Night time. I was hungry. There's little to no options for food in this country if you're out and about at night. Either you go for 24-hours eating establishments, like McDonalds or KFC. Or you go to a Nasi Goreng vendor.

A plate of Nasi Goreng usually would set you back around 18k IDR. For a week straight, it won't cost you much. But you might get sick of it quite fast. So, to combat this, you vary where you buy the Nasi Goreng.

My advice is to look at the vendor's cart. Look at the name of the vendor and then see if you remember seeing the same sort of naming convention or even the same name. This meant that the vendor comes from the same trade group. Which means the flavor profile would almost be the same.

Getting a unique Nasi Goreng experience means that you have to vary. Some vendors open a permanent establishment. Complete with chairs and tables to eat dine-in. Most, however, uses these carts. Mix and match, and you will probably safe a month's worth of late dinners.

They are different, but the same

When you look at it, Nasi Goreng is a study in diversity. As I said before, each trade group would have a different flavor. Some would be naturally salty, some are less salty and more sweet. Some would even crank the umami flavor up.

Coloration also matters. Nasi Goreng can range from pink to brown. These dictated which sauce the vendor uses. They can mean all sorts of things, from sweetness to origin of the fried rice.

Yet, when you call the name, and tell your friends that you've bought a "Nasi Goreng", there's an implicit knowledge about what it looks like. A plate of fried rice with egg and cucumber slices, and a package of small white krupuk.

There is a constant of form, but a diversity of traits. Which means that Nasi Goreng can be an input to taxonomy.

Faux-pas unity

Immediately the thought of Unity in Diversity, Indonesia's slogan, pops up. Right? Different forms, different flavor and profile, but still working under one name. That's the essence of our slogan.

If we look at one lens, sure. But on the other hand, Nasi Goreng might be one of the most divisive subject ever. I mentioned trade groups before. That's because some trade groups are just subjectively better than others.

Indonesia is built on the idea of unity being the championing and rallying score. That we are different but flies the same banner. But "difference" will always be paired with "rankings". A difference, in essence, is an invitation to say the subjective notion of "being better".

Does that mean unity in diversity is bad? It meant that the slogan works in a sense of blinding one side to favor the other interpretation. That diversity works because we can unite under one thing. One flag, one philosophy, one identity.

It's a form of reluctant tolerance, if anything. The implicit in-group out-group bias will always be there. We're only humans, after all. We're flawed and we're tribal.

But it is working

Indonesia is standing tall for 80+ years now. That means something. That means that for eight decades and with all the political and societal troubles, Indonesia could still unite. In a sense.

Tensions may be high, distrust may be rampant. But a plate of Nasi Goreng here and over there in the other side of Indonesia might still be the same image.

The biases that we look through our own lenses are there because we're humans living in an identity called "being Indonesian". We bemoan and spew frustrations towards a government that felt stagnant and silent. But we do it in the name of Indonesia.

I don't think a vendor of one Nasi Goreng would say his plate is any different from the other Nasi Goreng vendor. They'd say they both sells Nasi Goreng. It's just that they use a different sauce.