When Eating Means Not Wasting
In many food cultures, preference is guided by flavor, texture, or presentation. In parts of North Sumatra—particularly among Karo Batak communities—food has historically been shaped by a different principle: nothing should be wasted.
Trites emerges from this worldview. Often misunderstood from the outside, trites is not designed to impress or provoke. It exists because every part of an animal once mattered for survival, continuity, and respect for resources.
What Is Trites?
Trites is a traditional dish made from the rumen of cattle—the first stomach—sometimes prepared while it still contains partially digested plant matter. This material is cleaned, processed, and cooked according to local practice.
To outsiders, this description can sound unusual. Locally, it is neither shocking nor symbolic. It is simply food, understood within a long-standing system of animal use and communal norms.
A Practice Rooted in Livestock Culture
In agrarian highland societies, livestock was not only a source of meat, but of:
- Labor
- Social value
- Ceremonial importance
When an animal was slaughtered, it was expected that every usable part would be consumed. This was not poverty cuisine—it was an ethic.
Discarding edible parts would have been viewed as wasteful, even disrespectful.
Trites belongs to this ethic of total utilization.
Not a Delicacy, Not a Dare
Modern framing often labels foods like trites as “extreme.” This framing is misleading.
Trites was never:
- A challenge
- A spectacle
- A test of bravery
It was a practical outcome of environment, economy, and belief.
Taste was secondary. Purpose came first.
Knowledge Passed, Not Invented
Preparation of trites is not improvised. It relies on:
- Knowledge of animal digestion
- Proper cleaning and cooking
- Awareness of what is safe and customary
This knowledge is transmitted through practice, not written recipes—embedded in daily life and communal memory.
Understanding Before Judgment
Across Indonesia, foods that appear unusual from the outside often reveal clear internal logic when seen in context. From insects in Java, to coconut shell in Bali, to rats in North Sulawesi, culinary traditions emerge from place, not shock value.
Trites is no exception.
Before being labeled “strange,” it was simply a reasonable response to real conditions.
Closing Note
This story is not about novelty or exoticism. It is about how communities once organized food around respect, efficiency, and survival.
Trites reminds us that taste is cultural—but necessity is universal.
This article is part of an ongoing independent cultural and social documentation project that supports long-term field research and writing. If you would like to support this work, you can do so via Ko-fi