Pastou

Religions have taught the faithful to eat right. Jews, for example, they must keep kosher, which requires food items meet certain specifications, while Muslims have halal food, prohibiting the consumption of pork and alcoholic beverages. And in the Old Testament, God banished Adam and Eve for eating the wrong fruit. Theology aside, finding healthy food can be costly. Organic goods, in particular, are more expensive because cultivating fruits and vegetables without pesticide is an arduous and time-consuming task.

In Los Angeles, Native Foods, an organic vegetarian are available at stores in Westwood Village near UCLA. Native Foods do all to promote greater health, compassion for all living beings and environmental conservation. While in Bali, among its best-selling items is the Bali Surf Burger, a grilled tempeh patty served on a whole wheat bun. It’s local invention of tempeh burgers that makes Indonesia famous for its trendy health-conscious food for decades.

Nevertheless, Jakarta, long considered a food mecca, has not been known to cater to vegetarians, vegans or the weight conscious in search of guilt-free food. However, Shangri-La Hotel has served the kind as vegetarian platters have become mandatory on some menus. Another hotel is Rosso, the hotel’s Italian restaurant. A vegetarian menu is available for both lunch and dinner.

The vegetarian set menu usually consists of a choice of antipasto (starter), soup and a pasta or risotto. Starters consist of vegetable millefoglie with cheese sauce, grilled vegetables with greens and an apple balsamic vinaigrette or a marinated artichoke salad with castel magno cheese. For soup, the choice can be between tomato with mozzarella and basil ravioli or green pea with asparagus and truffle oil. A soup of the day is also available at selected times.

Main dishes include risotto ferron with a porcini and parmesan cheese sauce, eggplant and taleggio ravioli with fresh tomatoes and thyme, homemade chitarrine pasta with vegetable carbonara, and polenta with wild mushroom and gorgonzola sauce.

All seasonings and essential ingredients are directly imported from Italy. In order to prepare healthier foods, Rosso uses olive oil from Liguria in most of its dishes. Liguria, which has nice weather all year round, has the best olive oil and basil in the world. Pesto was born there. So, butter which is basically fat is rarely used. So grab the consciousness to consume the healthy food through your vegetarian dish.

It’s been a common trend nowadays that cybercafes, coffee houses or eateries offer Wi-Fi hotspots. Wi-Fi is wireless technology that lets everyone connect a computer to the Internet, just by logging in. Only with a notebook set up with Wi-Fi capability, a cafe-goer can track down a cafe hotspot, and spend the whole day there, working while enjoying coffee, snacks and free Internet access.

In 2004, with increased demand for wireless Internet zones, many establishments began to provide free Wi-Fi hotspots. Such places can now be found all over the city, from office buildings to small cafes in housing complexes.

The Wi-Fi boom has hit not only big city like Jakarta but also other cities such as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bogor and Medan. In Bandung, some shopping malls even provide free Wi-Fi hotspots in their food courts.

The number of free Wi-Fi locations is increasing followed by the decrease in the price of laptops. In 2004, a notebook cost about US$870-1,090. A notebook with Wi-Fi facilities can now be purchased for as little as $436. No wonder more people are carrying notebooks in their backpacks or briefcases.

In line with such a trend, some people even make cafes their office. They come at around 11 a.m. and leave at around 8 p.m. About 80 percent of the visitors who use the facilities are working people. Some even hold meetings at the cafe. Among them are employees at production houses or ad agencies — their flexible working hours allowed them to work anywhere, anytime. While people who work at normal office would frequently drop by the cafe after work.

Coffeeing and Browsing the World