by Dames Alexander Sinaga
JAKARTA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Amid the spread of the Omicron variant in Indonesia, more eateries in "Glodok", the largest Chinatown in capital city Jakarta, have begun selling Chinese style herbal and medicinal foods.
In a rented space in front of a storey house in Glodok on Monday morning, Cindy Tan was busy selling Chinese style chicken herbal soup, popularly known in Chinese-Indonesian communities as Cia Po Tim Ayam, to her customers.
"Cia Po Tim Ayam can be consumed by anyone. It's to build or boost one's stamina. This is good for a woman who just gave birth," the 32-year-old woman told Xinhua recently.
Cia Po Tim Ayam basically comes in the form of chicken stock that is infused with herbs such as goji berries, ginger and other herbal ingredients.
Of Chinese descent, Tan has been on cloud nine for the past few months as she has been gaining a small fortune from her modest food business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the habit of consuming healthy foods as a method of building immunity. Noticing that, Tan decided to start her business last September.
"I want to sell foods that can boost the human immune system. In my family, my mother often cooks herbal soups when her kids feel unwell or unhealthy," Tan said, adding that she learned how to make herbal soup from her mother.
According to Tan, she usually has at least 100 customers in a day, with some of them being in the millennial age group. Tan is also selling Chinese dishes using food delivery service platforms such as GoFood, GrabFood and ShopeeFood.
Graduating with a degree majoring in marketing management, Tan is thinking of having more food stalls selling herbal soups in other areas of the city in her belief that the business is in high consumer demands amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Glodok, situated in West Jakarta, is a spot for Indonesians to buy Chinese foods, traditional Chinese medicines and cheap electronic stuffs. In the past, the area was designated by colonials as a residential area for ethnic Chinese.
Having been living there since he was born, Stanley Wijaya, a Chinese-Indonesian, is now running a food business that was started by his parents about 50 years ago.
Months after the pandemic hit Indonesia, he decided to add new menus in the restaurant, including that of Cia Po Tim Ayam.
"Since we want to adapt to the life under COVID-19, we want to put healthier meals on the list so that more customers would come to our restaurant," he told Xinhua.
The demand for healthy foods is increasing amid the pandemic, Wijaya said, adding that selling Chinese herbal or medicinal foods is a great decision.
"Our earnings increased significantly after we started selling Chinese medicinal foods," he added.
Wijaya further said that he has not contracted COVID-19 until now, and he believed that consuming medicinal foods regularly is one of the factors why he has not tested positive for the virus.
"It's not scientifically proven, but I think that maintaining our immune system by eating medicinal foods is very important to make us in good health," he added. ■