Page 88 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

acclaimed botanical and agricultural research centres. Facilities now include a

Herbarium and Ballitro, an institute for the study of medicinal plants. Both are
staffed by highly qualified scientists who are gradually proving that Indonesian
medicinal plants can make a major contribution to world health. There are also
experimental gardens in Lembang, West Java, and the mountaintop village of
Tawangmangu outside Solo. As one scientist said: “The Indonesian way of life
has changed and we are in serious danger of losing our rarest plants and trees.
Unless we act now, valuable sources of medicine could disappear before we have
even discovered them.”

Curative Remedies or Culinary Concoctions?
Roughly half the ingredients in any Indonesian dish are also used for traditional
medicine cures. As the well-known Australian herbalist, Dorothy Hall, asked:
“When does a plant cease being a food and become a medicine? This question
has bugged me for years because I can’t answer it. What is the difference, say,
between celery eaten as a vegetable and celery extract prescribed by a herbalist
as a me di cine?”

John Naisbitt, author of megatrends Asia and co-author of megatrends
2000, two books that focus on economic forecasts in the Asian region, believes
“some of the impetus to accept food as medicine comes from a new emphasis on
natural healthful foods, as well as influences from Far Eastern cultures and new
scientific discoveries”. Adding curing herbs to food is probably less effective
than drinking the same roots and leaves in jamu, because quantities are smaller
and hence less concentrated. Even assuming jamu’s deliberate chemical reaction
is missing in a dish, the cumulative, advantageous effect of eating these healthy
herbs and spices on a daily basis cannot be ignored. They are the body’s regular
top-up of essential vitamins and minerals, which might otherwise be lacking in