PURWOREJO, KOMPAS.com – Sego or nasi penek and dawet ireng, which are typical culinary delights of Purworejo Regency, Central Java, are in the process of being proposed as intangible cultural heritage at the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.
Sego penek is a typical form of food that emerged from the Purwodadi District area and is currently one of the people’s long-standing menus.
Meanwhile, dawet ireng is a fresh drink that is known to the public and is popular among the people of Purworejo.
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To date, Purworejo has 4 intangible heritages that have been designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology in Jakarta, namely the cingpoling dance, the Jolenan Somongari festival, the Dolalak dance, and the Kaligesingan Gagak leather puppetry.
The Purworejo Regency Education and Culture Office, through the Culture Sector itself, has specifically carried out searches to dig up more in-depth information about the two types of culinary delights.
They also collaborated with the Region X Cultural Preservation Agency to explore these two culinary delights.
From the results of the in-depth research carried out, it was followed up by holding a Forum Group Discussion involving various related elements at the Jenar Wetan Village Hall, Purwodadi District some time ago.
Head of Jenar Wetan Village, Aris Karmo, said that the sego penek which is currently easily found at Jenar Market, Krendetan Market and others comes from Nggandul Hamlet in his village.
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Until now, there are still some of the makers who are descendants of the original makers.
“There used to be an opinion that if people enjoyed this penek rice in the morning, it would bring enthusiasm to life. Apart from that, those who were sick would also quickly recover a few moments after consuming it,” said Aris Monday (9/12/2024).
He admitted that he was proud, the existence of this Sego Penek attracted the attention of many parties.
Meanwhile, the Head of Rowobayem Village, Kemiri District, Suprapto said that dawet ireng appeared for the first time in his village. The maker was Simbah Kharnun and continued by Mrs. Surip to this day.
“Dawet ireng has been around since I was a child. However, its popularity between Rowobayem and Need is different, this is seen from a marketing perspective because Need is easier to reach and is on the side of the national road,” said Suprapto.
Head of the Culture Division of the Purworejo Education and Culture Department, Dyah Woro Setyaningsih, said that this time his party was completing the study data that had been made by a team of experts from BPK X.
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“So the expert team from BPK
He hopes that in 2025, these two Purworejo culinary specialties can become intangible cultural heritage. He admitted that getting to that stage was not an easy thing because later the results of the existing studies and proposals would be curated by the Center.
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