I'm not supposed to eat pork. But the reality is that a lot of people in Jakarta take drugs, have casual sex, get drunk, but they won't eat pork? Come on. Isn't all of that sinful too? It comes down to personal judgement. You can't judge someone who eats pork and say, 'you're an infidel! Fuck you!' You can't because everyone has their own right to make a decision. Just so you know, 70 percent of our customers are Muslim. I was surprised in the beginning. I would ask a customer for his name and he would say Syarief or something. I was like, 'whoa! There's no Catholics or Christians with a name like that!' [laughs] So that's the reality. In my opinion, this is not a huge issue anymore. People can do whatever they want and eat whatever they want. I mean those corrupt politicians in the House of Representatives won't eat pork, but they still steal people's money. If you don't want to eat pork, if your religion tells you not to, then don't. But if you do, then that's none of my business.
Sulung: But you're only in charge of the sauces, right?
Bobby: Yeah, only the sauces...
Will this ever grow into a full-service restaurant?
Bobby: We would love to open a restaurant, but we have no money. [laughs] The problem of doing this business out here in South Jakarta is that it would be difficult to get permission to sell pork because... well you know... it's not the bureaucracy. It's society. Our society is not ready. For a lot of people, pork is more sinful than sex.
https://www.vice.com/en_id/article/8q9dab/meet-the-muslim-and-vegetarian-cooks-behind-indonesias-best-pork-take-out
There are no chairs or tables at Panggangin. Instead, the two owners—Sulung Koesuma and Bobby Mandela—run their business as a delivery and take-out only affair. But that doesn't stop customers from eating in their cars right in front of the house, they said.
In Muslim-majority Indonesia, pork isn't a common dish on most menus. Sure, you can find pork on the menus of Chinese restaurants, as well as in Hindu-majority Bali and other provinces with large non-Muslim populations. But what sets Panggangin apart from the pack are its two founders. Sulung Koesuma is vegetarian and Bobby Mandela is Muslim. It makes them an unlikely pair to own a pork restaurant—after all how much can a vegetarian and a Muslim know about a meat that, technically, neither should be eating?
VICE: So, when did you guys start Panggangin?
Bobby: Last Ramadan.
Sulung: Yeah, that's it exactly. It was during Ramadan.
Bobby: So, I was leaving my previous job.
Sulung: Didn't you get fired?
Bobby: I was forced to resign. I was working at a radio station, as an assistant program director. Then I had a beef with my boss. It was typical shit. So after that I said to Sulung, since we both cook a lot why don't we do that for money instead? But since we live here near South Jakarta, we figured selling pork wouldn't do all that well.
Sulung: We live in Bintaro. It's mostly Muslims.
Bobby: But we wanted to do something different. The two of us created everything from scratch right here.
You made all of these recipes from scratch?
Sulung: Well, from YouTube.
Bobby: No joke, we learned this all from YouTube.
Sulung: It was a lot of trial-and-error. It took a lot of tries, a lot of 'oh, this is not quite right yet,' until we got to where we are today. We had zero knowledge about cooking pork.
OK, but then why did you choose pork?
Bobby: I eat pork. I like pork. I'm trying to accommodate others who do. Nowadays there are a lot of Muslims who consume pork. It's like 'I'm a rebel! I eat pork!' [laughs] That's how things are now.
Sulung: Yeah, that's what a lot of people say. 'Yeah, I'm Muslim, but I eat pork.' Bobby thought that if he cooked pork, then he could eat it every day. But can you actually eat pork every day?
Bobby: Apparently not. [laughs] Now we're at the point where we go, 'no, you try it.'
So now you're sick of it?
Bobby: If you eat pork every day, you're bound to get sick of it. It's so bad that Sulung hasn't eaten pork in days.
Sulung: There were moments when, like one week, I decided to have a pork-free day. No pork was allowed to enter my mouth. I sleep here too, so imagine that. When I wake up in the morning, I walk downstairs and the first thing I smell is pork fat. Of course, I'm fed up with pork.
But wait, I heard you were a vegetarian?
Sulung: I'm an occasional vegetarian. I have gout, so actually my body doesn't really allow me to eat pork. It's all so ironic.
Bobby, what did your parents say when they heard you were selling pork?
Sulung: He got caught red-handed ...
Bobby: Apparently, I had shamed my family. My parents were furious with me. So after that, I started lying to them. I would buy a kilogram of oxtail, take a photo of it and be like 'hey mom, I'm selling oxtail now instead of pork.' They've been more accepting since they met Sulung. He thought he was going to be interrogated, but it was fine. Since then, I've been telling them that I just make the sauces, while Sulung handles the pork. And I stay away from Panggangin's social media accounts, except instagram.
Personally, do you think it's OK for Muslims to eat pork?
Sulung: Be careful Bobby. This is on the record.
Bobby: In my opinion, it's a personal decision. My religion says I'm not supposed to eat pork. But the reality is that a lot of people in Jakarta take drugs, have casual sex, get drunk, but they won't eat pork? Come on. Isn't all of that sinful too? It comes down to personal judgement. You can't judge someone who eats pork and say, 'you're an infidel! Fuck you!' You can't because everyone has their own right to make a decision. Just so you know, 70 percent of our customers are Muslim. I was surprised in the beginning. I would ask a customer for his name and he would say Syarief or something. I was like, 'whoa! There's no Catholics or Christians with a name like that!' [laughs] So that's the reality. In my opinion, this is not a huge issue anymore. People can do whatever they want and eat whatever they want. I mean those corrupt politicians in the House of Representatives won't eat pork, but they still steal people's money. If you don't want to eat pork, if your religion tells you not to, then don't. But if you do, then that's none of my business.
Sulung: But you're only in charge of the sauces, right?
Bobby: Yeah, only the sauces...
Will this ever grow into a full-service restaurant?
Bobby: We would love to open a restaurant, but we have no money. [laughs] The problem of doing this business out here in South Jakarta is that it would be difficult to get permission to sell pork because... well you know... it's not the bureaucracy. It's society. Our society is not ready. For a lot of people, pork is more sinful than sex.
https://www.vice.com/en_id/article/8q9dab/meet-the-muslim-and-vegetarian-cooks-behind-indonesias-best-pork-take-out
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