Cannabis in Acehnese cuisine
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Reports of cannabis in Acehnese cuisine describe ground cannabis seed used as a seasoning in the cooking of Aceh, to make meat tender and to improve the taste of curries and other dishes. They come from press reports from 2007 onwards, a 2016 briefing of the Transnational Institute and a 2024 sociological study, and rest on interviews with cooks, sellers and commentators. The informants describe the use as one handed down over generations, and now kept out of sight because the plant is banned.[1][2][3]: 93
Dishes
| Preparation | Kind | Part of the plant | First recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gulai kameng | Dish | Seed | |
| Ie bu peudah | Dish | Seed | |
| Kari sie itek | Dish | Seed | |
| Kopi ganja | Drink | Seed Whole plant | |
| Kuah beulangong | Dish | Seed | |
| Majoun | Sweet Traditional medicine | Leaf Flower Resin | |
| Mie Aceh | Dish | Seed |
In these accounts the seed is ground like the other spices before it goes into the pot. The Merdeka.com correspondent in Aceh told the paper in 2017 that it made meat cook tender quickly and raised the appetite, and that drowsiness followed the meal.[2] Musanna, Nabilah and Suip, from interviews in Banda Aceh, Bireuen and Aceh Besar, report that some cooks still use it, chiefly to tenderise meat in broths, and that each cook keeps to his own measure.[3]: 90–91 Nining, of the Indonesian Gastronomy Association, told Merdeka.com that not all Acehnese cooking used the seed and that where it did, the amount was small: "Kalau pun pakai (ganja) paling seujung kuku" (if it is used at all, a fingertip's worth at most). The paper adds that, in her view, the seed made no marked difference to the taste.[2]
Most of the dishes named are meat curries. Syardani M. Syarif, a commentator on cannabis from Aceh, named kuah beulangong, kari sie itek and ie bu peudah in 2020.[1] A seller of gulai kameng (goat curry) in Banda Aceh described adding the seed to detikcom in 2007.[4] The Transnational Institute's 2016 briefing names goat curry and Acehnese noodles (Mie Aceh), citing interviews by Lingkar Ganja Nusantara among its sources. The same briefing reports that in 2006 the Badan Narkotika Nasional recorded cannabis products seized in eradication programmes in Aceh: cannabis oil, a toffee-like confection, and dishes including curry, fried noodles, meatball soup and peanut sauce, mostly prepared with cannabis seed or oil.[5]: 4, 9
Drinks
Informants interviewed by Merdeka.com in 2017 described cannabis seed mixed with ground coffee as an older Acehnese use.[2] Cannabis coffee, kopi ganja, was being made and sold in 2020.[6] The 2016 briefing also reports cannabis flowers soaked in palm wine, kept in bamboo and taken as a tonic.[5]: 4
Written sources
Tarmizi Hamid, a collector of old Acehnese manuscripts, told CNN Indonesia in 2020 that the use of cannabis as a food seasoning and as a natural preservative is set down in the Tajul Muluk (Tajol Mulok), which he dated to the 18th century.[1] Mohd Shafri and Nazarudin describe the Tajul Muluk as a compilation of herbal formulations assembled by the Acehnese scholar Shaykh Isma'il al-'Asyi and printed by lithograph in Mecca in 1893. In its medical chapter they found cannabis only in combination with other ingredients that temper its effect, in formulations to be taken in small amounts.[7]: 75, 80 Musanna and colleagues attribute the book to Tengku Cik Kutakarang (Shaykh Abbas bin Muhammad al-'Asyi), writing at the sultan's order, with Shaykh Ismail bin Abdul Muthallib al-'Asyi as the scholar who corrected it.[3]: 85
A name that misleads
Modern dishes and products
Dodol ganja is the ordinary Acehnese dodol, a sweet of glutinous rice flour, palm sugar and coconut milk, with cannabis seed and leaf added. A maker interviewed by Merdeka.com in 2017 said it began as an invention of people who smoked cannabis with tobacco and wanted another way to take it that would not draw police attention. He had taken orders from visitors to Aceh from 2008 and had stopped making it a year before.[10] In 2015 the Sydney Morning Herald found three young men in Banda Aceh selling a cannabis coffee to cafes as "Coffee Lawak".[11] In December 2020 the South Jakarta police seized cannabis milk (susu ganja), cannabis coffee and dodol ganja ordered from a supplier in Aceh; the narcotics unit called the milk a new method of disguise.[6]
In May 2024, before Aceh co-hosted the National Games (PON), the provincial office of the Badan Narkotika Nasional and the food and drug agency announced plans to raid restaurants for food containing cannabis. The office's head, Marzuki Ali Basyah, said the aim was to "erase the stigma that Aceh's food is seasoned using marijuana".[12]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Jejak Ganja dalam Kuliner Aceh" [Traces of cannabis in Acehnese cuisine]. CNN Indonesia (in Bahasa Indonesia). 2 February 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Fadil, Iqbal (13 April 2017). "Jejak ganja di kuliner Aceh" [Traces of cannabis in Acehnese cuisine]. Merdeka.com (in Bahasa Indonesia). Retrieved 28 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Musanna, Khadijatul; Nabilah, Deva; Suip, Muhammad Nuur Iman bin (2024). "Cannabis Seeds as a Culinary Ingredient: A Sociological Study of the Acehnese Community". Shahih: Journal of Islamicate Multidisciplinary. 9 (2): 83–98. doi:10.22515/shahih.v2i9.10195.
- ↑ "Biji Ganja di Gulai Kameng" [Cannabis seed in goat curry]. detikNews (in Bahasa Indonesia). 2 July 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Putri, D.; Blickman, T. (January 2016). Cannabis in Indonesia: Patterns in consumption, production, and policies (Report). Drug Policy Briefing No. 44. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Illahi, Kurnia (22 December 2020). "Polisi Gagalkan Peredaran Dodol dan Susu Ganja Asal Aceh" [Police stop the trade in cannabis dodol and cannabis milk from Aceh]. iNews.id (in Bahasa Indonesia). Retrieved 28 October 2026.
- ↑ Mohd Shafri, Mohd Affendi; Nazarudin, Ain Najihah (2022). "Tajul Muluk: A Traditional Malay Text of Ethnobotany and Ethnomedicine". Borneo Journal of Resource Science and Technology. 12 (2): 74–81. doi:10.33736/bjrst.4721.2022.
- ↑ Tifani (30 July 2023). "5 Sajian Sambal Khas Sumatra yang Menggoyang Lidah, Ada Sambal Ganja" [Five Sumatran sambals, among them sambal ganja]. Liputan6.com (in Bahasa Indonesia). Retrieved 28 October 2026.
- ↑ "Cocol ayam tangkap dan sambal ganja khas Tanah Rencong yang bikin nagih" [Ayam tangkap and Aceh's sambal ganja]. ANTARA News Jawa Timur (in Bahasa Indonesia). 24 August 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2026.
- ↑ Afif (18 April 2017). "Dodol ganja khas Aceh yang bikin halusinasi" [The cannabis dodol of Aceh that causes hallucinations]. Merdeka.com (in Bahasa Indonesia). Retrieved 28 October 2026.
- ↑ Bachelard, Michael (11 January 2015). "Coffee and ganja provide a healthy income in Aceh". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ↑ "Aceh authorities to ban marijuana-laced dishes in restaurants". The Jakarta Post. 24 May 2024 – via Asia News Network.