Paon Real Balinese Cooking

Direct from the traditional home kitchens of Bali, Paon is a showcase of true Balinese food and recipes.

Authors Maya Kerthyasa and Wayan Kresnayasa shine a light on the depth and diversity of Balinese cuisine by sharing native recipes and ingredients from across this widely beloved island. The insightful cookbook includes more than 80 recipes through seven chapters: Paon (the traditional kitchen); Foraging & Farming; Food from the Hills; Food from the Sea; Food from the Fields; Food from the Pasar; and Ceremonial Food. It also considers the links between food and worship in Bali, sacred fare (food for medicinal and spiritual purposes), and zero-waste cooking (because the traditional Balinese kitchen has always been a sustainable place). Maya, who is Ubud based and a descendent of the Ubud royal family, and Wayan, who has worked widely in the US and now oversees plant-based Indonesian restaurant Tanaman, take readers on a journey through rice fields, food forests, coastal towns and bustling markets. Their food focus is equally wide ranging, from elaborate ceremonial cuisine to dishes that rely only on the simplest ingredients enjoyed at their unadorned best.

Paon is an essential book for lovers of Indonesian food and culture telling the nuanced and largely untold story of the island: everyday Bali, modern Bali, agricultural Bali. Life beyond the tourist traps.

Tjok Maya Kerthyasa is an Indonesian-Australian writer living in Ubud, Bali. She spent just under a decade in Sydney where she wrote for Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine, before moving home to Bali to reconnect with her family and her birthplace. Since returning, Maya has hosted culinary-based events, starred in an Indonesian food-based web series called Masakan Rumah, and has spoken about Balinese cooking for various media platforms. She works for Indonesian lifestyle and hospitality group Potato Head and is creating culinary tours for visiting chefs with Room4Dessert's Will Goldfarb. Maya is documenting her grandmother's recipes to share with the next generation of Balinese cooks and food lovers from other parts of the world. Her mission is to see the cuisine better understood and celebrated on a global level.

I Wayan Kresna Yasa is a Balinese chef born on the island of Nusa Penida, o? Bali's east coast. He trained and worked in the US for six years, cooking at the likes of Acadia in Chicago and New York's Blue Hill Stone Barns. In Bali, he is known for the deftness of his cooking, his deep respect for the environment, and his drive to put the flavors of his home on the global culinary map. He helped launch Room4Dessert with chef-owner Will Goldfarb, before transitioning to hospitality company Potato Head. Wayan is now global executive chef and culinary director for the Potato Head family. He opened Ijen – the group's ?rst zero-waste sustainable seafood restaurant – and Kaum which is known for its revival of rare tribal recipes from across the archipelago. And his most recent venture is plant-based Indonesian restaurant Tanaman, which was listed as one of the best new restaurants in the world in Condé Nast Traveller's June 2020 issue.